Which age group is more competitive...

For what distance, which race?

Best thing to do is check previous year's results.

Generally speaking for IM distance, the 35-39, 40-44, 45-49 males are hard-core groups. Just speculating, but likely been in the sport for many more years, more disposable income, at a time in their lives where they can dedicate the hours to training.

M35-39, followed VERY closely by M30-34, followed VERY closely by M40-44.

Pretty much from 25-45 its a dog fight.

x2  The ages groups inclusive of 35-45 year olds seem to be the most competitive to me.  They may not always win (but they do), but there are a TON of competitors, and they are absurdly fast.  The top 12 at the NJ State Sprint, in order, were 19, 26, 19, 28, 45, 35, 49, 15, 34, 34, 48, 42.  Teens and "old men" dominated the rankings.

Ditto that. My sprint last w/e had the following age results in order of placement: 40-44, 45-49, 30-34, <20, 35-39, 35-39, 45-49, 40-44, 40-44, 45-49, 45-49(F) with the much younger crowd much further down the list.

I'm not sure age group has anything to do with competitiveness. Are younger people more or less competitive than older people?

 It seems to me that triathlon appeals to mostly Type A, competitive (at the least, competitive with themselves) people that love to train and love to race.

Not sure if that love diminishes as you get older.

I took it to mean how large of a group of triathletes shows up and their relative skill; not motivation related.  If four 16 year olds show up, 3 of them have a 100% chance of placing, no matter their skill level or "inner-drive."  When 150 40'ish athletes show up for three places, well, then, I'd say that's a bit more competitive.  I'm a perfect example of this formula.  I run like a gazelle...if it has a lion hanging off its neck.  I entered a 5k in June, ran, and went home and checked my time.  I missed my one "medal opportunity."  Lo and behold my 31:16 time won me second place in my 35-39 division.  Of course only 4 of us in that age group entered, and unbelievably I beat 2 people.  I was competitive that day, but I was in 730th place for the run portion of my triathlon a month later.  I was no less driven - just a whole lot less apt

I'm gettin' my a$$ kicked in the 40-44 AG. In my last event, there were some pretty fast MOFO's on the bike in this same AG - 20 of the top 60 bike splits came from this set.

'spose one could score the AG's using the same methodology as cross-country - points = place and lowest cummulative score of X # of athletes wins.

Ok, I gues what I was getting at is, say you finish a tri in 3 hours...in which age group would you finish with the best/worst class rank?

Pretty sure we've established that by turning 30 this year, I shouldn't expect quite as good of ranks as last year in the 25-29 group with the same times.  Looks like I'm now in a faster age group, or at least a harder age group in which to place well.

That was my big thing I guess....last year was my first year and I was pretty excited about being top 30% or close to it in all my races...I thought that was pretty good for my first year.  Now this year this I'm pretty much the same speed (different races, so hard to tell), but I'm more like 50% or so in my new age group.  I was kinda worried that I wasn't performing as well, but turns out it may be a little of that, but also the new group is a little faster I guess.

I agree for most part, but don't forget the 45-49 year olds

Whatever. W35-39. And even W40-44

I swear the only reason I place in my Ag ( in running--only done one tri) is because the people that win are in my AG. If they were getting beat out by the young'uns then I wouldn't place. I think that women 25-34 are all still having babies. Only time I see the under 30 crowd dominate is at the 5k's

I don't have the source, but I recall from a year ago that the AG with the lowest average finishing time in all marathons is

M40-44

Are they "winning" the races?  Maybe, maybe not, but the difference between #1 and #10 in this group is usually tighter than any other AG, and I'd call that "competitive"

In the races I do, it's 35-39, followed by 40-44.

In womens it tends to be 40-44.

I think the most competitive age group is 55-59.

That's the age group I'm in, and I keep getting beat at every race. That seems pretty competitive to me.

I can agree that the 30-45 range is where its at. People in their 20s sneak into the podium but in terms of most spots in the top 20 overall there aren't as many.

All this talk makes me really nervous because I want to try to qualify for Kona at some point in my life and its starting to seem like next year (my last year in 20-24) might be my best shot