2014 Club Road Race Championship

[Keith Mulholland]

Hi,

After talking to a few people over the weekend, I have come up with the following races for 2014>

Jan 19 4 Villages Half GP (L)

Feb 2 Alsager 5 (S)

March 9 Trafford 10k (M)

March 23 Wilmslow 1/2 (L)

Apr 16 Chester Spring 5 GP (S)

May (tbd) Buxworth 5 (S)

May 23 Christleton 5k GP (S)

June (tbd)Warrington RR 10k GP (M)

July (tbd) Buxton Carnival 4 (S)

July (tbd) Wizard 5 GP (S)

July (tbd) Meerbrook 15k (L)

Aug (tbd) Birchwood 10k GP (M)

Sep (tbd) Gawsworth 10k (M)

Oct (tbd) Sandbach 10k (M)

Nov (tbd) Langley 7 (M)

Nov (tbd) Cheddleton 10k (M)

Dec (tbd) Stockport 10 (L)

GP=Cheshire Grand Prix

The Macc Half will not be in the Club Championship but will still be a Cheshire Grand Prix race.

As before, the same scoring system will apply (20 points for 1st place, 19 for 2nd etc).

Best 7 races to count, at least one from each category (Short-S, Med-M, Long-L). Prizes for 1st place, Highest placed vet, best C group runner, best D group runner, best E group runner.

Keith

[markwalker]

Hi Keith,

It looks like a good list. In previous years I have used Trafford, Wilmslow and Chester Spring 5 as warm up races for London and really enjoyed them all. I would recommend them to anyone, and definite PB potential!
Unfortunately they do not fit in with training and other races for me this year so I will be doing my usual attempt to catch up later in the year, hopefully without injury this time!

Is there any scope to add more races for later in the year? There is a lot in the first 6 months and not a lot after, perhaps we could go for a round 20?

Cheers,

Mark

[Keith Mulholland]

Hi,

I can always consider adding more races later in the year. We are a bit short of longer races. We have got 8 in the first six months and 9 in the second so far.

Keith

[markwalker]

OK, but 3 of those 9 are in July so not a lot after the summer!

[burb]

Looks good Keith,

How about a Marathon ? Chester is on the 5th October and is a good one for beginners?

[STEVE LOMAS]

Keith,

I've just remembered that I think there is a new Bollington 10K road race scheduled for next year and I think the date is late August. I may be wrong but I think Neil (Gunn) may have been involved in helping to set this up.

[Neil Gunn]

Keith, Steve

I have no connection whatsoever with the Bollington 10K - it is being organised by 'Bollington Health and Leisure' and 'JWC Fitness'. They have a facebook page if you need more information. It is not a club race and 2014 will be the first time it has been held. I think it is in the autumn but I have no more information.

Thanks

Neil

[burb]

Re: Bollington 10k - Sunday 24th august 2014.
Registration opens 1st January

[Keith Mulholland]

Yes, I had forgotten about the Bollington 10k. I think that it would be popular. As long as it does not clash with Birchwood that would be fine

Hadn't thought about a marathon though Carl is keen!

What do people think?

[markwalker]

r.e. marathon - it would separate the men from the boys! It would just be hard to pick one race, and it would have to be an autumn marathon for next year (Chester is the obvious contender). I think there are quite a few doing Manchester already and there are always a few at London. It could be a good way to get more people involved.

One other thought I had was that by having a lot of races and sticking to 7 counters, there is a chance that 2 people could win 7 races each and tie the champs. I guess this is why it was originally 7 from 12, and why Cheshire GP is 4 from 7 etc. Of course you can still get a tie with the old format. Probably unlikely to happen but I thought it was worth mentioning.

I do also worry that adding more races will spread our existing pool of racers across more events rather than encourage more to take part and potentially weaken our teams for Cheshire GP events. But I guess we will find out - I hope that I am wrong!

[STEVE LOMAS]

Neil,

I am sorry that I connected you with the Bollington 10K race.

[Neil Gunn]

Hi Steve

No problem!

I really only get involved with events that donate all net profits to charity (like all the Macc H events) - there are more and more events being organised by 'businesses' that are run for profit and I hope that people ask questions about where their money goes.

This is a good discussion about the road races for 2014 - we do need to take care not to make the list too large though.

Neil

[burb]

Website and entry for Bollington 10K is now live.

http://www.bollingtonrun.co.uk/

[Keith Mulholland]

OK, so I think Bollington would be a good addition and from what I can gather the profits go to support the Leisure Centre in Bollington.

I have been thinking of the scoring system for the Club Championship and as pointed out the current proposal may give rise to 2 people winning. As an alternative we could have the same system as the fell race champs, where you get points based on your race time. So it would be winning time/your time x 1000 for each person competing. So if you won the race you would get 1000 points etc.

The other thing was to have the best 6 races counting with at least one race of each category required, instead of the current 7.

Any comments?

[markwalker]

Hi Keith,

I really like the scoring system, I think it gives a fairer reflection on performance without it being skewed by the odd race where loads of Harriers or no Harriers compete. Hopefully there is not too much overhead in calculating the points!

What is the logic behind reducing the number of counting events? Not that I am too bothered either way!