Championship Challenge
The object of this award is to give more members the chance to win an award and attend six specific races during the year, and compete against other club members of a broadly similar ability.
Those who do not renew their membership will be removed from the league and moved to the Holding Pool. New members will be slotted into the league depending on their perceived ability. This will be decided by Peter Gooding.
- The Challenge Championship will be made up of 5 separate divisions. Initially on perceived ability, but over the course of time running performance may become secondary to commitment and willingness to participate in the annual challenge. These leagues will be known as, The Premiership, and Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4.
- The Running Club committee will select 6 races each season to qualify for the challenge. These will be at different venues and over different distances and at different times throughout the year. The six races will consist of a Harwich 5k race, a Harwich Runners Handicap 5 mile race, a 5-mile, 10K, 10 mile and and the first cross country race of the season.
- Bonus points will be awarded to all finishers in the Bentley vs Harwich 10-mile race, where the first finisher, male and female, scores 60 points each, second finisher 59 points, third 58, and so on. (This way of scoring will also be used for the first cross-country race of the season).
- Bonus points will also be awarded, ten points to each finisher at a selected Harwich Parkrun. The actual Harwich Parkrun date will be decided by the club committee. This is to allow the greatest possible opportunity for members to race, taking into account the fact that members may be injured or have other commitments during the season.
- Points will be awarded for all other selected races. The nominal maximum score will be 60 for each race. The winner of each challenge race will receive 60 points. The remainder will receive points on a pro-rata basis depending on their performance. Each race will be weighted so as not to favour one particular method of scoring. The points allocation and the scoring will be administered by Peter Gooding.
- The six races selected each season will be on handicap, age-related or using the club standard system. The administrator will decide which races have which method of scoring.
- At the end of the challenge, the members who accumulate the greatest number of points will be positioned within their league accordingly.
Promotion
- The top three in each division at the end of the season will be promoted (except the Premiership), replacing the bottom three in the next lower division.
- In the event of tie then more than 3 may be moved to a lower league.
- The same number of people who moved down will be replaced with those going up. This will ensure that each division retains roughly the same number of participants each year.
At the end of the season, all those with no score will be moved to the Holding Pool, a separate list. A record will be kept of the league they were last in. When they finish a league race at any time in the future, they will return to the league they were last part of.
Eventually, those who have no interest in the challenge will migrate to the lowest division.
Points
Races run on Club Standards scoring system:
- Gold Class 1 60pts
- Gold Class 2 53pts
- Gold Class 3 47pts
- Silver Class 1 40pts
- Silver Class 2 33pts
- Silver Class 3 27pts
- Bronze Class 1 20pts
- Bronze Class 2 13pts
- Bronze Class 3 7pts
- Unclassified 3pts
Age related:
First age related runner 60 pts (remainder pro-rata)
For instance, if 30 people participate, the points would be reduced by 2 for the rest.
Eg: 2nd 58pts; 3rd 56pts; etc
Handicap:
First runner again 60 pts with the remainder pro-rata.
Same system as above.
In this case, if only 20 people raced, there would be a difference of 3 points per race place.
The exact number of points will be rounded up. This will depend upon the number of people taking part in each race.
Year-end Results and Review
Peter Gooding will be responsible for the calculations.
The committee will have the final say in the event of a dispute.
The top three in each of the five leagues will receive an award at the end of the year.
This award will be reviewed annually by the committee. It will be decided:
- If any rules need changing or amending.
- If this award continue into the next year.
- The Championship races for the next year (if the Championship continues).
- Club members are welcome to submit suggested changes during the year, in writing, to any of the clubs awards. These will be considered at this meeting. In future, the committee will decide on any rule changes based on members' feedback and the effectiveness of the current rules.
| Date | Name | Link | Distance | Venue | Start | Points |
| 10-05-26 | Colchester 10k | website | 10k | Abbey Field, Colchester | 10:30 | |
| 30-06-26 | Race 4 of 5k series | website | 5k | Dovercourt seafront | 8 pm | |
| 10-07-26 | Brantham 5 mile plus junior fun run | website | 5 miles | Brantham Leisure Centre | 19:00 | |
| 11-10-26 | Tiptree 10 | website | 10 miles | |||
| 31-12-26 | Harwich Summer Handicap | website | 5 miles | date and venue tbc | 09:30 | |
| 31-12-26 | NESS XC Race 1 | website | 5 miles | date and venue tbc | 10:45 |