The club is making several changes to the Trophy Series (TS) scoring
- Race walkers will now be scored with runners for the TS score.
- There will be a separate scratch competition for walkers, both race day ribbons and annual.
- 5 km runners (in the longer races) will receive TS points using their handicap (HCP)
- Your HCP will be allowed to go up as much as 2 pts per month if you run slower than your predict.
- Anyone who hasn’t raced in 24 months will be scored as a new member rather than using their old HCP.
The reasoning behind these changes:
- In the old days, 100 was the max HCP anyone could have. So, it made sense to score the race walkers separately. That max also punished slower runners. We changed that in 1999 (I think) so that now there is no max HCP. With as few race walkers as we have, we think it makes more sense to score them with the runners. We trust them to abide by proper race walking rules.
- A separate scratch (net fastest) competition does recognize that walkers are different from runners in terms of speed.
- Scoring 5km runners should make the shorter race more relevant and encourage more to race when they don’t want to do the longer distances. To do the TS scoring, we will give them an equivalent time for the longer distance based on the actual HCP they run in the 5km, then score everyone based on rank as we’ve always done.
- Currently, a member’s HCP can only increase 1 point per month. (Handicaps increase if the member is slower than their predicted time.) However, if a member has a uniquely very good race ( dropping their HCP a lot), then the member will have to run subsequent races with that lower HCP in order to “win” in the trophy series. The cap on the HCP may make it difficult for the member to compete in the trophy series for a while. Allowing up to 2 points per month will help.
- Currently, you race with your old HCP no matter how long it has been since your last races. Last month, we had two returning members who hadn’t raced with us for 4+ years, yet we still used their old HCP. At each race, the max TS points you can get is 100, the min is 20. We award new runners 60, as if they finished exactly in the middle. Once they have a HCP after their first race, they are scored where they rank along with everyone else.