Every club member regardless of ability has a chance of winning this Club event. The prize is awarded at the end of March each year for the ‘most improved’ runner over this programme.
The handicap is a series of monthly, timed 5k runs from October to March. The underlying aim is to encourage runners, and perhaps particularly new members, to take part regularly and to improve their performance. The race takes place on the first Wednesday of the month, starting from the Leisure Centre at 7:15 pm. The course is around the roads of the village (see route map below, or check out our voice-guided navigation via RunGo here.
How the scoring works:
Despite claims that the scoring requires some obscure higher mathematics, the basis is actually quite simple! Once you have run the handicap, we have on record your target time, which is the best of your times from the most recent three*(see below) previous runs. So, in the next handicap, your target is to get round within that target time. The finishers are ranked by the difference between actual and target times, with the fastest runner (on this scale) being awarded 20 points, the next fastest, 19 points, and so on. You are also awarded 2 points for each run completed in the year. Points are totalled for the best performances of the year, plus the attendance points. Currently, ‘best’ is the best 4 out of a possible 6 runs on the winter course, plus 3 out of 4 on the summer course. If you are embarrassed by your target time, then it will only take a maximum of three new runs to flush any old timing out of the target calculation. Equally, if you stay away from the handicap for a full calendar year, then your target will be discarded and you will be treated as a new starter. A new handicap runner is awarded a nominal 3 points for the first race, plus 2 attendance points.
*or will be one for a new joiner, and possibly two for a runner just starting to run the handicap regularly.
A year’s series starts in October as the nights get darker, and runs through to March – so we’re always running in the dark nights. After the March handicap, we will announce the winner, whose name will be recorded on the club’s board in the Leisure Centre.
For more information about the Handicap email Chris Bradfield at: Chris.Bradfield@btinternet.com
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