What’s your age group? Strange policy reported
A few days ago, I got this intriguing query: “Is the January 1, 2005, age determination date set by the State Games of America legal (for lack of a better term)? What is the age determination date for the National Masters Track Meet that is going to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in August 2005?” Second question is easy. The first got me to wondering.
Different organizations have different rules for defining age groups. In World Masters Athletics and USA Track & Field, your age group hinges on your age on the first day of the meet.
But competitions of the National Senior Games Association and its circuit of state and city Senior Olympics (aka Senior Games, Senior Sports Festivals, etc.) say your age group is decided by your age as of Dec. 31 the year of the event. So theoretically, you could turn 50 on Dec. 31, 2005, and compete as an M50 the entire season despite being 49.
These meets are often run by local jurisdictions — parks departments, etc. — that don’t give a hoot for USA Track & Field standards of meet management.
The WMA/USATF rule has its quirks, though. In 2003, for example, Dr. Stephen Peters was 49 on the first day of the meet but turned 50 a day or two into the meet. But he competed as an M45 for the whole meet.
Here’s the interesting part. A day after he turned 50, Peters ran 22.58 in the M45 semis with a legal wind (0.9 mps). That represented a world age-group record at 200 meters. WMA later ratified the mark as an M50 world record — even though he competed as an M45.
But the idea of Jan. 1 determining your age group for the whole year is new to me. If you turn 50 on Jan. 2, you’re screwed. You have to compete as an M45 for the whole year, despite being 50 all season.
I Googled the State Games of America to find its official Web site, and guess what: The link is dead. Maybe the link — http://www.stategames.org/ — will be revived in the near future so we can question this policy with its makers.
I did find the signup page, though. As well as an info page (with dead links).
Legal? Maybe.
Correct? Not by a long shot.
2 Responses
The current system screws some of us as well.
I’m not 40 yet but when I do turn 40, it wont be until the fall, late October to be exact. So since most of the outdoor championship meets aren’t until July or August, I will practically be 41 before I can even compete in the 40-45 age group. It’s not a huge deal but let’s face it most of the records are set at age 40 or 41 and I can only compete for one of those seasons.
Just have a comment about the State Games of America that will be held in Colorado. I have had the experience of competing the last few years in the throwing events at the Rocky Mountain
State games, which is run by the Sportscorp. that is based out of Colorado Springs and will be running the State games America championships this summer. First year I competed
( Only throwing events they offer at the Rocky Mountain State Games are Shot and discus), the discus area was flooded (at Air force Academy) The officals were inexperienced about rules and when they posted our results, they misspelled our names, put us in wrong age groups while mixing up distances with other throwers. I wrote to them several times before getting a response and an apology that it would not happen again in the future and to their credit they told the truth. At last years competition… they just lost our results!!!!! After 5 months of contacting them again they apologized and made up some other lame excuse as to why they couldn’t find the results and that it would not happen again. BEWARE folks is all I have to say if you’re thinking of competing at the State games of America championships this Summer.
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