Valley Striders Club Handicaps |
Calculation
Rules New 7 May 13 |
There are 4 Club Handicaps each year, usually in December/January, April/May, June/July and September. They take place on Tuesday evenings, except the December/January which is a Sunday morning.
Runners start, slowest first and fastest last, and if the runners perform to their “form” everyone should finish close together.
We have a huge collection of “form” in the Performance Database used for the Performance Certificates. We also use this “form” to calculate the Handicap start times for each runner.
Here is a summary of
the rules to calculate the handicaps. In
these examples I refer to the April 2013 handicap which was run over a distance
of 5 miles, but a similar method would be used for any distance, just using
different factors
·
In order
to calculate each person’s handicap we take their most recent 10 races but do
not go any further back than 6 handicaps ago.
So for the April 2013 Handicap we analysed back to September 2011.
·
The times
for those 10 races or the races since September 2011 (whichever is the lower)
are converted to 5 mile times using a method similar to the performance
certificates.
·
In simple
terms we take each person’s race time, divide it by the world record for that
distance and multiply it by the world record for 5 miles. Eg.
A 10k time is divided by 26mins51secs and multiplied by 21mins20secs
·
We take
the best of those factored times
·
Clearly
the figure is going to be more reliable the more races someone has run. For people who have only run 1 race we
subtract 5%, for 2 races we subtract 2%, for 3 to 5 races we leave the number
unchanged, for 6 or more races we add 1%
·
We want
to give the opportunity to as many people as possible to win the Handicap, so
recent winners are penalised. For the
winner of the previous handicap we subtract 5%, for the one prior 4%, prior to
that 3%, there is a sliding scale after that, but you get the idea
·
We then
reduce this to the next lowest 15 seconds
·
Subtract
it from 55 minutes, and that is your handicap start time!
So let’s do Richard
Irvine’s handicap as an example
·
10 races goes back to November 2012, which is well within the 18
month limit so we just look at 10.
·
Best time
was 39:47 at Abbey Dash 2012 which equates to 31:37 for 5 miles
·
Add 1%
because he’s run more than 6 races but subtract 4% because he won the Autumn
2012 handicap, gives 30:39
·
Reduce to
30:30, subtract from 55:00 gives 24:30 start mark
Another runner
·
4
races in 18 months so count them all
·
Best
time 36:36 for 10k equates to 29:05 for 5 miles
·
No
change to time because we’ve between 3 and 6 times
·
Reduce
to 29:00, subtract from 55:00 gives 26:00
Another runner
·
Only one
race in 18 months
·
52:54 for
10k equates to 42:02 for 5miles
·
Subtract
5% because we’ve only one performance to go on, this gives 39:56
·
Reduce to
39:45, subtract from 55:00 gives 15:15 start mark
Ok, so what happens
if someone doesn’t have any race performances in the system? Well I ask them a recent 5k time or 5mile
time or 10k time or just a race pace and I have a ready reckoner which calculates
assuming they have just one run in the system.
So if their quoted performance was 52:54 for 10k, they’d get 15:15 start
mark.
Note that runners
with no performances are told that they can’t win the trophy, but providing
they’ve given me a reasonable estimate, the 5% rule is worth approx 2 minutes and therefore if they run to form they’ll
finish just below half way.
Also runners who have
a listed handicap but want to have a different start mark also aren’t allowed
to win the trophy.