okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Saturday, June 18, 2005
A look at age and orienteering
The graph below shows the distribution of the ages of entrants in the Swedish WOC selecton races. Of the 76 entrants (men and women), I could easily find the ages of 54 of them. That's what is shown in the graph.
The distribution has two peaks -- first at 24 years and then at 29 years.
I think most people peak (phsyically) at about 25. From about 25, you begin a gradual decline. It also becomes less and less attractive to live the life of a top orienteer at about that age. But, the most successful orienteers can continue to improve as orienteers by making the best of their experience and knowledge. And the best orienteers have an easier time living the life of an orienteer even as they get older. The best can put off the decline until around 30. That's my theory.
Earlier today I read a magazine article (might have been in Outside?) that said something like, "athletes peak at 31." I think they're mistaken. What they've done is looked at the absolute best and seen that they are on top at age 31 (think of Lance Armstrong as a good example).
Back to Jukola
Playing around with the age distribution was just a break from following Jukola on the Internet. Time to get back to the race and see how the race at the front goes, if IFK Lidingo 2 will have a top 50 finish, and if Team Attackpoint can manage a top 400 result (they are sitting at 227 right now).
posted by Michael |
6:24 PM
