Age limits

[Lefty]

I read in the latest Fellrunner magazine that there may be a move to alter the race age qualification to age on the day of the race rather than as of 1st Jan as it present stands. Surely for the Championships series this wouldn't work as most juniors wouldn't be able to achieve a full series in their age group, many would end up doing some races in one age group and some in another, not good and careful though must be given to this by the Fra junior committee before making such a retrograde decision.

[Witton Park]

I'm similarly concerned and I have made my concern clear to those involved in the process. I will sit and wait now to see how the process develops before deciding on what to do.

I have never been aware of a problem that requires this change - and no one has convinced me that there is a problem during exchanges that I have been involved with over the last few weeks.

I personally like the current junior age groupings as do my athletes. It is clear, it allows them to race slightly different people to the cross country and track as the calculation is done on 1st Jan.

As Lancs Fell Secretary, I have to piggy back existing races for my county champs. That means it is quite feasible that my Champs could be in March one year and July another year.
That means with age on day of race, I could have someone in the same age group 3 years running. If I do use my option of keeping the current age groups, then the RO has to be like-minded otherwise I cannot use the race.

The Junior Co-Ordinator could face similar issues. Those races that opt for Age on Day will have to change when the FRA Junior comes to town. I can see many ROs deciding that they wouldn't want to do this.

AS FJ says, we have one system now that is clear. We have a proposed system that will end up with 2 systems and to be honest, I really can't see this being adopted in to UKA Rules.

[Witton Park]

By the way, the letter in Fellrunner seems to refer to the Wincle Trout Run.
http://www.wincle.org.uk/pdfs/Wincle..._form_2012.pdf
The form seems very clear to me.

To do the Senior Race you need to be 16 on 1/1/12

To do the Junior Race you need to be 10-15 on 1/1/12

and as there are "mini races for U10s" I can't see how anyone is turned away, they just guide them to the appropriate race for their age.

[Lefty]

I can't see race organisers being able to select their age criteria as working and will only serve to confuse matters. It's up to the interested parties to see sense and for club officials race organisers and coaches etc to make their feelings known.

[Dave Roelants]

I would guess that if your child's birthday is on 2nd of January you would be very keen to keep the current system, but if their birthday is 31st December you may well take a different view! Hence the call from many for age on the day races, it does seem a fairer system, but causes difficulty with championship series. Perhaps one solution which would go some way to addressing the concerns would be for the championship age grouping to be the date on which the first race of the series takes place?

[Witton Park]

Then it changes every year Dave.

The Track and Field and the Cross Country has the same system but with 31st August. The only real difference is road. Champs road still also have 31st Aug and the reason road is age on day of race is most likely that there are very few specific road races for juniors.

We also have the same system in schools athletics whether track and field, cross country or fell.

There is no real reason for change.

[Witton Park]

not good and careful though must be given to this by the Fra junior committee before making such a retrograde decision.

Lefty - just to pick up on this. I am on the junior committee and this has not come through the junior committee.

If the FRA Committee are of the opinion that this has been discussed and agreed by the Junior Committee then they have been mislead.

The Junior committee have taken part in a dialogue on a related matter regarding race distances and "running up" along the lines of part of the discussion on this thread.
http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showt...linary-Matters

But I have never been aware of a proposal to change the age groups until I was asked about it by a Welsh colleague about 3 weeks ago.

[Lefty]

If as I understand it and have been reliably informed that the age eligibility will be changed to the date of the first championship race ( round about 1st March ) surely this will be more confusing and what difference if any will moving the date by some 8 weeks make. Perhaps someone from the Fra committee ie Graham can let us know if in fact this matter has been discussed, if advice has been taken from the Junior committee and indeed other interested and well informed parties such as club coaches and officials and race organisers, if not then why not.

[Lefty]

It would appear from my conversations with several Fra committe members today that it's been decided that there will be a 2 tier system. For the Championship age qualification will remain age as of 1st Jan whilst for all other races it will be age on the day of the race. If the previous system was deemed to be confusing this will be even more so especially for the athletes as they will be running in one age group in some races and a different age group in others. How will this affect our local clubs Grand Prix series, I suspect it will have to be age as of 1st Jan as fr the Fra championships or it's going to be a bebacle.

[Witton Park]

How will this affect our local clubs Grand Prix series, I suspect it will have to be age as of 1st Jan as fr the Fra championships or it's going to be a bebacle.

If this goes through, U14 race will now become 12/13 years Age on Day race, so if we go to an existing race with the FRA Champs, the U14s will run in the 12/13 year old on the day race.

But there could be some U14s (1st Jan) that are already now 14, so they could also quite legitimately run in the 14/15 year old / U16 race.

So not only will we have a two tier system of races, we will have 2 tiers within a fixture.
:w00t: