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When to Qualify for Boston (Women)
Earlier this week we looked at the chart for men qualifying for Boston to find the sweet spot to get in if you are on the edge. For women it is a very different story.
As a recap I was using age grade as the determinant of effort. I was looking to determine when age grade percent was the lowest in regards to age and qualifying time. Of course there is a range of five years so I ran the numbers both on the low end of the age range and the upper end of the age range as the age grade changes during the five year period.
|
W 18-34 |
3:35:00 |
64.13% |
63.61% |
|
W 35-39 |
3:40:00 |
62.43% |
64.06% |
|
W 40-44 |
3:45:00 |
63.18% |
65.97% |
|
W 45-49 |
3:55:00 |
63.93% |
67.18% |
|
W 50-54 |
4:00:00 |
66.62% |
70.24% |
|
W 55-59 |
4:10:00 |
68.36% |
72.34% |
|
W 60-64 |
4:25:00 |
69.27% |
73.90% |
|
W 65-69 |
4:40:00 |
71.19% |
76.91% |
|
W 70-74 |
4:55:00 |
74.58% |
81.90% |
|
W 75-79 |
5:10:00 |
79.98% |
83.73% |
|
W 80+ |
5:25:00 |
88.41% |
|
For women the sad truth is that it really only gets harder to qualify as they age. Women start off at 64.13% at age 18. A sizeable 6 percentage points below 18 year old men! The lowest dip in age grade for women is 62.43% at the beginning of the 35-39 range. This is lower than at any point for men by nearly 2 percentage points but the good news ends there.
After a woman turns 40 it's an uphill battle. Each age group increases in age grade at both the younger and older ends of the five year age range. At no time does it ease up. It is a relentless climb up that peaks at the 80+ age range with a huge 88.41%. That is an enormous 20 percentage points over the men's 80+ range of 67.90%! You need to be a national class athlete in order to qualify when you are in your elder years.
For women the extremes are much more present than they are for men. They get a break in their youth and then are condemned to a brutal climb that all the very best national athletes can climb in the end. Possibly what we can learn from this analysis is that we have the technology to make entering Boston a more fair endeavor. Say making the qualifications based on an even age grade, maybe 65% or 70%, so that no matter what your age or gender it is as fair and equal as possible. Someone call the BAA!
