Darian Townsend entered a masters meet in Mesa over the weekend and broke five world records in the 25-29 age group. This was Townsend's first masters meet. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Townend is a three-time Olympian and gold medalist from South Africa.
Swimswam.com posted a story about Townend's incredible meet. Here's the link: swimswam.com/.../
I found the comments quite interesting especially this one by "HMMM":
I have no problem with athletes making money off of Masters but why have a separate division called Masters if there are no rules or restrictions? None of the sponsored people you mention in their 50′s are training for Rio are they?. Most people in Masters believe they are swimming against recreational swimmers which is why there is a separate Masters division and those records are set by recreational/retired swimmers. If Phelps remains retired and wants to swim Masters, well there goes a few records in his age group but none of us in our club would have a problem with it. We discussed that very subject this morning after practice and Phelps, like Rowdy Gaines is retired and would welcome him. Many of us have swam against and met Rowdy and it is a true honor to share the pool with him in a Masters meet. But our entire team would have a huge problem if Lochte decides to swim a Masters meet while he is still fully training for the Olympics and blows all the records out of the water. If Lochte swims 12 events, he is going to walk away with 12 records. Why have a separate record book? If he can do that, you might as well just call us all USA swimmers and do away with the Masters division. There are meets where fully training pros swim and they are called Grand Prix’s, Nationals, and Worlds. Call us old fashioned, call us Masters swimmers, but we all think Masters should be separate from the training pros..
So I'm curious what the rest of you think. Should someone like Darian Townend or Ryan Lochte be allowed to swim in masters meets when they are professional swimmers who are training full-time? And maybe "allowed" is a poor choice or word. The bottom line is do you think they have any business swimming masters meets?
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I think it's fantastic. What a neat opportunity to line up next to the best. I'd be on the lookout for any regional Master's meet where I had that opportunity to do so. The excitement surrounding a swimmer of that level would be so exciting for me. My general rule of thumb is no more than 8 hours in the car for a meet b/c that's all my back can take and still be 'swimmable' that day. I'd be inclined to jump a regional flight to hit up a meet with an Olympic hopeful on the blocks.
There are two guys on my Masters squad who specifically target low volume/low competition meets so they don't have to find out how good they really aren't. Their desire to have a high finish is so important they selectively choose the weakest fields to ensure the best chance. When the big meets come around it's 'oh I'm really busy that week' or 'my shoulder has been bothering me'. The excuse machine is so reliable it makes the Navy Master Clock look clunky. I'm looking forward to bringing this up to them at practice tonight to get their take.
I think it's fantastic. What a neat opportunity to line up next to the best. I'd be on the lookout for any regional Master's meet where I had that opportunity to do so. The excitement surrounding a swimmer of that level would be so exciting for me. My general rule of thumb is no more than 8 hours in the car for a meet b/c that's all my back can take and still be 'swimmable' that day. I'd be inclined to jump a regional flight to hit up a meet with an Olympic hopeful on the blocks.
There are two guys on my Masters squad who specifically target low volume/low competition meets so they don't have to find out how good they really aren't. Their desire to have a high finish is so important they selectively choose the weakest fields to ensure the best chance. When the big meets come around it's 'oh I'm really busy that week' or 'my shoulder has been bothering me'. The excuse machine is so reliable it makes the Navy Master Clock look clunky. I'm looking forward to bringing this up to them at practice tonight to get their take.
