WAVA creates new age groups: M100, W100

(This first appeared in Athletics Weekly on April 26, 2000.)

By Ken Stone

Centenarians, rejoice! You don't have to compete against 95-year-old kids anymore in WAVA competition.

The WAVA Council has added a 13th age group for men and a 14th for women to its Rules of Competition. From its Swedish founding in 1977 to now, the oldest age group had been M95 -- 95-and-over. But with the appearance in recent years of 102-year-old shot putters and the healthful aging of some late-90s sprinters, the dozen or so WAVA leaders meeting March 28-31 in Brisbane, Australia, decided to create a new age group: M100.

No 100-year-old has competed in a World Veterans Athletic Championships, but the possibility exists that the 2001 meet in Brisbane may boast a handful.

In other highlights, the WAVA Council:

-- Signed a contract with Kuala Lumpur as host of the 2003 WVAC. At Gateshead last August, delegates from WAVA nations chose Malaysia over Puerto Rico and Cesanatico, Italy -- despite fears of oppressive heat and humidity in early July 2003. At Gateshead, KL promised to pay the way of 100 athletes from poorer countries -- 5 athletes each from 20 nations that normally wouldn't be represented at the world vets meet. An Australian veterans magazine had hinted of "some complications regarding finance" of the Malaysian bid, but those woes apparently weren't dooming.

-- Decided to again submit a name change proposal to the Brisbane General Assembly. WAVA's commercial manager, Ron Bell of Britain, argued at Gateshead that "veterans" was misleading and prevented WAVA from raising sponsorship money. Instead, he proposed the group be renamed WAMA -- the World Association of Masters Athletes. But the 1999 General Assembly fell about eight votes short of the two-thirds approval needed to change the group's name. So the WAVA Council (unanimous in support of the name change) will try again in 2001.

--Named a working group of Torsten Carlius, WAVA treasurer Giuseppe Giuseppe of Italy and Oceania representative Stan Perkins of Australia to study the possibility of "closer cooperation" with the International Masters Games Association, which holds a track meet as part of its multi-sport event every four years, the next one being in Melbourne in 2002. In 1998, the Nike World Masters Games were held in Oregon, USA, and the athletics portion had feeble attendance. Many athletes blamed entry fees that exceeded $200. WAVA leaders also worry that IMGA meets could rob WAVA meets of their importance.

--Launched the latest effort to revise the WAVA Age-Graded Tables, a set of formulas and factors that help athletes compare performances with open competitors as well as each other. The current tables, which have ben used since 1996, have been criticized as being out-of-synch with reality since many performances have exceeded the 100 percent level of late -- and theoretically the 100 percent level is the world record. Rex Harvey of the USA and Wilhelm K–ster of Germany were named to head the revision effort, which should result in a proposal at Brisbane.