As an "older" female swimmer, I wondered how they come up with the time restraints in the National Championship Open Water swims.
For the 10 K race, the entry form it said "the race will end two hours after the first individual finishes. All swimmers that have not completed the course at that time will be asked to retire."
For the 1 mile race, the entry form stated "swimmers still on the course after the 60 min. time limit will be stopped and listed as DNF in the results."
By my calculations, in the 1 mile swim you would have nearly two and one half times longer than the first swimmer to complete the race, while in the 10 K race you would have less than twice as long.
I would like to see more time allowed, especially for the longer distances. I understand the push to make the day as short as possible but I feel older swimmers are disadvantaged by these restrictions. Older women, are even more disadvantaged. Perhaps more older swimmers would participate if they were not threatened with a DNF if they don't make the cut off times.
Does anyone else have a concern about the time limits in our Open Water National Championship races?
Parents
Former Member
I wondered about how they came up with the time limits, too. I'd like to try the 10K and eventually the 25K, but probably never will because I don't want the frustration of DNF'ing because of time limits. As it is, it seems like it would penalize those of us who could do the distance but are slower, especially if there is a very very fast lead swimmer.
Maybe eventually USMS will go towards something like the Boston Marathon does and set up qualifying times that vary by age and gender, which levels it for older runners and women. Men 18-34 have to run a previous marathon in 3:10 or under, but women over 80 qualify with a 5:30.
I think many more swimmers would enter and train for these longer events if the time limits were extended, or if you needed a qualifying time to enter but no cutoff at the race itself.
I wondered about how they came up with the time limits, too. I'd like to try the 10K and eventually the 25K, but probably never will because I don't want the frustration of DNF'ing because of time limits. As it is, it seems like it would penalize those of us who could do the distance but are slower, especially if there is a very very fast lead swimmer.
Maybe eventually USMS will go towards something like the Boston Marathon does and set up qualifying times that vary by age and gender, which levels it for older runners and women. Men 18-34 have to run a previous marathon in 3:10 or under, but women over 80 qualify with a 5:30.
I think many more swimmers would enter and train for these longer events if the time limits were extended, or if you needed a qualifying time to enter but no cutoff at the race itself.
