Dai James Memorial Races - Amman Valley Harriers club championships What is it? An annual club championship consisting of a series of 5 mile races with prizes awarded for: a) the fastest 3 male and female runners over 3 of the races b) the top male and female runners who improve the most and complete at least 3 races. When is it? 2017 dates Race 1: 13 April 2017 Race 2: 18 May 2017 Race 3: 15 June 2017 Race 4: 10 August 2017 Race 5: 07 September 2017 How will the race work? You should record your own time so that everyone can run the race. The race is a staggered start, the idea being for everyone to finish at 7:30pm. A start order will be created by the race organiser which uses the runner s previous pb (or the predicted time if not run before) to calculate a start time. i.e. If a runner has a previous personal best of 45 minutes their start time will be 6:45pm (7:30-0:45) This generally means that runners will start between 6:30pm to 7:00pm. The idea is to encourage all runners to race as they will always have other people around them to stay ahead of / catch-up with. Please do not ask to change your start time as this causes problems. The race organiser may change a start time if they feel the runners time will be significantly different to predicted (generally because on injury). What will the route be? It will start outside the Salvation Army building on the way into the leisure centre in Ammanford. It will go up Walter road, down to the cycle path and then to the gate by the Cwmamman football pitches. Runners will then turn around and return to the start. The route is generally fast and is mostly traffic free.
Please note that the route has not been officially measured! (only measured using a garmin which isn t that accurate: http://www.coursemeasurement.org.uk/gps.htm ) Detailed directions: Distance Turn Notes (miles) START Speed bump outside Salvation Army building 0.01 LEFT On to Margaret St 0.13 RIGHT Stay on Margaret St 0.17 LEFT On to Walter Rd 0.50 RIGHT On to Wern Ddu 0.54 LEFT On to High St 0.59 LEFT Cycle path start (tarmac path forks to left before bridge) 2.50 U turn Touch gate across path just prior to Glanamman pitches Complete the course in reverse back to start (remember to turn right after the end of the cycle path on to Wern Ddu). The finish is the same speed bump as the start - don t forget to stop your watch! How will the fastest person be determined? The finish times will be adjusted to produce age-graded percentages (more information is given in annex A). Each persons score will be the average of the 3 highest age-graded percentages that person does. Age-grading adjusts each runners time based upon their age and gender. An example is given in annex B. How will the person who improves the most be determined? The person who improves the most will be based on the age grading percentage. The base time will be determined by the runners best time from the previous year or their first run of the series (which ever is fastest). Their best time will be determined by their fastest time excluding their first race from the series.
If no runner obtains a positive score (i.e improves) then no prize will be awarded. Where there is a difference of more than 5 percentage points in the improvement the club championships co-ordinator will check to ensure that the persons slowest time was run at race pace (using race times from other races). An example of how the most improved will work is given in Annex C. Prizes There will be prizes for the top 3 runners and the most improved runner. No runner shall win more than 1 prize, with preference being given per the following (in descending order): 1 st fastest Most Improved 2 nd fastest 3 rd fastest e.g if someone is both 1 st fastest and most improved they will win the 1 st prize and the most improved will go to the next most improved runner. e.g. if someone is most improved and also 2 nd fastest they will win the most improved prize and 2 nd fastest will go to the next runner etc. What if no-one does 3 or more races or there are very few who do 3 