WBH Club Grand Prix 2014 As Vice Captains, Myself (Lee Harris) & Emma Sheldon have been

asked to put together this years club Grand Prix, we hope it is to everyones satisfaction, but obviously this is a democracy, so any suggested amendments would be welcomed.

This year the results will be gender and age-adjusted. The idea of this is not only to encourage people to continually try and improve, even if age is making it harder to see this in actual times, but it also allows extra scoring for improvement, this system makes it a level playing field, regardless of age or gender. Basically, ANYONE can win, whether you are a beginner or advanced member!!

The gender and age-adjustment calculations will be carried out by your man Jim Greenwood, who has kindly volunteered number crunch the results via the WAVA system, a system where factors have been derived from international statistics based on a large number of races that have taken place worldwide. Further details explaining this can be found below and also in a file document on the WBH facebook page. In order to make the necessary calculations, we will need to know the following of each member:

Date of birth PB times for 5k, 5mile, 10k and half marathon, including the year (or even better) the date when those were set

To supply me with this information, or contact me to suggest amendments, you can email me at leejohnharris@yahoo.com or call/text me on 07545 327 125. or, if you have them, Facebook/Twitter The fixtures are listed below. There are 13 races, including Parkrun, and each runner must complete at least 8 races from those 13 to qualify. The Stafford Half Marathon is now closed, but given that a number of members already appear to have entered, it seemed a good race to include. The last race of the series will be the Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon on 19th October, however, your Fastest Parkrun of 2014 will be able to include any Parkrun up to and including, Saturday 1st November. This will be the official end date of the GP The GP is only open to all fully paid up club runners regardless of their ability, level of race experience, age and gender. New members are encouraged to participate. Participants should enter as West Bromwich Harriers and wear club colours (vest or T-shirt)

The 13 public races have been picked to be within reasonable travelling distances from West Bromwich, although many (including me) drive to races and can offer transport to those without.

Race results will be published after each race on the WBH website and Facebook page.

Event Action Heart 5 Fradley 10K Stafford Half Marathon Classic Cobra 10K Shugborough Gate Gallop Trentham 10 Staffs Knott 5 Little Aston 5 Walsall 10K Pattingham Bells 7 Birmingham Half Parkrun

Distance 5 Miles 10K 13.1 Miles 10K 2 Mile relay 10K 10 Miles 5 Miles 5 Miles 10K 7 Miles 13.1 5K

Date Feb 23rd March 9th March 16th May 18th June 18th June 29th July 20th Aug 14th Sept 7th Sept 21st Oct 12th Oct 19th 2014

Website www.actionheartrunning.com/ http://www.kpevents.net/3446 FULL - ENTRIES NOW CLOSED http://www.cobrarc.co.uk/ http://www.staffordharriers.org/shugboroughrelays/ http://www.thegategallop.co.uk/ http://www.trenthamrunningclub.co.uk/TRC_T10.ht ml http://www.staffordharriers.org/staffs-knot/ http://rscac.co.uk/little-aston-5/ http://www.walsallrun.com/ http://www.pattinghamchurch.org/BellsRunPage2014.html http://www.greatrun.org/Events/event.aspx?id=14 http://www.parkrun.org.uk/ Your fastest PR from 2014 up to and Including 1st Nov

Cost 11 14 ------7 4pp x4 12 11 TBC 8 12 12 34 Free

Grand Prix Rules 1. There will be separate mens and ladies competition 2. In order to ensure fairness across all members, regardless of age, the placings will be decided by age adjusted time. This will be calculated using official WAVA rankings 3. As an example of age adjusted times; 1. if a 25 year old male runs 38:00 for 10km this achieves a WAVA ranking of 70.66%, 2. a 45 year old male running the same distance in 41:46 would achieve a WAVA ranking of 70.65% and would therefore place higher. 4. Within each competition, once placings have been adjusted for age, points will be awarded on a sliding scale of 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 to the first ten current club members completing each event. 5. To provide an additional incentive to continuously improve, the points awarded will then be adjusted by % relation to previous PB over the distance. So; 6.

if the same 45 year old still runs 41:46 for 10k and places 1st within the club to receive 100 points, but their age adjusted PB is 41 mins, their actual points would be 98, as their time is 98% of their PB. Likewise, if the 25 year old places second on WAVA, receiving 90 points, but their previous PB was 39 mins, their actual points would be 93after adjustment by the relative percentage.

7. PBs set in previous years will also be adjusted by WAVA to their current equivalent so those whos times are understandably slowing as the years go by still have something to aim for. 8. In the event of an exact tie after WAVA calculation, the points awarded will be the higher of the two places concerned, with the next place being voided. So if two people tie for first, they would each receive 100 points before adjustment for PB, with 80 points going to the person in 3rd place.

9. Although members can compete in as many rounds as they wish, only the 5 best scores will count towards the final championship. 10. Only those who are fully paid up, currently registered members of the club on the day of an event are eligible to score in that round.

11. Club vests should be worn in all scoring competitions.