ranger wrote:Gord Henry did 2:10 pace for the Head of the Charles back in 2002 and 2003, when he turned 50...He did almost two minutes better than that 10 years earlier...I don't assume that good conditions made him two minutes better over three miles when he was ten years younger. I just assume he was faster when he was both younger and training harder.
Good news ! HOCR does keep a record of winning times. Here they are for the GM-1x (50+) for the period in question:
1991 L. Klecatsky 19:38.5*
1992 L. Klecatsky 18:54.3*
1993 L. Klecatsky 19:58.1
1994 L. Klecatsky 19:12.7
1995 L. Klecatsky 19:24.7
1996 100 Year Storm
1997 L. Carter 19:34.1
1998 D. Howat 19:46.23
1999 R. Spousta 19:33.81
2000 R. Spousta 19:33.81
2001 K. Juurakko 19:15.170
2002 A. Flanders 19:56.269
2003 Robert Slocum 19:39.260
* denotes current or past course record.
If Gord were comparing his time in '92 to his time in '02 or '03, it is likely conditions were a pretty material contributor to the difference. Regardless, the year to year variation in winning times is huge. Notice that Klecatsky set course records in consecutive years and his '92 time remains the record for the GM1x division.
Agree that Gord was likely to have done a lot less training in 02/03 than 10 years earlier. He started Fluidesign in 2000. Startups do tend to consume every second of one's life.
It seems more than reasonable that even controlling for differences in conditioning, Gord would have declined from age 50 to 60, but I think it would be tough to draw general conclusions on the rate of age-releated decline using his comparison of his pre-Fluid results on a notoriously weather-dependent course to those from when he was deep in start-up mode.
All that stuff aside, I am most curious about your comment on age related decline starting at age 20.
It is pretty well known that 'good' scullers in their 30s compete in the Open category at HOCR & don't exactly take a back seat to the 20-somethings.
More broadly, the top elite scullers are almost all in their late 20s and early to mid 30s and international rowing has a whole category called U23 to provide international competition for those too young and undeveloped to compete in the open class.
This would suggest that age-related decline in rowing does not start until some time in one's 30s.
Cheers. Patrick.