What competitive sports or competitions can women enter after the age of 35?

StartingOver: What competitive sports or competitions can women enter after the age of 35?
Most sports and/or competitions require that you begin young. Gymnastics, dance, ect are a few. However, are there any sports that women can begin over the age of 35, and still compete? I’m open to any and all possible competitions. Something physical and competitive.
NOTE: I’m looking for sports/competitions that I could START after the age of 35, without ANY experience, and eventually reach competition level.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Charlie M
Tiddlywinks!

Answer by go_surf74
triathlons have age groups and you can be strong in one or all events and be very competitive

Answer by frogsandducks
try running. Most places have a variety of races you can enter at different lengths (5K or a little over 3 miles being the most common). You run against your own best time and against other runners. Just be sure to get a good pair of running shoes and slowly increase your distance so you don’t get shin splints

Answer by tnmountains2002
Try Fencing.Maybe start with foil and then epee and on to Sabre.Check for clubs in your area.Great cardio,pretty inexpensive and great fun.Good luck !

Answer by kramsmo
Start training for a triathlon. These can be very grueling but also a lot of fun. The best part is, the competition can be between the other competitors (once you get very good) or it can be strictly competing against yourself and your previous best performance. Also it isn’t an extremely expensive sport.

Answer by cassandraford2006
Try ballroom dancing or salsa dancing in competitions, that what I do and I started competing at the age of 40… I haven’t won yet but I’m good in my mind, simply because most of my competitors are your age and a little younger.

Answer by mchenryeddie
Definitely running. In the chicago-land area there is a race (amateur) every weekend 9 months throughout the year. Take a look at https://www.active.com or https://www.signmeupsports.com. I use .

You don’t need to be any good to do these races. They are part social event and part competition. It all depends how competitive you are. I’ve seen people walk the races, but most people bust their hump to get a good time.

To see what sort of times you should expect the competition to have, take a look at chicagoaa’s results page and gauge your time against other women.

There are also some swim meets and bike events too but 90% of the activities tend to be running.