Club Performance Standards

Update January 2019

Women’s standards updated January 2019 – the standards for the W75 category have been added.

The club standards are calculated by applying a percentage to the World Masters Athletics age standards. These scales compare times with a basket of the top world times produced by a number of elite athletes in each 5 year age-group.

So to achieve a standard, a runner must be able to run x% as fast as the time in the WMA standards.*

The committee decided some years ago that the bronze standard should be within the reach of all moderately-capable club runners who train consistently. To achieve the gold standard, the runner should be able to compete with the top runners from other clubs in age-graded competitions. The silver standard should be set at a level between these two. The diamond standard is reserved for those exceptional athletes who feature prominently in published national rankings.

It was decided therefore to use these age-graded levels:
Bronze – 65%
Silver – 70%
Gold – 75%
Diamond – 85%

*With the exception of the standard for the Lake, which of course has no WMA standard and hasn’t been updated. The method by which that was calculated is lost in the mists of time.