Anonymous wrote:For XC, I have seen staggered starts where they have the boys start and 5 minutes later they start the girls. This is only done when it is not an out a back course as it allows them to utilize the space effectively.
For out and back courses they want to make sure the narrower parts of the course have enough space for all runners and they typically will not start the 2nd group until all runners from the 1st group have completed the race.
My assumption - since the order is boys / girls or when they do the staggered start, they just continue that order for races where they complete race before starting the next group.
For staggered starts in the same course you need to do the fastest groups first. For example, wheelchairs are faster than runners and start earlier.
But that doesn’t apply to most swimming races.