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 wondered how they come up with the time restraints in the National Championship Open Water swims.
I think the key word here is National Championship. I have swam in 5 OW races in the past 2 years. 3 last summer and 2 so far this summer. Only one of them was a "Championship" race.
I think the reason for the time limits is to keep a higher standard for the race results. as well as to keep out breaststrokers.
In the famous 3km race in Sweden (Vansbro) the mens winner usually finishes around 29-32 minutes. water temps and currents play a big role. over the past 7 yrs the top 100 time goes between 40-45minutes. after that it's hard to compare results from yr to yr. somtimes the 1 hour mark comes at 500th place sometimes not until 1200th place. and those that come in last can have times up around 2.5 hours. sure it's fun to have 4000-5000 men and women swimming in a 3km race, but it's really two races. the first start group (300-500) of competitive swimmers and then the rest (90% breaststrokers) who just want to swim 3km so they can say they did it.
In events that are geared to have lots of swimmers I see no need for a time limit. but if the OW event is going to be called a Championship, then yes time limits are good.
ps even the Ironman races have cut off times.
I wondered how they come up with the time restraints in the National Championship Open Water swims.
I think the key word here is National Championship. I have swam in 5 OW races in the past 2 years. 3 last summer and 2 so far this summer. Only one of them was a "Championship" race.
I think the reason for the time limits is to keep a higher standard for the race results. as well as to keep out breaststrokers.
In the famous 3km race in Sweden (Vansbro) the mens winner usually finishes around 29-32 minutes. water temps and currents play a big role. over the past 7 yrs the top 100 time goes between 40-45minutes. after that it's hard to compare results from yr to yr. somtimes the 1 hour mark comes at 500th place sometimes not until 1200th place. and those that come in last can have times up around 2.5 hours. sure it's fun to have 4000-5000 men and women swimming in a 3km race, but it's really two races. the first start group (300-500) of competitive swimmers and then the rest (90% breaststrokers) who just want to swim 3km so they can say they did it.
In events that are geared to have lots of swimmers I see no need for a time limit. but if the OW event is going to be called a Championship, then yes time limits are good.
ps even the Ironman races have cut off times.
