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Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM), the collective of the world’s six greatest marathons, and partners Abbott and Wanda Group announced today the creation of its first global age group marathon ranking system and age group world championships.

The new AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Rankings will launch in September 2018 and the top-ranked age group athletes will qualify to participate in the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in the spring of 2020. The rankings will cover age groups for men and women from age 40 to 80+.

For more than a decade AbbottWMM has celebrated the world’s best professional marathon runners and wheelchair athletes competing in the Tokyo, Boston, Virgin Money London, BMW BERLIN, Bank of America Chicago and TCS New York City Marathons, as well as at the IAAF World Championship and Olympic marathons. This celebration has been expanded through the addition in 2015 of the coveted Six Star Finisher medal for any participant who completes the ‘grand slam’ of events.

This new initiative continues the efforts of AbbottWMM to partner with industry leaders to advance the sport of marathon running, which include a comprehensive IAAF partnership aimed at eradicating doping, and expanding AbbottWMM events to additional locations across the world.

“There has been huge growth in marathon age group running and now more than 125,000 runners aged 40+ participate in AbbottWMM races each year,” said Tim Hadzima, AbbottWMM general manager. “Our series has celebrated the world’s best professional athletes for more than a decade and now it is time to formally celebrate the achievements of age group marathon runners and the truly inspiring stories of these everyday champions.”

“Some of the best stories of health and achievement come from marathon runners,” said Chris Miller, divisional vice president, global brand strategy and Innovation, Abbott. “We’re pleased to recognize these men and women who lead their age classes, juggle demanding training schedules and inspire their friends and families to set big fitness goals. They’re a testament to what’s possible with good health.”

“We are pleased to be able to support Abbott World Marathon Majors’ goal to continue to grow marathoning on a worldwide basis,” said Hengming Yang, chief executive officer for Wanda Sports Holdings. “These initiatives will allow the best marathoners in the world to be able to qualify for and experience the extraordinary Abbott World Marathon Majors standard of race.”

Age Group World Ranking Details

Participants in an AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Ranking qualifying race will earn points according to their age, time and gender, aligned with the following age groups for men and women:

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

75-79

80+

The first qualifying period will begin on Sept. 16, 2018, coinciding with the 2018 BMW BERLIN-MARATHON and the start of AbbottWMM Series XII, and will end on Sept 29, 2019.

The best two results in select qualifying marathons over this period will count for each runner’s ranking. The top-ranked runners in every age group will qualify to run in the spring 2020 AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships. In addition, the top age group runners from any country that has been represented in the qualifying period will also be eligible to register to participate, making this event a truly global competition. The scoring system is available on worldmarathonmajors.com and is outlined below. The date and location of the first AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in spring 2020 will be announced in due course.

Runners’ qualifying times must be recorded at a certified accurate marathon which has been nominated as an AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Ranking qualifying race. Listed below is the current list of the 25+ events around the world, including the six AbbottWMM races and Wanda Group-owned/managed marathons, that have been nominated as qualifying races to date.

AbbottWMM is currently working to include additional marathons as qualifying races. As events are added, the updated list will be available at worldmarathonmajors.com. Race organizers may contact the AbbottWMM team at info@wmmajors.com to obtain further details.

The Scoring System

The maximum points that can be scored in any race by an age-group winner is 4,000.

The age group winners in any AbbottWMM race will automatically get 4,000 points.

Any age group athlete who is within 29 seconds of the age group winning time in an AbbottWMM race receives 10 points less, earning 3990 points. Runners within 30-59 seconds of the winning time receive 20 points less, and those earning times within 1 minute and 29 seconds less than the age group winning time receive 30 points less, and so on.

A platinum time has been calculated for each age group and gender, using standard multiples of the ‘mean’ of the current marathon world record times for each age group and gender. Winners of any age group marathons that are not Abbott World Marathon Majors races must run faster than the platinum time for their age and gender to score 4000 points. The same points degradation according to time behind the winner applies.

If the age group winning time is below the platinum time, then the points awarded to the winner and every subsequent age group runner are reduced by the time the age group winner has missed platinum time for the age and gender of the athlete.

AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Ranking Qualifying Races (as of Nov. 15, 2017) and Platinum times for each age group are listed on www.worldmarathonmajors.comhere :