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Lead Stories: Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Law of Attrition in Masters Track

Posted October 20th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by Jimson Lee

Section: News & Results, SoundOFF, Columns, Masters

I recently competed at the 2007 World Masters Athletics championships in Riccione, Italy, Europe’s most popular beach resort just south of Rimini by the Adriatic Sea. Masters track is separated by gender and 5 year age groups, starting from 35-39 all the way up to 100-104 and even a 105+ category!

Someone once said that “masters track records look soft from a distance.” It would not be unusual to feel that the records in the age group just ahead of one’s own are within one’s grasp. When I was 35, I felt I was capable of breaking the M40 Canadian National record for 400 meters. A check of the facts would have told me otherwise.

Let’s look at some statistics to see why this is usually the case. I say usually because some rare elite athletes like 40-year-old Troy Douglas of the Netherlands and 47-year-old Merlene Ottey of Slovenia (formerly of Jamaica) still compete at the elite level. Ex-Olympian hurdler Willie Gault has made a comeback in masters track, setting a world record at age 46 last year with a time of 10.72 seconds for the M45 100m dash.
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