At What Age Do Senior Triathletes Start Triathlon?
At what age did you start to compete in triathlon? What was the reason?
I started wondering when I read an article, which is sad in many ways, titled “Fast Cars, Nips & Tucks, Swim, Bike, and Run? Is The “Midlife Crisis Tri” A Thing?“.
Furthermore, was it reasonable to consider getting into triathlon later in life? I have had so many wrong impressions of age throughout my life. And, some were held not that long ago.
I decided to develop a one-question survey asking those of the Senior Triathletes community to give the age of their first triathlon. I promised to share the results this month.
Median Age is 50
The results show that the median age for a first triathlon among those in our community is 50. And, as the graph below shows, the distribution of starting age is relatively uniform from the 30s through the 60s.
Related post: The Road to Ironman Triathlon – Laurent Labbe’s Story
What Can We Learn?
Admittedly, the sample size for this analysis is small. However, based on these results, I don’t see starting in triathlon as indicative of a mid-life crisis. If it were, the distribution should have been more concentrated in the 40s and 50s.
In our survey, these two age blocks represented only 44% of the responses.
Besides the results of this survey, I have spoken or corresponded by email with many of you. I have heard various reasons and motivations for doing a first triathlon. Many of these have involved younger family members whom you have inspired or who have inspired you. I do not recall any related to finding meaning for their life.
Take a look at some stories published in Our Stories. You will find many reasons and motivations for starting in the sport of triathlon.
Related post: “At Age 70, I Had 19 Days To My First Triathlon” – Pat Johnson’s Story
How Do You Interpret The Results?
If you would like your response to be included in these results, please complete the survey.
Meanwhile, what do you think about the survey results? How do you interpret them? Do you agree or disagree with my conclusion?
