What is the difference between an Ability, Age Class and Festival competition?

SSC recognizes each competition through a sanction. The ones most relevant to club and youth skaters are:

• Age Class: skaters are grouped within their age category and race events considered developmentally appropriate for that stage. At a coach's request and the organizer's discretion, a skater may be placed in a younger or older category if the events remain developmentally appropriate for that skater.
• Ability: skaters are grouped by time or other measures of performance, not by age or gender. Skaters of different ages and genders can be grouped together, but each must race the activities and distances recognized for their own age category.
• Festival: an event built around a shared interest in skating, which may or may not include traditional racing. Skaters not yet registered with SSC may take part, as long as they register as Try Speed Skating members after the event. Any traditional racing at a festival follows the rules of the appropriate sanction.

Skaters in Ability and Age Class competitions need an active SSC membership (or one with another recognized national speed skating federation). In a competition where age categories are used, a skater is limited to the events of a single age category; this does not apply to ability formats.

Source: SSC Procedures and Regulations (Red Book), updated July 16, 2026, B1-300, B4-300, B6, B7 and B9.