ISTEAD & IFIELD HARRIERS

 

www.isteadandifield.org.uk

 

ISTEAD & IFIELD GRAND PRIX 2010/11 BY ALAN COWAN

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE LATEST GRAND PRIX RESULTS (11 JULY)

 

Following President Bob’s retirement from compiling the Club Grand Prix table, (not from competing, I am pleased to say), I have been asked to take over responsibility for this fascinating year-long challenge. Not wishing to make any drastic changes to Bob’s successful running of the contest; I am keeping the general scoring format the same. However, to give more frequent racers a better chance, I have decided to increase the number of counting races from 6 to 8. Everyone can now include three races of the shorter (5 to 9 miles) distance, two 10 milers, two half marathons, and one longer run.

Looking at races held in Kent alone last year I managed to find 30 races of between 5 miles and 9 miles. There were also seven 10 milers and no less than 8 Half Marathons. For the longer runs, I can recommend the Bewl 15, Thanet 20, the A20 run and of course our very own highly-rated North Downs Run. Don’t forget that any marathon can be included as the longer run. It shouldn’t therefore be too difficult for everyone to find 8 suitable runs over the 12 months of the competiton.

For those interested, a runner’s score for each race is calculated by expressing your finishing position relative to the total number of runners completing the race. Bob’s magic formula has a slight tweak to ensure that no-one ever scores zero points.

Prizes will be awarded at the AGM next March for the three highest overall scorers in each sex, with additional prizes going to the top male and female veterans. One further proviso is that in order to be included for any prize, runners must take part in at least 6 races.

The competition started in earnest at the Thanet 20 and the Lydd Half Marathon, and continues through to the end of February 2011. I’ll be checking all ‘local’ race results each weekend, but please let me know if you take part in a race elsewhere in the country, or even abroad. I’ll try to post a monthly update on the notice board at Cascades, providing that it isn’t part of the ongoing construction works.

Please send your results to me at acowan@f2s.com or acowan@bcis.co.uk.

 

Click here to see the final results of 2009/2010 Grand Prix.