WP Query $CurAuth

Hi all, trying to get posts of a custom post type for the current author – and order by custom meta. Unfortunately query below seems to pull the same posts for every author and simply change the author id/nicename – not sure what i’m missing here or why the $arg for the author isn’t working.

anyone have a pointer?

<!– This sets the $curauth variable –>
<?php
$curauth = (get_query_var('author_name')) ? get_user_by('slug', get_query_var('author_name')) : get_userdata(get_query_var('author'));
?>

<p>This is <?php echo $curauth->nickname; ?>'s page</p>

<!– The Query–>
<?php

$args = array(
        'author' => '$curauth->ID',
	'post_type' => 'competitor',
        'meta_key' => 'average',
        'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
        'showposts' => 10,
);

$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

?>

<!– The Loop –>
<?php while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) :
	$the_query->the_post(); ?>

<?php
$average = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), 'average', true);
// check if the custom field has a value
if($average != '') {
echo ($average)." <br />";
}
?>
        <?php endwhile; ?>
<!– End Loop –>