Also, even if volunteers mismark people's age groups, if you really need the extra motivation of knowing that someone is in your age group when they pass you, or when you see them ahead of you then that is kind of weak. People shouldn't care if they are in the same age group or not, just beat them!

Okay--I'm totally confused. December 31 of the current year or preceding year?

My birthday is Jan. 11. I turned 50 on Jan. 11, 2005. Does that mean I should have raced in the 45-49 age group all through 2005 since I was 49 on 12/31/04 or should I have raced in the 50-54 age group (as I did) all through 2005 since I was 50 on 12/31/05?

I'm thinking the latter, but some if these posts have me confused.

we're freshman in our AG! :) I'll be 36! I think I like my b-day better than yours, although no one ever wants to go out on mine, because the big party is the next night! :(

Its your age on 12/31/200x/ So, you were 50 right, so you would have raced as you did, the 50-54 AG.

Its looking forward, not backwards.

Seems the rule is fair, and makes it much easier to implement.



As an example, I raced against a guy this season who had his birthday in July, when he turned 50. So, he was screwed. They would not let him race "up" since he was not 50 yet. But, since we were racing in a series race, he was stuck racing the entire season as a 45-49, and I beat him. If he could have raced like the new rule, he would have won the series 50-54 AG.



Dave

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I think attempts to coordinate and reduce confusion should be supported. Of course I now have to go tell my online registration to change the program. In the horse show world its always been similar. January 1 is every horse's birthday. So they show in the age group they would be moving up to during the year. It's why the breeding season is February through May...so that the foals will be born as close to January 1 as possible. It really sucks if the horse is born December 31st because they will officially become a yearling the next day.

Dec 31, 2006. Whatever your age on that date, that is the AG you race in starting Jan 1, 2006

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And will Xterra follow? They use your age on Jan 1 of the current year. I won the 40-44 at one race because the 40-year-old ahead of me was actually only 39 at the beginning of the year so he raced 35-39.

Mostly just glad that my end of year birthday means something better than the tradidional cheadskate birthday/christmas present combo. However the 31st is CLEARLY superior to the 30th because.........um,....well it just is.

Kevin

Yep, us December babies (22nd for me) will be all screwed up....I'll just turn 46 next month and then get to be 47 all next year. Damn. ;-)

I suppose racing at age 49 will be interesting...quick jump to 50. I'll see how I react to this change at that time!

I wonder if your parents were as happy as mine, being a tax deduction and all! ;)

It's a good idea IMO - standardizes the AGs. Personally I'm deeply unhappy that I'll have my first season in 45-49 racing against those young whippersnapper 44-year-olds.. oh well. The year of turning 50 will be a good year.

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Are you sure? I saw at http://www.globaltrigroup.com that the GTG competitive rules are undergoing changes for 2006. No specifics on the website, though.

I know that it does not sound like alot to some of you but there are some studs in the 30-35 AG that I did not feel like having to race next year.

This sucks. Yes I am a big baby, yes I know that it is about the race and not just AG wins, no I have not had my coffee yet.

Good stuff, Man. Good stuff.

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We have this rule here in Canada. Last year, in MOST of my Canadian races I raced 40-44 since I turned 40 before Dec 31st, but I was 39 chronologically for all my races (there were some races where they made me race 35-39). In two of my races where I finished 3rd and 6th overall, the overall winner was 40-44, so I finished 2nd in that age group, although I would have won 35-39... go figure.

In my last race of the year, I managed to win the 40-44 and I got no end of grief from the real 40-44's who claimed that I was "too young" to be "really be racing them". In any event, in that event I would have won 35-39, so go figure. You can't lwin :-(.

I do wish that they used my age on Dec 31 for Ironman LP. My time would have got me a Kona slot in 40-44, but I was 11 min off the back in 35-39 if I recall correctly.

