With the Red Rose awards night coming up and the Runners Runner nominees on the website, I thought it was a good time for a quick blog to help everyone understand the competitions and if bling is your thing, how to win something.
The club website includes full instructions on the various club competitions and is the definitive source for the rules and results.
The club runs a number of running competitions each year, with an awards night in the spring.
So, how do you win a prize?
The first thing you have to do is run the races. All the races are on the Red Rose calendar. https://www.redroseroadrunners.org/calendar/ but which is the right competition for you?
If you are a fast runner and you think that you can get a good position either outright or in your age category, then the Championship is for you. You can do the road championship or the fell championship or both if you fancy.
There are 8 races in each championship (fell and road) series with the best 4 places counting. Points are scored as follows – 1st Red Rose male finisher 1 point, 2nd Red Rose male 2 points and so forth until the final Red Rose finisher. Ladies will be scored separately using the same criteria.
Competitor’s lowest points total from 4 of the 8 races will be used to calculate final finishing positions. Trophies will be awarded to the first three runners and the first runner in each Vet category. The Championship Vet categories for men are 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70; ladies 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70. The Fell Championship vet categories are 40, 50, 60 and 70 for men and women. Lower points are better in the championship races.
So, in the championship, you can win by being fast. Choose the races that suit you or that you think others might not enter. Race four of them and wear your Red Rose top and who knows, you could win a prize.
What if you aren’t the fastest but you are improving? Then the Grand Prix is the one for you. The rules are designed to reward performance improvement and participation.
The Grand Prix is a handicap competition. If your pace is pretty consistent, then you will struggle to win this competition but if you can see your race times getting better, then this is the one you should target.
Your handicap will be calculated based on your best 10k time for each of the last 3 years as listed on the Power of 10 website. These 3 best 10k times will be averaged and used to calculate your recent Best Average 10k Pace in minutes per Km. This will then be used to compare your performance in each Grand Prix race for the current season. The comparison is in the form of a ratio (Best Average Pace/Race Pace). For example, if your Best Average Pace is 05:00 mins per Km and you run a 10k in 60 mins (which works out to be 06:00 mins per km) the ratio will be 5/6.
If you don’t know what Power of 10 is, it’s a website that tracks athlete’s performances. You don’t need to do anything to get on there, but it may be worth checking your previous results out.https://www.thepowerof10.info/
As an example, my last 3 10k times as well as all the other power of 10 results for me are below.
You can see that my 10k PB was 44:20 but that was 4 years ago and won’t be included in the calculations. The last 3 are 46:52, 46:28 and 45:52. That gives me an average of 46:24 and if I divide that by 10 to get my Best Average Pace, 4:38 (roughly) per km.
If I was to run a race at 4:00 per km, then that would give me a score of 4:38/4:00 which works out at 1.158. If that’s better than anyone else’s score, then I’ll get 30 points – Woohoo.
More points are better in the Grand Prix. There are 8 races in the Grand Prix and they all count, so if you want to win, do them all and if you feel that you are getting faster over your previous races, then this is definitely the one to go for. You could be the last Red Roser across the line, but if you have improved your performance, then you can still get the most points.
You can also win something by taking part. If you compete in all the Grand Prix or all the Championship races, then you will win something irrespective of what your times or finishing positions were.
Participation pays off, so check the calendar, move your holidays and run all the races. 🙂
You can also win by being young. This prize is a little out of reach for me but Red Rose runs a series of junior races. Again, rules and dates are on the website, but juniors can also win some serious bling.
And finally, you can be nominated and voted for by your club members, committee and chairman
So, there you have it. There are lots of prizes presented and everyone has a chance to win something.
Come along to the Presentation evening on 1st March to celebrate last years winners and enjoy a lovely evening with the friendliest running club around.
Red Rose Presentation Evening 2019
The full list of senior 2017 winners is: –
Ladies Championship – Carla Davies, Janine Needham Runner up, Jill Jefferson 3rd
V35 – Natalie Moore
V40 – Ruth Travis
V45 – Kathryn Abbott
V50 – Alison Parkinson
V55 – Lynn Melvin
V60 – Janet Saynor
V65 – Joan Gouldthorpe
V70 – Carol Dougless
Natalie Moore and Jenny Fairclough completed in all 8 races
Mens Chamionship – Simon Croft, Duncan Anderson Runner Up, Dan Hughes 3rd
V40 – Mark Willett
V40 Runner up – Scott Jackson
V45 – Gary Corcoran
V50 – David Parkinson
V55 – John Allen
V60 – Joe Swarbrick
V65 – Ray Taylor
V80 – Bernard Elkington
Steve Taylor and Gareth Fairey completed in all 8 Races
Ladies Grand Prix – Emily Ingham, Jenny Fairclough 2nd, Sally Cape 3rd
Mens Grand Prix – Shane Cliffe, Stu Cann Runner Up, Dan Hughes 3rd
Ladies Fell Championship – Carla Davies, Paula Plowman Runner up,
Fell V40 – Ruth Travis
Fell V50 – Alison Mercer
Mens Fell Championship – Jams Simon, Andrew Chrsitie Runner up
Fell V40 – Gary Corcoarn
Fell V50 – Phil Butler
Frank Nightingale completed in all 8 Races
Sports Person of the Year – Jenny Fairclough
Chairman’s Prize – Joe Swarbrick
Runners Runner of the Year – John Wiseman