Ok so now that I'm back into running, I've been searching our local races...anyway I came across a duathlon in Sept for autism, and for anyone that doesnt already know, my oldest son is autistic, so I was thinking of doing it. (Its not too bad, I could be ready by then)

And I'm looking at the age groupings for award, you know like every decade (20-29, 30-39 etc) and they have a seperate males over 200 lbs award group...ok...and an "athenas female" award group 140 lbs and over...

Really?! I just didn't think when I was 145 lbs before this baby that was was still that kind of big...I doubt I'll be below 140 by Sept...I'm not looking to win an award, gees, I just want to finish and do it for a cause that it close to me. But this kind of made me feel sad. Is this a normal weight cut off with race award groups?

I've only seen age categories in races here....I've never heard of awards based on weight....that seems odd

yeah, I'm kind of taking it as "those" people are so fat/heavy that they can't even compare to "normal" weight people...seems weird to me...and I'm one of those people! lol

Athenas are common in triathlons. When I was interested in doing a triathlon (before I rediscovered my fear of a 2 wheel bike), I read on various forums and there were a lot of Athena athletes, there is also a corresponding male version but I forget the name.

It was clydesdale. I was just surprised that the weight cut off was 140! I dont think of it as that big that it needs a class of its own.

Huh, that's strange. In the local 5k races here the Athena category is for 150 lbs and up (and the corresponding Clydesdale category for men is +200 lbs). Maybe it depends who's organizing the race or what kind of race it is?

I can't imagine some of the taller athletic ladies being thrilled with the Athena cut off at 140 lbs though, yeesh.

I would actually be excited about that, it would give me a better chance to place (yeah, right).

I think this is pretty typical of most races, though. I know all of the races I've done have had a cutoff around 150. The thing is, you have to CHOOSE to be added to the category, and it's independent of height. That's because added weight typically adds a bit to your time, and this helps even the playing field for those runners who have more mass (muscle or otherwise).

So I wouldn't take it personally, it's more for competitive runners than anything. Kind of like weight classes in boxing.

140 seems like a weird cutoff unless there's a caveat "must be shorter than ..." - if you're 6 feet tall and 140 that's the same as being 5'6 and 110!

I agree that it's a weird cut off. I have a 6 foot, 1 inch friend who is very, very fit and can run like nobody's business. I'm sure she weighs 140 or more, and she's quite thin.

Well then I would have blown them out of the water when I used to run. I always weighed 135-140 lbs and could run 5 miles doing 6 minute miles. I also was a very good competitve swimmer, so they can stuff their weight catagories. It should be only age.