Age Grading was developed by the World Association of Veteran Athletes, the world governing body for masters (veterans) track & field, long distance running and race walking. It uses tables of age factors and age standards (last updated in 2006) to adjust your actual time to that which would have been achieved when you were in your prime (age wise!) - age graded result. This allows comparisons across different age groups so that theoretically the performance in an event of a 75 year old can be compared to that of a 40 year old. Separate age categories are not needed for competition and the advantage of the younger person is negated.

The tables also produce an 'Age-performance factor (%) which compares your performance against that of the actual or theoretical world record time for a person of your age or sex. This factor is regularly shown with race results. Percentage performances are classed as follows:

Over 90% World Class
Over 80% National standard
Over 70% Regional standard
Over 60% Local standard

There is no direct male/female comparison as the World record times obviously differ.

Many running clubs are now using age adjusted times for Grand Prix Series and other events in addition to Open Championships. Age performance factors (%) are now commonly produced in results tables in ukresults.net.

A great advantage of using 'Age adjustment' is that you can still achieve an improvement, despite the passing years. You can use your actual age on Race day - useful if your birthday 'is tomorrow'.