2010 SCM Zone Championships

No doubt age will slow us down, as Chris points out. But very incrementally and less, I believe, than the suits in a given year. (At 49 in a kneeskin, for example, I just swam my 2nd fastest 50 back ever.) Though I'm sure for many (including me) the suits did have an overall mental effect of a fountain of youth. I agree that age is less important a factor than the suits for most ages (the only exception possibly being for the 80+ crowd, roughly: that's when the yearly increments start approaching tech-suit effects, on average). But I don't think the effects are negligible, even for a single year -- and they tend to be more significant the older you are. That's all I'm saying. A little more in line with the thread topic: I saw this posting about the LB meet: www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../25900.asp I guess there were a couple records set by people who didn't just age up, but just a couple. I found it interesting that Moses didn't set any records, though, even though HE just aged up (this is not always a benefit in the younger age-groups, though). I guess the days of the top ex-swimmers just rolling out of bed, showing up at a masters meet and setting a half-dozen records may be coming to an end. (Of course, that Commings fellow isn't half-bad, either...:))

No doubt age will slow us down, as Chris points out. But very incrementally and less, I believe, than the suits in a given year. (At 49 in a kneeskin, for example, I just swam my 2nd fastest 50 back ever.) Though I'm sure for many (including me) the suits did have an overall mental effect of a fountain of youth. I agree that age is less important a factor than the suits for most ages (the only exception possibly being for the 80+ crowd, roughly: that's when the yearly increments start approaching tech-suit effects, on average). But I don't think the effects are negligible, even for a single year -- and they tend to be more significant the older you are. That's all I'm saying. A little more in line with the thread topic: I saw this posting about the LB meet: www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../25900.asp I guess there were a couple records set by people who didn't just age up, but just a couple. I found it interesting that Moses didn't set any records, though, even though HE just aged up (this is not always a benefit in the younger age-groups, though). I guess the days of the top ex-swimmers just rolling out of bed, showing up at a masters meet and setting a half-dozen records may be coming to an end. (Of course, that Commings fellow isn't half-bad, either...:))