@Kevin Rogers

Someone asked me the following, and I was unsure of the answer (or rather the SMAI answer):

Is the MWC's age qualification just like Weightlifting (and other masters sports), where the cut off is year of birth, as opposed to the actual day?  I assume it is, because that makes the most sense (obv), but figured I'd ask the man to be sure. 

So it's actual date, as opposed to year? 

So two people with a birthday two days apart...one could be eligible and one could be ineligible?

That seems quite silly, and exactly why other sports don't do it that way. 




IWF - Masters Weightlifting:

A weightlifter can enter the Masters programme on the 1st January in the year he or she becomes 35 years of age regardless of the fact that the birth date may be as late as the 31st December.

National Senior Games (Masters T&F):

AGE FOR COMPETITION AT THE 2015 NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES Age division for all singles competition at the 2015 National Senior Games will be determined by the athlete’s age as of December 31, 2015.

^^ That makes sense.


Edited by C. Smith - 9/22/14 at 12:02pm

It's your birth DAY.  You are either at least 40 years old (some games like Alma--45) on the day of the event, or you aren't.  Sort of like weight class ;-)

Detroitpete wrote: It's your birth DAY.  You are either at least 40 years old (some games like Alma--45) on the day of the event, or you aren't.  Sort of like weight class ;-)

Interesting, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that people in these classes feel this way. 

And yes, I'm kidding....





...kinda. 

I'm merely asking a question to the SMAI, I haven't given my opinion, have I?

And here's where I cease feeding the troll on this.

Oh that Mark, lol. 

Yea, that's my opinion.  I thought you meant regarding what the post was actually about. 

I would hope that people who are close, like Gene was in 2013 (I didn't know that occurred), would be able to compete without people whining about it, especially since there's a precedent in other sports, but....

I'm not even trollin', I just thought it was a legit question for Kevin.  I've seen 4 people answer the question in this thread, and no one cited or linked the actual rule.  the only thing on the SMAI site is just a blurb in the 'about' page.  Is it just a verbal thing/common knowledge thing?

Spring Break 2001 would've been a whole lot funner if drinking age was "year of" rather than actual birthdate

The first statement seems more like fact, no?  Although I suppose there could be another reason those organizations are doing that...

And the second is me stating that people born two days apart may not be able to compete against each other is silly.  It is.  If you want to extrapolate that to whether or not I think it should be yearly for the SMAI, so be it.

Honestly I don't have a dog in the fight, and it was merely a question posed to me.  I wonder if it's been discussed before?  

Interesting.  I would have assumed USATF would be in line with IWF and National Seniors Games. 

Old people are the worst.

a good reason for a cutoff date would be based on time of year the event is scheduled. unlike most sports the MWC is not at the same time each year. Some years it is in spring, others in fall etc. A person in theory could compete 6 times in an age class or only 4 times in an other based on this.

So a good question

Craig your funny, I thought the answer to your question was obvious. And origanlly I don't think it was calculated but I wasn't incharge. But I think they just went with what was already in place in the established 50 class. Which was you turned 50 you were ok to throw in the 50 class. Very Scottish, very simple. Lots of folks didn't think the 50's belonged. Now you got names like Alistair Gunn throwing, people want to know the results. Changing it at this point, would be more of a hassle and fight than anyone of us needs or wants to deal with at this point.