Question......Should there be an Over 35 Mens section in all road races??? Some time back, John Dunphy of Midleton AC left a message on the blog suggesting that all road races should have an 'Over 35' section for men. At present, men have to be at least 40 to qualify for prizes in the Veterans section in each race. For AAI races like the 'County Road' or 'Cross Country' races, anyone aged 35 or over is classified as a Veteran or Master runner. In most road races at present, there is an Over 35 section for women.
Case for it........More interesting for any men in the 35 to 39 age category? Or even for runners who are 33 to 34 knowing that they can compete in that section soon? Even handed approach....if it is there for women, why not for men?
Case against it.......Additional costs for organisers??? Leading to higher overall entry fees??? Any demand for it??? Enough categories already???
This is John Dunphy's case for it....
I think it's about time that the mens over 35's became a catergory in all local road races. I would imagine that there would be some good competition in this age group. It's really annoying that in all the local races that they have this age catergory only for women but class mens over 35's as male senior. Race organizer's take note....be fair....I'm pushing from now on for this age catergory to be a part of each event so that mens over 35's have an opportunity to compete rather than making up the number's at local race's. John I appeal to you to put a new poll on the blog asking should all road races have a mens over 35's catergory in the interest of fairness.......John Dunphy, Midleton AC
Do you agree or disagree? Should there be an over 35 category for men at all races??
Click on the comments link below to see leave your opinion...
19 comments:
Definitely for, but I am biased because a) at the age of 38 I'm in that age group and b) I surprisingly managed to win the O35 age group award in Liscarroll the other week, and it felt great to get some reward.
Definitely against, it will lower standards amongst over 35s who will be picking up soft prizes, and further encourage mediocrity at a time when we need to raise the standards in road running. They should concentrate on competing well as a senior while they are still capable of a pb. Lots of men peak at over 35 including Carlos Lopez who won the Olympic Marathon 24 years ago at age 37 and ran a 2-07 world record the following year. The argument that its unequal compared to the women is easily solved by abolishing their category, after all some of the best women in the country are over 35 including Pauline Curley who was selected for the Olympics at 39. My adice is to aim higher gentlemen and forget the soft prizes, when you stop improving thats the time to settle for vet's prizes.
As someone who is over35 i am against an over35 category for men.i took up running approx2 years ago and what challenges me to keep trainig and racing is to improve my times and position against all competitors.i don't want to settle for being high up in my age group.Hopefully with this attitude in 2 or 3years i will be competing higher up the order.i think you have to block out the age thing when running because in my experience the person who looks 'superfit' ends up behind you and the runner who looks old enough to be your dad comes flying passed you with a smile on his face.Terry higgins.
Yes im for it if it applys to women why not the men,if it was the other way round we would know all about it,as the chap said he won the liscarroll mens over 35 catergory and felt great to get some reward,John himself picked up a prize for 2nd over 35's in the same race and he is right to push for it,im sure he is doing this to give people who could do well in this catergory a better chance of bettering themselves in the over 35's catergory and giving them something to aim for good luck to him.and for higher entry fees im sure the increased number of runners for each race should hopefully allow for some extra prizes.
I would be against the idea of having an O35 category. Over 35 is hardly past it and anyway a no. of races are already being won by athletes over the age of 35. What better incentive than to put the young fellas in their place by beating them! It should also be removed for the women. Getting the results can take long enough at some races, by adding another category will only add to the delay.
Two points why would John research anything involving over 50's over 60's over 65's when he is asking the question and making a point that applys to an over 35's catergory,
Anyone over 35 should compete in that catergory men or women not all over 35's can stay with the fast senior lads or fast senior women remember that.And let me tell you he is right when he said there would be some good competition in that catergory here in cork.
Best runner in cork over the last few months had to be Sean Mcgrath i dont think Sean is over 35's How many over 35's beat Sean this year???
I'm for it. It's scientific fact that average male loses speed from mid-30's onwards. Of course you will find the odd exceptions to this, particularly at the longer distances such as the marathon (e.g. Lopez, Dita, Curley etc..) but less so at 5k/10k etc.. over which most of the local road races are run. I am over 35 male, and race against all age groups, but am mindful that I have both natural advantage and disadvantage compared to others, and think that this should be reflected in the race results by category.
Hi John,
I would just like to thank all who have left comments on this subject, it has opened up an interesting debate and its good to see all giving an honest opinion on how they feel about this age catergory and using the vote button also,just so all knows im not doing this to try and benefit myself i will soon be moving out of this age group and into the over 40 catergory and have never done to well against alot of the over 35's anyway but have always felt this should be introduced so new runners that enter the running scene from say 33 years old onwards would get the opportunity to compete rather than make up the numbers in local and BHAA events,Hopefully race organizers will consider and introduce this catergory for 2009 it can only benefit runners that would welcome it and go to events knowing they can compete this will also encourage guys to increase their training knowing they have a chance to be in amongst the prizes.
