More than 70 attend first IAAF/WMA Masters Conference in Torun

More than 70 participants took part in the inaugural IAAF/WMA Masters Conference on 26-27 March in Torun, Poland.

Coinciding with the WMA World Indoor Championships in the northern Polish city, the main objective of the conference, the first such collaboration between the IAAF and World Masters Athletics (WMA), was to contribute to the continuous professional development of master age level athletes - those 35 and older - in a practical and interactive way.

The conference programme consisted of two main parts, "Aspects of Strength Training with Masters" and “Aspects of Endurance Training with Masters”. The first was led by Dietmar Schmidtbleicher, the former Head and Chair of the Department of Exercise Physiology and Movement Science at Goethe-University Frankfurt-Main, and the second by Ulrich Hartmann, head of the Institute for Movement and Training Science at the Faculty of Sport Science at University of Leipzig.

Both began with one-hour presentations by the speakers, followed by another hour of an interactive Q&A session.

"This was the best conference ever for us because topics and content were specific to masters," said WMA President Margit Jungmann who opened the conference.

The sessions were moderated by Günter Lange, the Senior Manager of the IAAF Development Department.

IAAF