Posted: June 8, 2005

Athletics: The Flyer Handicap - An Age And Weight Handicap Model For 5K Road Races

A system developed by two UD professors encourages older and heavier runners to compete in races

DAYTON, Ohio - Two University of Dayton professors have leveled the playing field for all runners, regardless of their height and weight.

The professors - Paul Vanderburgh, chair of UD's department of health and sport science, and Lloyd Laubach, associate professor of health and sport science, who are both exercise physiologists - have developed The Flyer Handicap, a scientifically based system for adjusting a runner's race time based on age and body weight.

“This is a way to encourage older and heavier runners to compete,” Vanderburgh said. “The idea is to open people's eyes to say, 'Physiologically, for my age and weight, I am doing pretty well.'”

The Flyer Handicap formula statistically changes each runner's age to 25 and body weight to 110 pounds for women and 143 pounds for men. The only information needed to calculate the handicap is a runner's actual time, weight and age.

The professors piloted The Flyer Handicap at two races, the “Make a Difference, Save a Life” 5K on April 9 and the Derby Dash on May 8, with good results and positive feedback. While both were 5K races, the formula can be adapted for other races, such as marathons.

For example, a 50-year-old, 207-pound runner in the Derby Dash completed the race in 22 minutes, but did not place. However, after his time was calculated using The Flyer Handicap, he placed third out of 63 male runners in all age groups.

Vanderburgh and Laubach will test The Flyer Handicap at the 18th annual Lou Cox 5K Run and Fitness Walk, which starts at 9 a.m. Monday, May 30, at Welcome Stadium on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard. The professors will weigh runners before the race, then after runners finish, compute their adjusted race times. Plaques will be awarded to the top five men and women in The Flyer Handicap.

“This creates another reward system; it doesn't replace the existing reward systems,” Vanderburgh said. “There are a fair number of runners who tend to be a little heavier and a little older who don't get recognized in races. The handicap is not designed to give the same people another award.”

The professors believe theirs is the first physiologically valid runner's handicap because it's calculated using scientific data regarding age, body weight and maximum oxygen consumption.

Vanderburgh and Laubach developed The Flyer Handicap off and on during the past several years. In 2000, they published a paper about using handicaps for people training for military service, then refined that for the runners' application.

The professors hope most race directors will adopt The Flyer Handicap. Indeed, they envision an automated system in which the computer chips runners wear on their shoes to track when they cross the finish line also would be used to calculate their handicaps.

“It's so simple,” Vanderburgh said. “We've had a really good response to it so far.”

From: -- Kristen Wicker

What is the Flyer Handicap?
The Flyer Handicap is your 5K race time adjusted by age and body weight. This adjusted run time is a precise computation of what your equivalent time would be if you were younger and lighter, specifically 25 years old and 110 lbs for women and 143 lbs for men. Your resulting score can then be compared to that of any other adult runner of different age If you are younger or lighter than these figures, then for the purposes of computing your adjusted time, the baseline figures are entered for your age and/or body weight. Dr. Paul M. Vanderburgh and Dr. Lloyd L. Laubach developed it at the University of Dayton, Dayton, OH.

Rules

1. Only 5K run times faster than 35:00 are used.
2. Men and women younger than 25 will have "25" used as their age for purposes of computations.
3. Men and women lighter than 143 lbs and 110 lbs, respectively, will have these values used as their weights for purposes of computation.
4. Posted results will list only Bib #, Name, Actual Time, and Adjusted Race Time (no weights or ages!).
5. Overall winners are not eligible for Flyer Handicap Awards but age-group and Clydesdales winners are.

Download the Excel spreadsheet to calculate Flyer Handicap.