highspinner wrote:
Interesting discussion on the SP weights and throwing the heavier implements. I for one do not, I repeat do not want to throw the heavier stuff, my back hurts as it is. So let me pose a question out there to my fellow 50 and older competitors. What weight shot would the 50-54 age have to throw to come close to the WR 75 foot distance? Same for the 55-59 group. Discusdoc, what weight discus would you have had to thrown in your 50's to come close to the 70 meter mark? We could do the same for hammer or weight or javelin. Is it possible for the 50-59 year group to throw say the 5K shot 23 meters? the 600K javelin 90 meters? the 1K discus 70 meters? Or the 60-69 year olds to throw the 4k shot 23 meters? Here I am looking forward to going to the 60 year old group in October so I can just try and stay even with what I threw a couple of years ago.
Mike T.
M-59 thrower
This is a good question. Should we change the implements to allow us to approach Olympic numbers, or stay as they are, and just compare our results with our age cohort (which is the only thing we should care about now)? If you're going to change the weights, the men's implements have a lot of wiggle room (except for disc). But the women are pretty much up against the limit as it is. The manic patriarchs who control the rules-making have decided that we "little old ladies" can only handle really light implements: shot is down to 3kg, with, I guess, a baseball the next step; hammer also 3kg, so as we get ever older we'll just be throwing a chain.
Jav's the real killer. Not only do we have to buy a new jav at age 50, but ANOTHER one at age 60! Maybe the rules-makers are well-off, but I'm going to have to cancel my cable TV service to be able to afford a brand-new 400gr stick. And stick it certainly is! It was bad enough having to throw a 500gr jav in Masters', then go home and throw a 600gr at college. But 400 grams? C'mon! That's going to be like trying to throw a pencil for distance!!! When are the high muckymucks going to realize that today's 60-year-old woman is most definitely NOT the same as the 60's of 15-20 years ago? Either change the rules to reflect today's realities, or take up a collection to buy me a new 400gr (aarrgghh!) jav.