Myth Busters
Aren't Vets all grey-haired men with beards and bandaged legs?
Certainly not! Vets are women over 35 and men over 40 (Although the YVAA now treat men over 35 as Vets - see below). There might be a few grey hairs lurking in the pack, but most Vets are beautiful, winsome, intelligent and young for their age. And that’s just the men!
Aren't Vets really slow?
Absolutely not. Of the top 10 in the 2009 Abbey Runners League open competition, 6 were Vets.
So are all Vets really fast?
Nope. Of the bottom 10 in the 2009 Abbey Runners League open competition, 6 were Vets.
Veteran Racing
There are two local organisations who cater for Vets, The YVAA and the NVAC
The YVAA - http://www.yvaa.org/
The YVAA are the Yorkshire Veterans Athletics Association. They organise two sets of local races. Abbey Runners are an affiliated club, so all Abbey Runners can run in their races.
The YVAA Grand Prix
The YVAA Grand Prix is a series of mostly trail races of about 5 miles. Attracting 100 to 200 runners per race, there is a points league for individuals and various team leagues.
During the summer months, some of these races are midweek. As an added bonus, they are also cheap to enter. Race entry is on the day. Young ‘uns (ie non Vets) can enter as guests. The atmosphere is friendly and sociable.
The YVAA Championship
The YVAA Championships are a series of races over various distance. Road distances are 5k to 15 miles (the much-loved Holmfirth 15). The races are mostly open events (entry in advance), so the young ‘uns can also compete. There are also fell, cross-country, relay and track & field events.
Abbey participation in YVAA events has been limited, so it would be great to get a few people out to a few more races. Advance notification of events will be posted on this page and also sent out!
The NVAC - http://www.nvac.co.uk/
The NVAC are the Northern Veterans Athletic Club, to which the YVAA are affiliated. They organise monthly runs – to which anybody can go (although they are in Leigh…), and Championship races, where you have to be an individual paid-up NVAC member to enter.
Age Grading.
The club master of the arcane art of age grading is Derek 'the human calculator' Martin, who uses the relevant race winners times when calculating age (and gender) graded scores for the Abbey Runners league. This has the pleasing result of enabling some participants to score over 100%. The system is explained much more coherently than I ever could at: http://www.abbeyrunners.co.uk/Races/abbeyRoadLge.html
If you are interested in world masters age grading, where your performance is percentage age-graded against the world record, visit http://www.lollylegs.com/training/age_grade.htm. (Note that this usually produces depressingly small percentages).
Affiliations.
Abbey Runners are affiliated to the YVAA who are affiliated to the NVAC who are affiliated to the BVAF who are affiliated to the EVAA who are affiliated to the WMA.
