Friday, July 24, 2009

Don’t you know that it’s worth every treasure on earth to be young at heart …



The World Masters Track and Field Champs start in Finland at the end of July. The age groups start at 35 and go up to … 100 in leaps of 5 years.

It is an opportunity for men and women 35 and above to defy the onslaughts of time.

My good friend Mike Parker (pictured here) will represent New Zealand in the Men’s (55-59 years) 5 km, 10 km and 20 km race walks. He has a darn good chance of medaling. Back in his heyday, he won the British Championship 4 times. I train with him most Tuesdays. Good luck Mike!

Looking at the times expected for some of the competitors, I can see I would not be last by a long chalk. However, neither would I be close to medalling.


What does age do to you perfomance?


here is a graph I did based on age-grade calculations which accurately models the process. It maps the situation for walking 10 km in 1 hour. It shows the percentage you would score for your age against the best in the world. A 20 year-old scores around 62.5% for a ten km walk in 1 hour; whereas a man for my more mature years would score around 76%.



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