Performance Index by TrackMaxx (PIT) |
TrackMaxx wants to focus even stronger on your performance and publishes the Performance Index by TrackMaxx PIT at most competitions.
The PIT enables fair comparisons between runners of different age groups and genders. In this way, for example, the performance of a 50-year-old female runner can be compared with that of a 25-year-old male runner. The PIT shows the age- and gender-specific changes in performance.
The higher your score, the better your performance. The average daily winner has a PIT of 100.
A performance with PIT 70 is therefore to be rated higher than a performance with PIT 65.
What you can compare with the PIT
Thanks to the age- and gender-specific weighting of your results, you have the opportunity to measure yourself against all other participants within an event. Your weighted running time is shown in the 'Time PIT' column.
You can also compare your performance over several years or different events. By evaluating the best PIT time of the day at 100%, influences such as temperature, wind and inclines are eliminated. However, your PIT may be slightly lower in a race with a fast elite field compared to a race with slower participants.
How we calculate the PIT
We basically use the established 'Age Graded Factors' of the World Masters Athletics Association WMA to calculate the relative age performance. The current values are based on evaluations and calculations from 2020 1.
The WMA provides Age Graded Factors for every age and most standard distances. At TrackMaxx, we use the factors that best match the distance and extrapolate each result using these factors. This gives us an age-standardized running time for your performance. 2.
Based on our comprehensive data analysis of all the available results at TrackMaxx, we have determined that the age-graded factors provided overestimate the performance of older female runners in particular. We therefore extrapolate the running times of women with an appropriate factor so that the results of women and men can be compared in a largely gender-neutral way.
In order to enable a comparison that is as standardized as possible regardless of the course profile and other influences such as wind, temperature, etc., our software assigns the respective 'standardized daily winner' the PIT 100. Your personal PIT value is then the %-tual performance of your age- and gender-standardized running time in relation to the daily winner.
Howard Grubb and Alan Jones have compiled an overview of the derivation and assessment of age-graded factors: http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/
