Nationally Ranked?

Sometimes just showing up and participating is good enough, that automatically puts you ahead of most people whether it's a job or athletic event. Joining a particular organization and paying your dues can help narrow the field too.

What does this mean? That despite my finishing no higher than mid-pack in my three sanctioned triathlons last year I am ranked 83 in NY as a triathlete for the 55-59 age group. Curt Eggers, a local triathlete who is always ranked nationally was 2nd. Dennis Moriarty, another local tri legend, was 5th. Tim Dwyer, a relative newbie in tri's but a longtime great runner, was 6th.

A friend, Terry Christo, was ranked number 1 in her age group for NY state!
There have been many years where Eggers and Moriarty were in the top 5 nationally. Some of the scoring depends on what races you were in and who the competition was. For 2014 Eggers was 50th and Moriarty 89th nationally. Christo was 46th. I was a stellar 1,222 out of 1,782.

The lesson to be learned is that if rankings are important to you, join the right organization, participate in enough races to qualify and travel to races where the competition might be a bit stiffer. Sometimes finishing is good enough.