Start racing at 35?

hope for us all ... alain baxter (the skier) is trying to break into scotland's track team at 35 ... weird that scottish sports authorities backing it, surely they'd be better backing youth rather than some old (ish) bloke?

background here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/dec/05/alain-baxter-cycling

he did a 11.6 for the 200 ... reasonable but hardly world beating

Is this the same Baxter that got done for doping and claimed it was vicks vapor rub?

Yes. And it was Vicks' inhalor, which is different in the US and contains a banned substance, methamphetamine, which isn't present in the UK version. He was cleared of doping by the IOC.

unfortunately, unlike Baxter I havent been involved in Olympic level skiing for the last 20 years. If there was an Olympics for drinking and smoking, however...

Brilliant, so I've got 5 years to get 2 and bit seconds off my 200m then hopefully they'll back me and I can jack in my job!

it's not just baxter. it's part of the elite athlete training scheme or some bollocks name. basically if you're good at your sport but not good enough to compete in the olympics, they'll look at moving you into another sport you might excel at.

here:
http://www.sisport.com/sisport/3329.html

Yeah, I feel sort of uncomfortable with the amount of buzz and time and effort that must be being put into him. Apparently he's doing it all off his own back, but he still was given an exhibition ride in the Revolution this weekend. His 200m time was a long way off the pace - although a bit of that looked down to technique which is easily corrected.

Good luck to him, but I just think that the amount of youth talent coming through should take precedent. I also think BC's reliance on stats and figures gained from static cycling tests maybe clouds people's judgement over just how important racing experience and first hand-knowledge is.

The article does say that he doing it off his own back but then later on its says he's supported by something so he's getting some funding for it.
I can see the point in the sport transfer thing but it seems a bit pointless here investing in someone who's getting on a bit and in a sport where we are already very strong and have alot of young talent coming up.

It does whiff a bit.