The Club Championship is an annual competition to find the best runners in the club. There are a number of different age-groups competitions, which range from "open" (under 35 for women, under 40 for men) rising in "veteran" ten year groups (e.g. Ladies 35-45, 45-55, etc). For the championship your age on 1st January dictates your veteran status for the entire year.
To be considered for the Championship members must record times in at least five of the chosen events, each over a different distance, ranging from the Park Run 5k to half-marathon. At least one of the distances logged has to be 10 miles or over
This year (2010)'s Championship events are :
Frimley Lodge Park Run (5k) (Every Sat from Feb)
Woodland 5 (miles) (26th May, 30th June, 28th July)
Club Handicap (5.25 miles) (monthly)
Cross-Country league races (5+ miles) (Jan, Feb,Mar, Nov, Dec) (best position)
10 Km : Frimley ( March), Camberley ( Oct), Wargrave (June), Fleet 10k (Oct)
10 Miles : Maidenhead (April), Alton 10 (May) Hook ( May), New Forest 10 (July), Cabage Patch 10 (Oct)
1/2 Marathon : Wokingham (Feb), Fleet ( March), Reading ( March), Burnham (Aug), Windsor (Sept)
Marathon : Any
Other races maybe considered if submitted to the Events Team.
Details of these events (either the entry or results) can be found on the Club Calandar or email events@sandhurstjoggers.org.uk.
In all cases except the cross-country the runner's time is used; in the cross-country only it is his/her position .
The road events are chosen, as far as possible, to be similar in "difficulty", reasonably close to home, spaced from one another throughout the year. We also try and avoid clashing with other major (running and otherwise) events.
Several members have commented that they been disappointed that there are not more off-road events in the championships; I wish there were. But as off-road events are all so different it would be impossible to compare one off-road half-marathon (e.g.) with another.
Age Graded Championship
In addition to the age-bands described above, this year we are adding an overall "age-graded" category in the championship. This levels the playing field to allow members, whatever their age, to be compared directly with each other. The runner's performance (i.e. times) in the qualifying events will, for the Overall Champions awards, be factored according to the member's age.
The factors vary according to the member's gender, age and the race distance (see "Age Graded Race Times", in the February newsletter). For instance a 60 year old man's actual 10K time would be multiplied by .8263 or his half-marathon by .8304 to calculate his age-graded time. Thus his 1:45:00 half-marathon converts to an age-graded time of 1:27:12.