Bottom line is that there is no perfect formula. You win some, you lose some. You can't control which studs are going to show up and open a can of "whooooop ass". All you can do is do your best race and the cards fall where they fall.

This discussion is kinda silly. Everyone will spend 5 years in each age group, just as before. OK, so you might age up sooner, you also age "out" again sooner too. You still spend 5 years in 45-49 for example.

Normally, young athletes want to stay in the lower age group. Somewhere around 40, athletes want to age up. It effects everyone equally over time. Now, if you plan on only doing triathlons for a couple of years, maybe then it would affect you.

This reminds me of the argument I had once with my 6 yr old daughter. She couldn't be convinced she was being ripped off with a December Birthday. She had to wait all year for her birthday while her friends that had April and May birthdays only had to wait 4 and 5 months.

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At least I still won't be in Joe's age group.... ;-)

If this policy drifts north into Ontario it means I get to jump up an AG. They currently base your age on a September 30th date for most of the series since they are finished racing by then. My birthday is Oct. 4 so next year I would likely have been the oldest in my AG every race I did. It doesn't really make too much difference to me since I don't care what AG anyone is in, I'll try to be ahead of them and M35-39 or 40-44 are pretty much equally competitive. If they do adopt that change here the worst thing will be that 2 of my training buddies and I were all going to be in the 35-39 division next year for a showdown at Muskoka .... The JAM cup (Jeff vs. Allan vs. Mike) won't have the same cachet if I'm not starting in the same wave as them :)

Allan, I think the rest of Triathlon Canada and its federations use Dec 31. Its just trisport that seems to use Sep 30th. Somersault and the Quebec races use Dec 31.

In any event, I was looking forward to a year without having to race Faulds, but there are no shortage of other 40-44 studs.

Not that it affects me, but does anyone know if GTG will use age on race day or Dec 31? If so, I'll be racing Faulds at Ironman LP (and getting hammered pretty good...)

Race Day. :-( See 3.2 http://www.globaltrigroup.com/...competitiverules.pdf

The GTG competitive rules for 2006 are under review and will be revised according to http://www.globaltrigroup.com

Duh. Thanks. Skipped right over that. He might still be racing Dev.

How did you expect people to respond to the new system? Would "I know this screws me but that doesn't matter because there may be some random person somewhere who is benefitting from it" be more appropriate? Of course people are responding based on how it affects them. Is that an earth shattering concept?

I agree that it all evens out -- you will have some people moved out of your age group but you will have other people moved in. However, it is going to create A LOT of confusion -- particularly when people race 1 weekend in a USAT event and then next weekend in a non-USAT event. How can you NOT see the confusion that is sure to happen? 99.99% of people racing triathlons in the US are NOT racing internationally so the argument that this will help clear up things at the Worlds is not very convincing.

[reply]you and me! My b-day is December 30th!![/reply]

I am with you guys, my birthday is dec 17th. Does that mean I will be in the 35-39 age group the season after this one??? man...

It's interesting reading this thread and seeing how all the youngsters dread aging up early, whereas us old farts look forward to aging up early. It doesn't do squat for me. My birthday is in April so unless I do a triathlon in February or March in 2009 when I age up again I will never race in an age group before I actually become that age. It probably will be confusing to begin with until non-USAT sanctioned races make it clear as to whether they will use race day age or 12/31 age. The only other thing that might be hard to determine is looking at a previous year's results and determing if that stud or studette who kicked butt as x8 or x3 year old turned x9 or x4 before 12/31, and will now be moving up to your age group with the new rule. In the long run I think it will even out, but for the yound stud puppies who where looking forward to one more year in the younger age group, they feel screded. But in 5 years they'll be on the other end.

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I would like to think the rocket scientists that read their licenses, that say RACING AGE 35 YO, will be able to figure out that even though they aren't quite 35 yet. You tell the way overpaid volunteer that got up early on their day off to help make your race a better one, your RACING AGE instead of 34 yo and nine months is actually 35-39. Thank you for your support.