The gun went off, and a group of over-50 women in a middle-distance race run around the track at the Senior Games. The four lead runners are smooth, strong and steady—older athletes who are clearly well trained and competition-ready. A few others fall behind. They’re struggling, obviously not in shape to compete at this level—and possibly racing this event for the first time. The last runner finishes half a lap behind everyone else, panting and puffing.

The crowd at Stanford University’s Cobb Stadium watching that event was not sure quite how to react. There were cheers but also some murmurs.

Their discomfort underscored a basic tension in these games: Are the games meant for competitors who belong in world-class competitions or for those who come for fun and fitness—and hope to finish?

Understand why: The mission of the National Senior Games Association and the state Senior Olympics is to encourage participation in fitness and sports among older adults at the local level. Yet, as president and CEO Phil Godfrey said in an interview the other day, “When you get to our games, it’s a national championship.”

In some events it was. In many others it wasn’t—at least not championship caliber. While there were many outstanding athletes here at the 2009 National Senior Games, which wrapped up two weeks of competition in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday, it’s well recognized among the competitors themselves that in some sports—especially the marquee track and field and swimming events—many of the top 50-and-over athletes don’t even come to the Senior Games. They regard the U.S. Masters (40 and over) competitions in those sports as far more prestigious—not to mention events such as the Boston Marathon or the Ironman World Triathlon Championships, in which older adults can still compete within their respective age groups.

State qualifications may be won by default

While you technically need to demonstrate some competence in your event in order to qualify for the Senior Games, that competence is often measured by how you place in your state Senior Olympics. But depending on where you live, your age and your event, your only competition may be yourself.

So if the Senior Games are not really just a participatory event, but not really a national championship meet, then what are they?

At one level, simply a lot of fun for a lot of people. That was evident at the venues, around the Athlete Village, and perhaps even more so, up and down University Avenue—Palo Alto’s main student drag, where at night groups of competitors, with their plastic credentials draped around their necks, jammed sushi bars and pubs, laughing, eating and drinking, swapping stories and generally enjoying the Northern California weather and the college-town ambiance. Senior Games athletes were even spotted as far away as San Francisco, and many took advantage of the one-hour Caltrain ride from Palo Alto (they got to ride for free with their athlete ID). Still others headed for wine country tours or drives along the Pacific coast once their events were over.

Away from podium and rule books

Since many of the participants themselves see the National Senior Games for what they really are—an opportunity to participate in their sport, get some healthy exercise, but above all have a good time—maybe that’s the direction organizers should begin to move toward. Away from the medal podium and the incessant piped-in recording of the fanfare from the Olympics for every winner; away from armies of officials and rule books; away from the officiousness and pretentiousness that permeates some of the events.

An example of the latter was witnessed last Monday morning, just as competition was about to start. A fitness instructor was leading a group of athletes—some competitors, perhaps some not—in an impromptu stretching and strengthening class on the grass by the track. Each was on a mat, doing abdominal curls and stretches; some were in good shape, others were grunting and gamely working their way through these unfamiliar exercises.

Good for them!

At the same time, right next to them by the registration table, a yellow-shirted official was yelling at a man whose main offense seemed to be that he wanted to be part of the Senior Games. “Hold on there!” he shouted. “You didn’t finish filling out this form!”

Sigh.

Of course you have to have rules in sports. But rule one at the Senior Games should be the one that its parent organization espouses as its mission: Get out, get physically active, do your best, enjoy the company of like-minded older adults.

On the other hand, if organizers insist that these are high-level championships that should be taken seriously, then they need to make sure that it’s only serious athletes who take the field.

Health and fitness writer John Hanc teaches journalism at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury.