An Age Group (short AG) is a group of athletes with roughly the same age. Usually, events have an age group score where the athletes of each group will be ranked independently from the athletes of other groups. Age Group definitions often vary according to the type of sport and also your local governing body regulations.
When creating a new Event File, default age groups will be set up automatically which can be changed freely according to your needs.
General/ Import of Age Groups
Via the Import button you have the opportunity, to import age groups from different sources. For example you can load standard age groups or import age groups from a file which you created via Export.
Should you have made a copy of the previous year's event file, you can adjust the age groups with the functions Edit->Years +1 and Years -1.
If you need different age groups for different contests, activate the option Separate Age Groups for Each Contest under General Settings. Either enter different age groups for each contest or import them with the function Import->From Contest from another contest and then make necessary changes.
Second/Third Age Group Set
Maybe it is necessary to set up two or three different age group sets so that each participant is assigned two or three age groups. The second age group can be used for an additional score like a team score where for example the age groups M40, M45 and M50 are combined in the age group Masters.
Input Age Groups Based On
You will need to define on which criteria you will enter and with which age groups are set, this will usually depend on the type of event you are timing. Under Input Age Groups Based On you can select:
Date of birth - Age groups are set by a defined date range rather than age ranges.
Age on event date - Participants' age on the day of the event set in the event Basic Settings.
Age on 12/31 (Previous Year) - Age on 31st December of the previous year.
Age on 12/31 (current year) - Age on 31st December of the current year.
Age on arbitrary date - Age on a specific date, to be defined below.
Updating Age Groups
In the Participants Window, the age group will be assigned automatically, based on gender and date of birth. However, you can manually change the age group if needed. That is why age groups will not be updated automatically, when changing the age group settings.
To update the assigned age groups after changing the age group settings, click on Refresh Age Groups of All Participants.
Useful Hints
Accessing Age Groups
On lists and certificates you can access the name of the age group selected for the participants via the fields [AgeGroup.Name] / [AgeGroup1.Name] (and [AgeGroup2.Name], [AgeGroup3.Name]).
Sorting of Age Groups
Often the age groups are to be handed out in a certain order, for example because an age group is first in the award ceremony. Therefore you can change the order of the age groups by moving the arrow icon on the left to the desired position. The order of the age groups influences the fields [AgeGroup1.OrderPos] ([AgeGroup2.OrderPos], [AgeGroup3.OrderPos]) which create ascending numbers according to the entry order in the age group settings. These fields can be used for sorting on lists. The default list Result List AG also uses this procedure.
Age Group Abbreviation
Aside from the name for the age group you can also enter an abbreviation. If not much space is left on a list, you can access it via the field [AgeGroup.NameShort] / [AgeGroup1.NameShort] ([AgeGroup2.NameShort], [AgeGroup3.NameShort]).
Age Group ID
Each age group has a unique ID which does not change if the name of the age group is changed. It can be accessed via the field [AgeGroup.ID] / [AgeGroup1.ID] ([AgeGroup2.ID], [AgeGroup3.ID]).
The age group ID is well suited for the grouping at the calculation of rankings as age groups are distinguished even if they have the same name. If you set up two groups named Kids (for boys and girl separately) and group the ranking by AgeGroup.Name, boys and girls would be ranked together. However, if you use AgeGroup / AgeGroup.ID instead, the two age groups will be ranked separately.