I was emailing a lady from Australia that I met at the worlds and she mentioned an interesting thought: Great Grand Masters (60+ age division). Apparently the IDBF is considering adding additional age divisions into the Worlds if there is enough interest. There is a few teams in Australia that are considering a 60+ crew. Any interested paddlers here?

You've got to be joking.
This makes a complete joke of any world's.

Please lord - no.

There should be a separate championships for the over 50 set. If a 55 year old is good enough for Senior - great, if not have a grand master festival.

There were not enough Grand Masters Teams in Sydney so definitly not enough interest for an over 60 class.

I agree with the above post. This is geting out of hand and cheapens the concept of dragon boat racing being a high performance sport.

I know that Boomers hate the thought of getting old and aging gracefully but, please, there is no justification to keep adding older age classes to a World Championship event just to promote their self esteem and take their money. I think it's great the over 50 set paddles dragon boat and wants to race at a competetive level, but like other legitimate sports, there should be a separate Masters or Senior's international event specifically for them.

Add dragon boat to the program at the World Masters Games.

IDBF=$$$$ and they want to get it all.

Agreed to above Cash Grab.. the only new racing class that can be justified is the u-23, this is because the need of a developmental divison for juniors - premier. O-60 is not justifiable, i think there should be only 3 or 4 racing divisions for the world championships, Junior(Questionable with the introduction of U23), U23, Premier and seniors, everything else should have their own festival.

"There were not enough Grand Masters Teams in Sydney so definitly not enough interest for an over 60 class. "

Yeah, that's going to happen some times. Look how badly attended even the Junior racing class has been at times. If it weren't for dual entries, there may sometimes only be 3-4 teams in some of those classes.

Maybe the idea is to open up the class and see if there's enough interest to race it. If not, it gets closed up. But for a well attended World Championships (in Contiental Europe, for instance) maybe they could fill the additional classes.

Maybe. But I agree it's a weird stretch. What's next, a 30-40 racing class? What would you call it? Senior-Premiere, or Junior-Senior?

Why do I suddenly feel like I'm speaking Spanish?

Perhaps get rid of Senior. The best Seniors can race premier , and often do because they haven't slowed up much. The paddlers over 50 are the ones who need a special age group , not the over 40s. A lot of Jim's guys are over 50 anyway.

I think the best solution would be to have U23, premier and senior in one WC. This ensures the necessary numbers to bring financial viability to the event. The level of competition would be excellent for all of these classes, I believe. Allow two crews per country until there are at least 12-16 countries competing on a regular basis, important for a lot of reasons.

I believe the juniors need to be encouraged more at the club level...perhaps they should paddle only at the club crews to build a wider base of participation for 3-5 years. Eventually they should have their own WC, just like sprint.

Still thinking about the Grand Masters group....

The Grand Masters division in Australia was dominated by the Canadian teams. If it weren't for the double entries in Junior and Senior there would have been fewer teams in those categories then in Grand Master. This was the first year that it was a recognized division & as such there is no need for there to be another age category. Let time tell how competitive this division gets before adding another one. Boomers in this kind of shape should be commended not insulted.

Before considering an over 60 age group, we need to come up with a catchy acronym - I have previously suggested Grand Old Dragons - GODS - because at that age, you never know how much stress your heart can take, and during any race you may end up with the GODS.

Seriously, as one who paddled with the Grand Dragons in Australia, I am not convinced it is appropriate to have that division at a world championships, let alone a GODS division. From the results in Australia, certainly the top Grand Dragon team would be competetive at the senior level, just as the top senior team would be competitive in the premier divison, but the average Grand Dragon team would be dead last in the senior division. It is somewhat embarrassing to be racing against teams with overweight, out of shape "athletes" who seem to regard it as more of a social event than competition, and whose main interest seems to be obtaining a medal - in fact, I think the medal presentations are over done at dragon boat races - is our main interest getting medals or in racing itself? - I suggest that they do a combined total of the race distances and only hand out medals for the combined totals in each division and sex, rather than medals for each race distance. Of course, that suggestion won't fly, because people love wearing medals and getting their pictures taken at ceremonies - now a gold medal in the premier divison actually means something - but a bronze medal in the GODS division - I wouldn't even want to bring that home to put on my dog's neck...

I don't think seniors should even be at worlds

a 60+ division is great though.

one worlds for juniors and premiers, and long term, only premiers.

separate ones for juniors (maybe an 18u and 16u class.

one worlds for all senior divisions.

Dr. Canoe , you were embarassed to be racing with the old guys and you think there are too m any medals ? But you raced anyway and took your medals.

All racing classes have very good teams and very uncopetative " social " teams.
Canadian Grand Dragons teams pretty convincingl.There was one or 2 teams that were not competative at all.
Jim won the senior races convincingly. There was one or 2 teams that were not competative at all.
In the premier racing nobody dominated but there were a couple of overweight unatheletic uncompetative teams.
German juniors won convincingly and there were one or two uncompetative teams.
The best senior teams would have been competative in premier , the best grand dragon would have been competive , posibly medaling , in senior. The best grand dragons were even better than a some premier teams.

cash grab

Dr Canoe, either you have age groups or you don't.

If you are worried that another, older, age group somehow demeans yours, think about what the premiers feel about the seniors.

IMHO there is a reason for age groups and it's the same for having a seperate women's category or categories for different disabilities. It's meant so that like competes with like. When you get older you get weaker and slower. It's not a dis it's a fact. Yes it artificially extends the lifespan of a competitive career but so what? How can you say one artificial category is better than another? I say kudos to those who keep going into their sixties.

Dragon boat is not big enough to support a stand-alone championship but, perhaps one day, the champs for ALL the sub categories will be seperate. When the sport gets big enough. That will be OK too.

Until then enjoy being a boomer and the challenges and medals that go with it in whatever sub-category that is.

Well said - let's move on

Everything is a special catagory except premier open. Thank goodness or we wouldn't have much racing.So enjoy your mixed teams , your womens teams ,club crew teams and your age group teams.

To anon 8:17 a.m.

I did not say I was embarrassed to be racing with my teammates on the Canadian Grand Dragon Team - we were a very respectable team that would have done well at the senior level, and I think highly of my teammates. However, I was embarrassed to be a paddling against one team in particular whose favourtie uniform tends to be a unitard (although they thankfully used a two piece uniform in Australia), and if the world championships expand to an over 60 age group, more teams of similar quality will be present, and this will lower the value of the event as a high level international competition.

"Everything is a special catagory except premier open. Thank goodness or we wouldn't have much racing.So enjoy your mixed teams , your womens teams ,club crew teams and your age group teams."

Which means the olympics is all about special catagories - like Women's and Men's. What a joke!

No joke. The Olympics are working on integrating wheelchair events. Check out the new quarters.

It's all about inclusion buddy.

As long as the wheel chair events are "open" then they would be the only races that really count.

But having a "mens" catagory is just a cash grab in order to represent a special interests groups - namely men.