bluemt95 wrote:
The Age-Graded system is the only way to go...With the categories below, you can answer the question accurately. For example, If you're in the 60th%, you can answer, "yeah, I'm fast for this area, but nowhere near 'national' class". (for example). I'm upper 40s and grade in the lower 60s, so I'm really, really slow compared to any real runners out there, but can beat most people my age around here. So, "Heck yes, I'm fast!"
Typical percentages are as follows:
100% = Approximate World-Record Level
90+% = World Class
80+% = National Class
70+% = Regional Class
60+% = Local Class
Those categorisations are way off though. If 100% is around the world record, 90% would be about a 14 minute 5k. Not anywhere near world class. 60% would be about 21 minutes. Not local class. You'd struggle to find many parkruns where you could get top 3.