John Dunphy
Midleton AC
If there was a new cat. to be introduced??? would it not be a better idea to introduce a novice cat. This would allow the majority of the large number of athletes racing to get a prize thoughout the year, instead of the same athletes getting the prizes in every race whether it be senior, vets or Over35?
Back on the 0ver 35 topic. I believe there are already too many categories and I think they should reduce the number of categories and improve the quality of the prizes. I think there should be just 4 categories. Senior men, 40 to 50, 50 to 60 and over 60.
Also its worth pointing out that two of our bust runners Roy and Colin are both in the 35 to 40 category which backs up the theory that runners can be improving up to 40!! (at least)
On the last comment,Thats fair enough but these two guys would normally finnish in the top 2 or three at any race they compete in, and they would be at a much higher level than 95% of over 35 athletes in Cork.
Hi at first i was'nt to sure about the over 35 catergory,at present im 31 and dont stand a chance of prizes at any race and it never bothered me,i was going to vote dont care till i saw John Dunphy's comment and thought he is doing this to give the likes of me the chance to attend races in the future and compete in my own age group if introduced and that made reliase if i put the effort in,in a few years from now who knows i might be able to compete so John has got my vote.
John - I am for it most definitely.
The age categorisation is good for seeing how you are doing versus your similarly aged peers. You may finish in 100th place, but you may finish in top 10 in your age group. If can give extra impetus to runners if they can see how they are performing in their own age group. There does not necessarily need to be prizes for each category, but in the final result it would be nice to see how you are doing.
In all triathlon events, the age groups are used, and while you may finish well down the field, you can see how you performed in your repective category. In most of these events, there is not normally prizes for each top 3 in each age group, but overall prizes, and sometimes prizes for top of age group.
The argument that it would take too much time to get results out is a bit of a red herring. It is only one extra field to be filled in and seeing as all the results are on computer now, it is not a big deal.
At races you could register as an age grouper, or if you are modest about your age, could register as "out of category"
For the record, I am over 35
There seemed to be quiet a few over 35's at last Sunday's half marathon judgeing by the results, im sure this gave the men the oppurtunity to go out there and compete, i also read that they decided to give prizes for the first 3 male over 35's due to an error on their part with the application forms,my question is did all the recent fuss over the 35's men's catergory have any impact on this decision???Can this be answered by St finbarr's and also can other clubs come forward and give a statement on this subject and let us know if they will consider introducing this catergory.
I believe that if we had a 35-40 category of prizes it would motivate me to compete even harder and to improve as a runner as I might have a prize to aim for.
Most of us in the 35-40 category know we have no chance of finishing in the top 3 overall so why not include over 35`s?
I reckon of the overall number of runners in a given race a substantial number of runners would fall into this category ..so, without a prize in our own category ,we are merely subsidising all the other category prizes with our entry fee.
This debate has to be taken into consideration by the BHAA and local race organizer's (Ballycotton Running Promotions),to date none of the above have made a comment on it and i reckon this has to be the biggest debate since this blog started,its time the runners point of view was listened too after all its us that keep the races up and running just look at how many people voted since the half marathon its obvious that alot of the over 35's enjoyed running in this catergory during this race and saw how they did in their section,also by the comments made runners want this introduced there is is to many for then against when you read the comments.i am over 35.
Problem can be easily solved by breaking down results into each age category, as is done stateside, without having to provide prizes for each category, & then the over 35's can feel as competitive in their category as the over 70's in theirs. Can't understand the logic of 'over 35's enjoying running in this category' as opposed to them not enjoying it if they are running Senior...afterall, its still the same race whether there is a prize or not...does a athlete not run to the best of their ability? The thought of having to provide a prize to make the result feel more worthwhile sounds really childish to me. I don't beleive any racing organisers in the county should make comment on this subject, afterall it is a private matter to all clubs. All organisations surely run on a budget & why make prizes seem like charity. The standards have dropped dramatically, & from the sounds of a lot of replies it seems like people are out for an 'easy prize'. You will see the stats from the 80's...5 milers where athletes running over 26 minutes would be classed as 'also rans', now 26 minutes would definitly get a prize at most 5 milers. It must take more than a prize to motivate people, afterall how many of us head straight for the prize table to judge the quality or availability of prizes at a race when we arrive...I doubt anybody does. We run because we love it.
No def not. Or for women. 40 should be the age for both men and women and in my opionion this is when the body starts going a bit slower. i know there are some brilliant runners over 40 but in general especially if you have been running competively all your life you start to slow down at 40 +....not at 35 !!
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