Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Masters swimming is about fitness, camaraderie, and fun, but there is an element of competition that many adult swimmers of all ages and abilities enjoy.
U.S. Masters Swimming is holding its annual Spring National Championship in Santa Clara, California in early May.
Because many open water swimmers compete in this event, we looked at the relative competitiveness of each age group.
Our relative measure of competitiveness was determined by comparing the masters seeded time against the all-time record in each event.
For example, in the women’s 50-yard freestyle, the record is 21.2 by
Lara Jackson. A time differential of +10% is 23.3; a time differential of +20% is 25.5; a time differential of +30% is 27.6.
We looked at the seeded times of the masters swimmers in the events that many open water swimmers enter (i.e., all the freestyle events, the 400 individual medley, and the 200 butterfly). We counted the number of masters
Swimmers who exceeded the +10% time differential, the +20% time differential, and the +30% time differential in each age group (e.g., 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39).
For example, in the women’s 50-yard freestyle, xx women were faster than the +10% time differential, xx women were faster than the +20% time differential, and xx women were faster than the +30% time differential.
That is, as the time difference from the all-time record is greater, the greater number of masters swimmers can swim at this speed.
We determined that the relative degree of competitiveness was greater when the most number of swimmers can exceed the +10%, +20% and +30% time differential.
It was interesting to note several trends:
1. Women in the 40-44 year age division tend to be, relatively speaking, most competitive in the female gender.
2. Men in the 25-29 year age division tend to be, relatively speaking, most competitive in the male gender.
The complete data analysis is available at www.worldopenwaterswimmingassociation.com.
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association