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To me Strava is primarily about motivation and KOM gongs/trophies are a big part of this. As you get older it gets harder to compete for overall KOM/QOM gongs. So it would be good to have age group gongs, i.e. top 10 in age group.
I submitted a separate and related post about age-group trophies. This seems like a no-brainer since at a real race, age group awards are commonplace. This is not about having to manually look up Top 10s in age-groups. Some kind of virtual trophy should be awarded and noted immediately upon uploading your ride, or run, etc. so followers and others can see that. Even just Top 3 for each age group is sufficient.
Hey Strava, this is a no-brainer! Give credit to those of us in older age groups who are still out there doing it.
I strongly agree with the idea of acknowledging a top 3 finish for the age group categories; in fact I had separately proposed this idea, and Strava moderator asked me to comment in this thread. It's not about having to look up this result in the existing categories because I believe only subscribers have access to that, and, it has to be looked up. Give immediate recognition as soon as the rider uploads his/her ride to Strava. The same way an overall crown or cup is acknowledged immediately.
Top 3 age group winners get a podium at a real race, so this seems like a no-brainer for Strava. Create some kind of symbol to represent this achievement, especially in the older than say, 50 age groups. There's a crown for overall KOM/QOM, a cup for overall top 10, even a silly meaningless wreath for LL. So come on Strava, create something for age-group Top 3! You got this!
As a ‘senior’ rider I would like to see age group KOMs as badges - some of us are still quite competitive even if we can’t always mix it with the athletes in their 20’s! Visibility in the all time lists would be great - you could superimpose the age over the KOM badge….
trying to find what time you need to beat is a bit of a faff having to go into the age group everytime….
I'm a 76 y.o cyclist. Everyone that knows me, knows I am a badass. I have top 10s and respectable prs. I don't need anything else. If this were a competition/race, I might want to be recognized. Otherwise, I'm good with the current setup.
I'm going to be the contrarian here and disagree with this idea. I'm 61 years old and I work my tail off to keep up with riders half my age. Getting older doens't mean you can't still go fast if you continue to train and work hard. I earned 8 new KOMs this year and set over 600 PRs.
How would this even work? The beauty of the current KOM leaderboards is that you own the top spot until someone else comes along and knocks you off. I have a few that I'm especially proud of that I've held for years, and so far no one has managed to best my times. I'm 61 years old, and if I live to be 100 I will still own those segments unless someone can take them from me. What happens if they are based on age groups? Do all of your trophies go away the day you age out of the group? Do they automatically go to the next person in line who just happens to be the right age even though they didn't really earn them? Do you earn a KOM by default if you're the only person in your age group to ride a segment?
Chris, the intention is that these will sit alongside the overall KOM/QOM so it will be possible to hold a position in both lists. In the same way you can be KOM and local legend for the same segment. When you move into the next age group you keep your age group trophy - why would you need to relinquish them; they are a symbol of what you managed at that age? If you do well in your new group you’ll have a trophy in each age group- why not? You’d only be replaced at the top if someone else in that group betters your time. As to having only one effort in an age group it would behave the same as for the overall KOM where a segment has only been completed by one person. Strava will already have rules that allow for this. I’m pleased for you that you have some overall KOMs, but many good athletes don’t and can’t compete at this level but do have a chance of achieving something at their age group level. Maybe worth considering.
I've seen more thoughts on the idea of Top 3 trophies for older age-groups. My feeling is the KOM/QOM stays with whomever has the fastest segment time, regardless of age. My original thought was to simply add a new acknowledgement/trophy for age-group Top 3 (ie 55-64; 65-69, etc) that gets immediately uploaded like other awards. Let's celebrate top accomplishments for all ages, and this might also keep older athletes interested in continuing and improving.
Very interesting comments coming from this topic. Something to think about for those who think the KOM/QOM shouldn't have age ranges - high school sports competitions are for a 4 year age bracket, then athletes move into college which is another 4 year age bracket. Cycling competitions away from Strava are grouped by age brackets. So why wouldn't it make sense to do the same on the Strava platform? There's already a tab to show achievements grouped by age and weight and gender. A 65yo and 25yo are definitely NOT going to be in the same bracket nor should they be. Age does matter. There are some super human athletes out there and pros who are the anomaly but for the rest of the population, age will and does matter in what we can physically be able to achieve. When I have lost a QOM, it's invariably been to a significantly younger female rider, but when broken down by age group, my segments are still in top 3 or top 5.
The idea of age group KOMs assumes that younger riders will always be faster than older riders but what happens when that's not the case. What happens when a rider in the 50+ age groups records a faster segment time than the 30+ KOM? Does the 50+ rider get to claim the 30+ KOM? That would be a more meaningful recognition of the achievment than just awarding the 50+ crown.
Chris, I see a lot of merit in what you’re suggesting, however in my opinion this is making what might be a relatively simple change both to code and to understand into something far too complicated and therefore unlikely to get implemented As C-Liz-Go points out the framework of showing the top ten in age group already exists; it’s ’just’ a matter of applying trophies.
Again, can a representative from Strava let us know the status of this proposed age-group recognition please? This seems more worthy an award than say for example the meaningless Local Legend. Strava is largely about motivation for oneself, and for others. Senior athletes who are still at it can often inspire younger athletes that we are involved in a lifetime sport, even if most are not as strong as younger athletes due to aging.
So once again, please recognize older (over 55? Over 65?) Top 3 riders, runners, swimmers, etc for their accomplishments. They lead by example for younger generations.
