Masters Athletics managed by World Masters Athletics is a class of the sport of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

for athletes of 35 years of age and over organized by

World Masters Athletics World Masters Athletics (WMA) is the worldwide governing body for the sport of masters athletics – which includes track and field, cross country, and road running events – as participated by people over 35 years of age. As the need became ...

. The events include

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

and

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups (which promotes fair competition). For international events the first age group is 35 to 39. Men as old as 105 and women in their 100s have competed in running, jumping and throwing events. Masters athletes are sometimes known as "veterans" and the European Masters Championships, for instance, is known as "Eurovets". This and other high level events including biennial World Championships cater largely to elite-level athletes, but many masters athletes are novices to athletics and enjoy the camaraderie offered by masters competition at the local, National and International level. Most National governing bodies for track and field hold annual Masters championships. Prestigious National meets such as the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

and the

United States Olympic Trials (track and field) The United States Olympic trials for the sport of track and field is the quadrennial meet to select the United States representatives at the Olympic Games. Since 1992, the meet has also served as the year's USA Outdoor Track and Field Champions ...

put on exhibition events for top masters athletes. Masters athletics is growing Internationally with over 6000 athletes competing at recent World Championships. World; National and Regional records are maintained for each age group. In India the Masters Athletics Federation of India conducts National Masters Athletics Championships every year. In the United States, USATF (

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

) hosts various Masters events including National Championships for Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field and Cross Country. USATF adds the age divisions 30–34 as Sub-Masters, and 25–29 as Pre-Masters to give athletes just past college age more opportunities to compete.

History

Since at least the early 1930s, middle-aged athletes in Europe, Australia and New Zealand have competed with younger athletes, especially in cross country and road races. Some were active into their 50s. And on the track, Briton Don Finlay recorded a 14.4-second mark in the 120-yard high hurdles in 1949 at age 40, according to the biennial handbook published by World Masters Athletics. In 1966, San Diego civil lawyer David Pain Masterstrack profile David Pain began organizing what he called "masters miles" at indoor and outdoor track meets, and set the minimum age at 40. He and others soon launched the U.S. National Masters Championships, where everyone 40 and over competed together. The inaugural meet, at San Diego's

Balboa Stadium Balboa Stadium is an outdoor stadium in San Diego, California, adjacent to San Diego High School and Balboa Park. Owned by the City of San Diego, it is leased to San Diego Unified School District. The stadium is used for local athletics and hig ...

, was held July 19–20, 1968, and attracted 186 competitors. The second U.S. masters nationals, July 3–6, 1969, drew 200 athletes and introduced 10-year age groups for all events.
Masters Track and Field: A History by Leonard Olson Inspired by these first nationals, participants founded their own masters meets across the United States and into Canada. Also helping light a fire under sedentary seniors was retired Air Force Maj. Kenneth H. Cooper, a physician whose 1968 book "

Aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness (Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, Muscle, muscular strength, and ...

" created a running craze. Former

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

coach

Bill Bowerman William Jay Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic Games, Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 2 ...

, who in 1962 witnessed older people doing "

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

" in New Zealand, also is credited with fanning masters flames with his many articles written on the subject in the 1960s. In October 1971, Pain and his travel-agent wife, Helen, traveled to London, Munich, Copenhagen and several other European cities to lay the groundwork for a historic masters track tour of Europe, Olson's book recalled. In late-summer 1972, the Pains took 152 mainly U.S. and Canadian masters athletes to London, Helsinki, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Cologne for age-group track meets and distance races—thus jump-starting the worldwide masters track movement. In December 1973, another tour by the Pains, with 51 athletes, traveled to the South Pacific and Oceania for more age-group competitions.
USMITT archive Former Chilean decathlete

Hernán Figueroa Hernán Figueroa Bueg (26 August 1927 – September 2013) was a decathlete from Chile. He won the gold medal in the men's decathlon event at the inaugural Pan American Games in 1951. He is a two-time Olympian (1948 and 1952) for his ...

instigated development of organizations across South America. The first World Masters Championships were held August 11–16, 1975, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Men and women from 32 nations took part. A meeting at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

saw the election of a steering committee to plan an international governing body for masters track. Mastershistory World Championships results The inaugural Americas Masters Games was held in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Canada in 2016. The first officially approved centenarian athletic mark was Ben Levinson's (age 103) 1998 shot put record that was approved by the WAVA (World) Records committee on 1 January 1999 and the USA Masters Record committee on 4 December 1998.

