Next year we will be getting the handicap grand prix back in full swing. This could be even more fun than in previous years, with so many runners regularly turning out for races. Please make every effort to run as many races as possible. Prizes will be awarded at the Xmas dinner next year to the top three in the final league table.

For the benefit of newer members, this is along the lines of the Wilmington 10K club championship but spread across the whole year. The aim is to:

• encourage members to turn out for more races during the year
• improve performance levels across the board
• introduce a more competitive element into club running throughout the year

The grand prix will operate across 12 races between January and December. Most, if not all, will be 10K or 10 mile races taking place on Sundays or Bank Holiday Mondays. Details of the selected races will be put on the noticeboard and on the website as soon as they have been selected. See the Calendar for the latest race dates.

Points will be awarded in three ways:

• turning out for the grand prix races
• finishing place after handicap has been taken into account
• by playing jokers in two selected races.

Turning out for races

Overall performance will be assessed on your best 8 races, ie it will not be necessary to turn out for every race but the aim is to encourage members to turn out for most of them. Therefore 2 points will be awarded for turning up for each race and they will be included in your overall score. So, whilst your handicap performance will be based on your best 8 races if you turn up for all 12 races you will score 24 points irrespective of your performance in each race.

Handicap performance

Points will be awarded for your handicap place in each race based on percentage variance against your handicap time. Percentage variance is fairer than simply adding or subtracting seconds/minutes. It ensures that slower runners are not disadvantaged when race conditions are difficult and most people exceed their handicap time.

So, if 20 runners turn out the handicap winner will score 20 points, the second placed runner will score 19 points and so on. If only 10 runners turn out the handicap winner will score 10 points. Therefore there is an obvious incentive to have as many runners as possible turn out – the more that turn out, the more points are at stake to be won and lost.

Joker

The third set of points will be earned by playing two jokers – one between January and June and the other in the second half of the year. Double points will be awarded for your handicap place in the two pre- selected races (however, you will not get double points for turning out for these races). So, if you are running into form, and anticipate a good finishing time in a particular race which is also expected to have a good turn out of club runners, then it makes sense to play your joker for that race (nominating it in advance of course!)

The total number of points earned will be aggregated from the three different methods of collecting them to produce an overall winner.

League tables will be produced at intervals during the year so that you can keep a check on your current position. By the time we get into the last three months of the year, you may have run more than 8 races. Therefore your worst performance will be discarded from your current total each time the league table is updated, so that your performance is always based on your best 8 races.

You will need a 10K handicap and a 10 mile handicap. The aim is to fix these for the entire year rather than being adjusted after each race. This will reward genuine improvers as the aim is to raise performance standards generally. It is important that these are set correctly. Colin Logier and Jerry Hamley will be responsible for setting them. However, if we have obviously got handicap times wrong, then they will be adjusted accordingly.

The 10 mile handicaps will be set before the first race in January which will be the Dartford 10 on the 16^th. Please contact either Colin or Jerry in good time to agree your handicap. The 10K handicaps will either be sorted out at the same time or before the first 10K race.