Vet age categories

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SPR 11 Sep 3:17pm, 11 Sep 2024 46,055 posts	0 SPR When I said it doesn't matter that wasn't saying why are you thinking about it, I meant from a competition point of view (where there's one vet prize per sex regardless of age and you think 35-39 should be part of that).
SPR 11 Sep 3:21pm, 11 Sep 2024 46,056 posts	0 SPR you think 35-39 shouldn't* be part of that
DaveG 11 Sep 3:48pm, 11 Sep 2024 462 posts	0 DaveG Wava would be a good way to look at this. If the best time for that age doesn't differ much to the best time for any age there's no need for a vet category. Looking at half marathon times and the 97 category on the Standards page: Men aged 30: 59:46 Men aged 35: 1:00:05 Men aged 40: 1:01:48 Women aged 30: 1:06:29 Women aged 35: 1:07:06 Women aged 40: 1:08:40 It's hard to justify that a vet 35 is needed. For men it 19 seconds slower for a half than a 30 year old, for women it's 37 seconds. I'm not convinced that's a big difference to require a separate category. The 40 year old times, compared to 30, are 2:02 for men and 2:11 for women. That feels much more like a disadvantage due to age.
jda 11 Sep 3:55pm, 11 Sep 2024 17,781 posts	0 jda I expect most elite/pro are retired at 35, but as WAVA shows there's not really a significant drop-off below 40. I don't care but would probably choose to start at 40 if I was making a decision.
Derby Tup 11 Sep 3:58pm, 11 Sep 2024 67,893 posts	0 Derby Tup 60. Anyone below are just pesky kids
Raemondo 11 Sep 4:00pm, 11 Sep 2024 12,083 posts	0 Raemondo 35 is usually the start of eligibility for Veteran rugby teams - and more commonly for men than women, although as the number of women playing has been increasingly steadily for the last 20 years, no doubt we'll soon have enough still going and over 35 to start having more women's veteran teams too. And then it will be my time to shine. Although, of course, we confuse everyone by having even our Under 6s be Vets 😁
larkim 11 Sep 4:21pm, 11 Sep 2024 25,555 posts	0 larkim WAVA isn't a disconnected data set though. WAVA is calculated with a fundamental philosophy that ages > 34 have factors which are calculated on a per year basis, whereas up to that point the 18-35 category is a flat factor. If they moved the goalposts to say wava "senior adult" category was defined as 18-39 then you'd not see any differences in the age grades. That said, one of my other observations was just that - that the World Masters Athletics organisation recognises vets categories from 35 upwards, which also surprised me when I discovered it!
SPR 11 Sep 4:42pm, 11 Sep 2024 46,057 posts	0 SPR I'm surprised you're surprised by that Larkim. I'd be more surprised by a total disconnect in how WMA do things and the categories.
SPR 11 Sep 4:48pm, 11 Sep 2024 46,058 posts	0 SPR Back to my original point though, if 35-39 are competing against themselves in a category no one is disadvantaged and anything that's 10 year categories has big disadvantages at the end ranges.
Nick Cook 11 Sep 5:28pm, 11 Sep 2024 36,573 posts	0 Nick Cook Derby Tup wrote:60. Anyone below are just pesky kids Yep