Organization

(WMA) is the worldwide governing body for Masters athletics. It provides a global standard of rule modifications (based upon the international rules for the sport created by the WMA for athletes of a certain age. Each individual country governs its own affairs with an organizational governing body that is an affiliate to WMA such as Masters Athletics Federation of India (MAFI) in India and Australian Masters Athletics in Australia.. The World Association of Veteran Athletes was founded August 9, 1977, at the second

World Masters Athletics Championships The World Masters Athletics Championships are the biennial championships for masters athletics events held under the auspices of World Masters Athletics, formerly called the World Association of Veteran Athletes, for athletes 35 years of age or ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden. World masters championships have been held outdoors every two years ever since, and a biennial World Masters Indoor Championships debuted in March 2004 in Sindelfingen, Germany. The most recent outdoor world meet was in 2011 in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, California. The most recent Indoor Championships were held in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

, Finland in April 2012. WAVA, as it was known, later changed its name to World Masters Athletics and continues to be the sport's governing body. WMA has been working to coordinate its outdoor championship schedule with the International Masters Games Association, which holds the multisport

World Masters Games The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind. Governed by the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), the World Mas ...

every four years.

Age categories

;Men *M 35 *M 40 *M 45 *M 50 *M 55 *M 60 *M 65 *M 70 *M 75 *M 80 *M 85 *M 90 *M 95 *M 100 *M 105 ;Women *W 35 *W 40 *W 45 *W 50 *W 55 *W 60 *W 65 *W 70 *W 75 *W 80 *W 85 *W 90 *W 95 *W 100 *W 105

Age-graded tables

A major contribution of masters athletics was the introduction of the Age-Graded Tables, a set of "age factors" and "age standards" that, when multiplied by a time or distance, allow athletes of any age and event to compare their performances with that of any other athlete. According to "Age-Graded Tables" published by National Masters News, individual statisticians first devised the tables in the mid-1970s as a way of helping score multi-event competitions for older athletes, such as the decathlon, heptathlon and indoor pentathlon. The first official Age-Graded Tables were compiled by WAVA and published by National Masters News in 1989. Revisions (taking into account improved performances at all ages) were released in 1991, 1994, 2006, 2010 and 2014 (minor revision). The tables can be applied to five-year age groups or individual ages from 8 to 100. The only official use of the Age-Graded Tables by WMA is in scoring multi-event competitions. But the Age-Graded Tables have been incorporated into track meet management software by Hy-Tek and others and used to determine age-graded winners in many other competitions, especially road runs. The tables also show more or less how an older athlete's performance compares with an Open (20–30) athlete's mark. But the tables have been controversial. For example, Jamaican-born Olympian

Merlene Ottey Merlene Joyce Ottey (born 10 May 1960) is a Jamaican-Slovenian former track and field sprint (running), sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica in 1978 and continued to do so for 24 years before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 20 ...

in 2006 ran the 100-meter dash in 11.34 seconds at the age of 46. The Age-Graded Tables suggest that performance corresponds to an Open (ages 20–30) equivalent of 10.122. Since the open world record for women is 10.49 (by

Florence Griffith Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete and the fastest woman ever recorded. She was married to Al Joyner, a 198 ...

in 1988), Ottey's converted mark seems implausible. In fact, the WMA committee has excluded certain performances as "nonrepresentative", and not used them in designing the Age-Graded Tables.

Masters Track and Field Championships

USATF Masters Outdoor Championships The USATF Masters Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national championship for the United States for athletes in masters athletics, masters age groups. Organized by USA Track & Field, the national go ...

began July 1968 and have been held every year (except 2020). #

USATF Masters Indoor Championships The USATF Masters Indoor Championships is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national indoor championship for the United States for athletes in masters age groups. Organized by USA Track & Field, the national governing body ...

began March 1975 and have been held every year (except 2020). #

(in 2021) added the 25–29 age bracket for the USA National Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Age 30–34 is already competing at the USA National Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championship. #

began August 1975 in Canada and continue to today.

World Masters Track and Field Rankings

Website mastersrankings.com started USA Masters rankings in 2006, and World Masters rankings in 2013. The website provides year be year rankings and meet results. Prior to 2006 other methods were used to create the rankings, the current system provides a more complete and timely data system. Rankings

Retrieved Oct. 26, 2020

References

External links

World Masters Athletics
– Official site
USATF Masters

Australian Masters Athletics site

North and Central America and Caribbean Region of World Masters Athletics (NCCMA)

USATF American Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masters Athletics Age categories in athletics

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...