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?
I believe the time constraints are there in part because of the need to have boats, paddlers, etc. on the course to help all swimmers. A few swimmers who lag far behind others draw the resources away from main part of event.
I have also noticed official finishing times that extended beyond the published we-pull-you-out threat time.
I am a slow swimmer and am not terribly concerned about the fairness or unfairness of it all; bit by bit I am learning to swim faster.
Courses that offer once-around and twice-around options are good, as the boats will be there for the twice-arounders and thus for the slower once-arounders.
Also, a meet is a meet. At some point it is qualitatively different from enjoying oneself slowly in the water. It is for time. There are still lots of choices. Are you swimming the Big Shoulders 5k in Chicago in September? That's a pretty forgiving event.
25k is 16 miles. :drown:
Regards, VB
I believe the time constraints are there in part because of the need to have boats, paddlers, etc. on the course to help all swimmers. A few swimmers who lag far behind others draw the resources away from main part of event.
I have also noticed official finishing times that extended beyond the published we-pull-you-out threat time.
I am a slow swimmer and am not terribly concerned about the fairness or unfairness of it all; bit by bit I am learning to swim faster.
Courses that offer once-around and twice-around options are good, as the boats will be there for the twice-arounders and thus for the slower once-arounders.
Also, a meet is a meet. At some point it is qualitatively different from enjoying oneself slowly in the water. It is for time. There are still lots of choices. Are you swimming the Big Shoulders 5k in Chicago in September? That's a pretty forgiving event.
25k is 16 miles. :drown:
Regards, VB
