Today's Runner Winter League - Hampshire Division 2009-10

Rules

• All Clubs expressed their support of the concept of the League: “The emphasis of the league is to provide the ordinary club member with the opportunity to participate in a series of multi-terrain events. The atmosphere is to be enjoyable and social without the outright 'cut and thrust' associated with specialist cross-country leagues".
• The guideline for speed is 5:40 minute mile pace for men and 6:15 minute mile pace for women. This translates to:
o 5 miles 27:30 men 30:00 women
o 10 Km 34:11 men 37:17 women
o 10 miles 55:00 men 60:00 women.
• Any runner who achieves this pace over a measured distance 5 miles or over during the 12 months prior to the first race is ineligible.
• In the last resort any runner who can be proved to have equalled or bettered this pace should be notified to the race organiser who will amend the race results as though that runner is disqualified. The race organiser will inform both the club concerned and the Divisional Co-ordinator of the revised result. [Comment: The implication of this rule is that the next scoring runner will count.]
• It was the wish of the meeting that all Clubs would ensure that their members were fully aware of these speed guidelines and Club Representatives would do their utmost to ensure no violations. If this is done then the race atmosphere should be as enjoyable and social as intended.
• A team to comprise the first 5 scoring men and the first 3 scoring women.
• If a gender has at least one member, the missing members will be given a score 1 greater than the last finisher in the gender race. [Comment: The implication of this rule is that every gender team with at least one runner will achieve a score for the overall race.]
• An incomplete gender team with more runners than another incomplete gender team will be ranked higher regardless of score. [Comment: The meeting considered that this rule would provide an incentive to Clubs unable to field complete teams to enter more runners.]
• The men and women will be scored separately and the overall result determined by summing the resultant placing, e.g. Men finish 2nd and women finish 4th results in 2+4 = 6 points. The aim is that the men and women will have equal weighting in the calculation of the overall result. In the event of a tie in the men’s or women’s race ‘count-back’ will be used to resolve the tie. (The position of the final scoring runner will decide the team position).
• A full team to win over an incomplete team (men, women and overall). In the event of a tie in the end of series positions then aggregate score will be taken into account to resolve the tie. [Comment: The implication of this rule is that points alone will not determine the overall result.]
• Young runners may participate subject to the rules of UK Athletics regarding maximum distance permissible. (The meeting was advised that the current rule is that the Under 17s can run up to a maximum of 6.5k). Individual Clubs are responsible for their own young runners.
• Only runners eligible for teams are allowed to run in the race, i.e. no guest runners and no members running as individuals.
• All runners must wear their Club's strip.
• The race is to start at 1100.
• The poorest overall result of each Club would not count in the calculation for the end of series overall result.
• The preference is for events of around 8k over a multi-terrain course. Host Clubs should attempt to meet this guideline if possible.
• Host Clubs may wish to record the times of the 1st 10 finishers and of the leading women for inclusion in the results reported to the media.
• Host Clubs may wish to display a distance to go notice towards the end of the course.

Safety

It was agreed that Host Clubs should place safety high on the agenda when planning their events and should make contingency plans for dealing with accident and injury during an event.

Host Clubs should be aware of UK Athletics Guidance to Clubs on Risk Assessment for Cross Country races. Host Clubs shall ensure that a race permit has been obtained and is available for inspection by any runner or official. It is recommended that Host Clubs display a notice as recommended by the UK Athletics Guidance.

In the event of inclement weather making a course risky in parts the Host Club should warn competitors prior to the start and at the place of any known hazard.
Individual competitors should make their own risk assessments and decide if they wished to run.

Reporting Results

The race organiser is to forward a copy of the results to the representative of each Club and to the Divisional Co-ordinator as soon as possible and certainly within one week of the race. Email is acceptable.

The Divisional Co-ordinator will keep a record of the current overall standings and make this available to the current host Club on race day so that this can be incorporated with the race result.