Due to continuing uncertainty around races, we will starting another virtual club championship this year.
The championship will consist of 8 events with the best 5 scores counting towards the total. You need to run 5 events in order to qualify for the final standings but you are more than welcome to partipate even if you end up only doing one or two of the events. Anyone who does complete 5 or more will have their names up in lights when presenting the club championship awards in next years presentation night.
I will allow a minimum of 10 days (which will include 2 weekends) for each event to give everyone plenty of opportunity to submit a time. As we’re starting quite late in the year, the events will be run back-to-back between now and finish before the end of October to avoid the winter months / dark evenings.
This year we are also introducing the ‘Club Championship Cup Competition’ which will run alongside the usual points / league table format. More details on the Cup Competition can be found further down this post.
We’re looking into small momentos for anyone who submits times for all 8 events to reward their commitment. The top 3 in the Club Championship will recieve trophies at next years presentation night whilst there will also be a trophy for the Cup winner, so plenty up for grabs.
As per last years championship, the scoring will be handicapped which should result in everyone having a equal chance of winning. More details on the scoring can be found at the bottom of this post.
Event 1 – 5K Time Trial
Event 1 will be a virtual 5K as per the details below
Submit a 5K run/walk which can be run anytime between Tuesday 6th July up to and including Sunday 18th July 2021.
The run must start and finish at the same point to avoid an advantage being gained from finishing at a lower point than you started. Starting and finishing at the same point will result in a net elevation of zero therefore making it fair for everyone.
‘Elapsed time’ will be used rather than ‘moving time’ so I will need access to your Strava / Garmin to check this or a screenshot evidencing this.
The run should be submitted to me as one activity of 5K or 3.1 miles by posting on the Members Only Facebook page or by e-mailling me at garethjohnjenkins@hotmail.co.uk
You may have multiple attempts as long as the quickest is submitted by the deadline.
There are strictly no exceptions to these rules.
Fixture List
Event 2 – 1 mile Time Trial – Monday 19th July to Sunday 1st August
Event 3 – 1K Time Trial – Monday 2nd August to Sunday 15th August
Event 4 – 10K Time Trial – Monday 16th August to Sunday 29th August
Event 5 – 2 mile Time Trial – Monday 30th August to Sunday 12th September
These events will be run under the same rules as Event 1. Remaining fixtures to be announced asap.
Club Championship Cup Competition
This year we are introducing an additional ‘cup competition’ to run alongside the league format.
Round 1 will include every single member of the club (unless anyone opts out). To add a bit of mystery and an extra tactical element, the draw will be made in secret so no one will know who they are up against until the results are revealed. The first round will be Event 1 which is the virtual 5K which runs from Tuesday 6th July to Sunday 18th July.
Therefore it’s crucial that to be in with a chance of progressing, you need to submit a time for the 5K. Submit it even if it’s a walk as there are 128 places up for grabs in round 2 so you are likely to progress whatever time you submit.
There will be 8 rounds in total with some challenges involved in the final rounds giving everyone a fair chance of winning.
The winner will be presented with their trophy at the next presentation night.
Scoring
To avoid the championship being just about the top 2 or 3 runners in the club battling it out, we are running a handicap scoring system which gives everyone a chance of winning. It involves a lot of research, formulas and calculations which I’ll try and explain below for those interested. If you’re not interested then I’ll let you in on a secret – it’s a simple as this -run as fast as you can and you’ll be in with a good chance.
The technical bit – to start off, I’ve allocate each member a 5K time. To come up with this, I’ve gathered members times from the club championship last year, Strava times and virtual (not)parkrun times. Once this baseline time is established then your time for the first event will be compared against this.
Examples
Joe Bloggs is allocated a 5K baseline time of 30:00 based on all the information I have. In event 1, he runs 29:30. Converting it into seconds, his percentage improvement on his baseline time is ((1-(1770/1800))x100 = 1.67%. Results are then based on each members percentage from highest to lowest.
For the second round, each member will have a new 5K time to compare too. If they ran faster than their baseline time like Joe Bloggs did in the example, then this will be their new time to compare too. In this case, 29:30. If Joe had run slower than 30:00 in event 1, then his time to compare to for event 2 would still be 30:00.
The winner of each event scores 100 points, second place 99 and so on. There is no seperate male and female compeition as the handicap scoring means that everyone should have an equal chance so there’s no need to have seperate gender or age categories.
Disclaimers – event 1 will be a bit of a tester for the scoring system as with 230 members, there’ll be a few where the allocated times might not be perfect for a number of reasons – they may not have set a fast 5K time (by their own standards) over the past year or so, they may be new and therefore I have limited information on their capabilities etc. However, this should be ironed out by the next event. It’s a complex system but one which tries to level the playing field to give everyone an opportunity if they give it their all.
Final thoughts
It would be great to see as many members as possible participating. Good luck to everyone who gets involved. The final fixture list is open to suggestions so feel free to let me know if you have any ideas.