Masters hurdler and astronomy/physics professor Jess Brewer of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, has consolidated his masters Age-Graded Tables performance converter and masters athlete database into a single page. He adds links to Howard Grubb's own online Age-Graded Tables.

Jess, of course, is the patron saint of the Masters Track and Field Home Page, and his eloquent post on the subject, reproduced below, inspired me to start the Web site in February 1996.

(Previously posted on T-and-F Mailing List)

This is in response to some people I know, but I am vain enough to think others may benefit from my musings as well; my apologies to those who disagree.

I am a masters T&F athlete -- not that I am particularly talented -- and I can offer some words of encouragement to those who have graduated from college or university and are not quite good enough to "go pro" or even get a lot of moral support for their inclination to keep running.

There is a "desert" you must cross -- typically 10 years of very thin opportunities for competition -- but there's a "promised land" on the other side! Masters T&F is amateur athletics as it was meant to be: an inspiring experience for anyone with the competitive spirit.

After relegating myself to the "jogger" dustbin for 10 years (because everyone knows old men can't run fast) and another 5 of punishing my knees with an ill-considered attempt to run long distance competitively, I was lucky enough to find a coach and team who would let me work out with them and get back into shape for the 400mH, "my" event. It has changed my life.

Not only does competitive T&F do wonders for your physical condition and sense of well-being, it can renew your faith in the human spirit. I have now run in two USA Masters T&F Championships, and they were among the most inspiring experiences of my life.

It was like being whisked back to an almost mythical era when what really mattered was to do the best you could regardless of how that compared with Olympic standards or even what you used to be able to do. There were no TV commentators adding up the number of medals credited to different countries or speculating about endorsement cuts for second-place finishers. There were no aggressive glares between competitors, just warm and sincere wishes of luck and, after the race, congratulations.

Here in a track meet for old men and women I found where genuine AMATEUR ATHLETICS had been hiding while the Olympics turned into a media circus.

Best of all, we each got a chance to put everything on the line for a timeless moment of aspiration, effort, mastery and pain, for "sixty seconds' worth of distance run" in which defiant spirit and disciplined competence came together briefly to do something we were, by all reckoning, unable to do. A chance to transcend our limits and, perhaps most importantly, a chance to fail.

So hang in there, you guys -- try to keep in shape through those rotten years between 30 and 40 when you get labeled as a "has-been" (hopefully not by yourself!) and there are few competitive opportunities, because when you hit 35 you can run "sub-Masters" and when you hit 40 you can start fresh! Sportsmanship and the competitive spirit are alive and well and waiting for you on the other side of 40!

(Webmaster's note: Jess Brewer took sixth in the 45-49 age group 400m hurdles at the WAVA World Championships in July 1995 in Buffalo, N.Y. He finished in 62.45 at age 49, by far the oldest runner in the race. Winner was American Stan Druckrey, 46, in 56.80.)