Vet age categories

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CumbriAndy
CumbriAndy
12 Sep
10:17am, 12 Sep 2024
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CumbriAndy
larkim wrote:Our local league has just added a new category, men's Vet 35-39, which brings it in line with the women's categories. Harmonisation seems perfectly correct. But I'm surprised they've added a V35, rather than take away the women's V35 category.


Regardless of where the boundaries between categories could/should be, once the decision has been made to harmonise categories, the decision taken isn't remotely surprising to me. It's far easier, and much less likely to attract controversy and manufactured social media backlash, to be perceived as 'giving' something to one group rather than 'taking' from another. Given a choice between providing one extra prize (per event/series?) and dealing with probable howls of protest from females between 35 and 40 asserting that they are being disadvantaged/discriminated against, I'd go for the 'quiet life' option too.
larkim
larkim
12 Sep
10:52am, 12 Sep 2024
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larkim
Yep, I can sort of see that. No-one is really upset by the V35M addition, even if I find it a little odd. Whereas there would definitely have been some V35F runners who would have been aggrieved at their competition being taken away.
SPR
SPR
12 Sep
10:57am, 12 Sep 2024
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SPR
It's also not really about them, they are falling in line with how vets is done everywhere else.
larkim
larkim
12 Sep
11:06am, 12 Sep 2024
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larkim
SPR wrote:It's also not really about them, they are falling in line with how vets is done everywhere else.

That's the bit I take issue with, or at least have a different gut feeling about, but perhaps my gut is wrong!! London Marathon doesn't categorise like that (though GNR does). The Manchester XC league doesn't (for men, though it does for women). Chester marathon does V35, but Eryri does V40+ only. Power of 10 includes V35 too.

Odd that there is no unanimity about it.
SPR
SPR
12 Sep
11:13am, 12 Sep 2024
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SPR
The vets associations are clear. I guess competitions that are technically doing their own thing rather than official vet comps might use their own rules.

Is London doing F35 and M40 or have they equalised to 40 instead?
SPR
SPR
12 Sep
11:19am, 12 Sep 2024
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SPR
The British Master Road Relays champs works in 10 year band teams, presumably for practicality so although the age where vets start officially is clear, the bands aren't set at 5 years all the time.

In terms of vets comps, a proper vets comp on track would have different rules about shoes officially Vs one for all for example (ignoring the lack checking of course).
larkim
larkim
12 Sep
11:26am, 12 Sep 2024
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larkim
London is 40+ for both sexes.

And, interestingly, the poll is clear that 40+ is the most "accepted" cut over.
SPR
SPR
12 Sep
11:37am, 12 Sep 2024
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SPR
Oh I voted V40, I imagine most men would as well as that's what it was before. I can just see why M35 works and is a good gateway rather than having potentially 5 years of disillusion for some where they are competing against seniors but not competitive. Given the pathway to marathon used to be around the time your decline at track distances had started though, it not surprised that marathon runners would see 40 as where things start to decline.

BTW London is a Masters qualifying race even though they don't have M35 as a GFA category.

englandathletics.org
larkim
larkim
12 Sep
11:42am, 12 Sep 2024
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larkim
Yes, perhaps it's a marathon-linked perception on my part. An elite sprinter over 35 would be less common, same for an elite up to 5k I'd guess. And, as a complete aside, the world is changing around that mentality that years of high performance are needed to progress to marathons too, so increasingly younger athletes are racing and winning marathon, so that may also create an impetus towards considering 35+ to be vet stage more widely.
SPR
SPR
12 Sep
11:51am, 12 Sep 2024
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SPR
It's interesting as if it can be shown there's a benefit to starting marathons younger in terms of time then that will happen (as long as the money is there) and as you say older runners will find it harder to compete. At the moment there's probably still a balance where you can be losing a bit of sharpness at 5k and 10k but convert very well at marathon. Kipchoge and Bekele wouldn't have medalled in the 5000 in the 2020 Olympics (2021) for example and I don't they had the capacity to train to be competitive whereas as younger runner may still have that capacity (Hassan is a good example of that).

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Maintained by larkim
Where do you think Vet age categories should start in races / leagues?

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