Posted by Leif Irgens on January 03, 2007 at 12:41:27:
In Reply to: Grand Masters at ATR posted by kevin kelly on January 03, 2007 at 09:32:32:
I suspect this reply will stir some heated debate but, as I see it, there IS a Grandmasters catagory - it's call the 50-54 year age group awards.
Basically, this reflects my opinion on the masters, grandmasters, great-grandmasters awards in general. And that opinion is that the fade in atheletic performance as we age is the reason age group awards were added to races. Why it was necessary to suppliment that with additional age-group awards for the fastest over-40 runner, the fastest over-50 runner, the fastest over-60 runner? I see that as a sibling of duplication of awards - or, at least, dilution of awards. I mean, we don't have a "juniors" award for the fastest runner under 20, or a "childrens" award for runners under 10 . . . I think about races where the fastest 40-year old placed in the top three overall, the 2nd fastest 40-year old wins the masters. I'm the 5th fastest runner in the 40-44 age group and I still end up with an age-group award for "3rd place" - which I just don't feel like I earned when four people in my age group ran faster than I did.
JMO . . .