races? If only a small number of people complete 3 races (suggested minimum number is 8) then the best 2 will count provided at least 8 have completed it and a prize will only be awarded to the overall winner and most improved. If fewer than 8 have completed 2 races then no prizes will be awarded. Who will calculate the results and organise the races? Hugh Janney has offered to do so. In the interest of the organiser being able to compete it is suggested that the organiser runs in the race starting last. Runners should record their own time to enable this. Annex A: Age-grading Age grading is a commonly used running method to adjust for a runners age and gender. Each runners time is adjusted to take account of the relevant world record for that age and gender. Therefore times achieved by different ages can be compared using this method. For more information this BBC article is useful: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11400138 For those of you who like statistics then see this for a full description of how it works: http://home.roadrunner.com/~alanjones/agegrade.html What might also be of interest are the single year world records:
http://www.arrs.net/sarec.htm Annex B: Example of age-grading to determine the fastest person The example below uses the Ammanford 10k results for 2007-2011. The table is sorted by the persons with the highest average age graded performances over 3 races. With very fast times in 2007 and 2008, Les Chapman would win followed by Kevin Taylor for the men and for the women Sian Trace would win followed by Amanda John. Person 2007 Time 2007 Age Grade 2008 Time 2008 Age Grade 2009 Time 2009 Age grade 2010 Time 2010 Age Grade 2011 Time 2011 Age Grade Races Best 3 average Rank Les Chapman 00:40:47 81.2 00:41:46 79.2 00:47:50 69.8 01:00:33 56.6 4 76.7 1 Kevin Taylor 00:41:08 72.3 00:40:22 75.4 00:40:40 75.5 3 74.4 2 John Morris 00:40:27 66.4 00:39:42 67.6 00:36:34 73.5 00:37:18 72.2 4 71.1 3 Sian Trace 00:47:03 66.7 00:44:38 69.4 00:42:46 71.2 3 69.1 4 Roland Sherwood 00:49:04 68.6 00:47:42 71.2 00:51:10 67.0 3 68.9 5 Amanda John 00:46:43 68.5 00:47:29 68.0 00:47:27 69.0 00:50:27 65.6 00:49:49 67.1 5 68.5 6 David Rosser 00:55:13 70.2 01:00:46 64.9 00:57:35 69.7 3 68.3 7 Lisa Thomas 00:46:13 65.7 00:45:00 67.6 00:46:06 66.3 3 66.5 8 Helen Phillips 00:55:12 62.1 00:54:23 64.6 00:55:50 63.7 3 63.4 9 Ffion Evans 00:51:20 61.1 00:49:55 62.1 00:48:13 63.6 3 62.3 10 Geraint Jenkins 00:48:46 58.7 00:48:40 59.3 00:47:20 61.4 3 59.8 11 Ann Mogford 01:00:17 53.1 01:00:49 53.3 00:59:50 54.7 3 53.7 12 Rob Fowler 01:01:53 54.9 01:08:37 50.0 01:03:51 54.2 01:09:40 50.6 4 53.2 13 Andrew Lloyd 00:47:34 56.4 1 Brian Mogford 00:43:43 69.7 00:44:33 68.9 2 Catrin Owen 00:55:38 55.3 1 Chris Jones 00:45:07 63.9 00:42:25 68.5 2 Clara Hatfiled 00:51:24 59.0 1 Harford Evans 00:44:53 74.4 1 Hayden Williams 00:47:42 59.1 00:47:26 66.7 2 Hywel Jones 00:41:56 71.5 1 Jade Williams 00:40:31 75.7 1 James Trace 00:49:03 61.1 1
Joanna Mogford 00:58:30 51.9 1 Joy Thomas 01:00:53 50.9 01:02:17 50.5 2 Karen Sparrow 00:53:56 56.4 1 Kathy Bradbury 00:50:31 67.0 1 Lyn Brown 00:53:06 61.3 00:58:28 57.2 2 Melanie Tancock 01:01:33 51.1 1 Michelle Owen 00:57:54 53.6 1 Michelle Phillips 00:54:16 56.3 00:52:24 58.7 2 Natalie Jones 00:51:54 58.4 1 Neil Jones 00:38:36 73.1 1 P Gruepel 00:50:49 68.2 1 Paul Butcher 00:42:31 69.4 1 Rachel Allcock 00:42:47 71.9 1 Rebecca Morgan 00:49:44 61.0 1 Samantha Mogford 01:00:54 49.8 00:58:17 52.0 2 Sarah Marsh 01:03:51 47.6 1 Simon Sheperd 00:49:58 56.9 1 Susannah Jenkins 01:06:54 47.3 Annex C: Example of the most improved person Using the example of the Ammanford 10k for 2007 2011 as above, the table is sorted by the most improved. (here the rules applied are slightly different so the example works) John Morris would win the mens race followed by Kevin Taylor. For the women Sian Trace would win followed by Helen Phillips. Note that 3 runners have a negative score indicating a decline in performance over the series (sorry Les!) Person 2007 Time 2007 Age Grade 2008 Time 2008 Age Grade 2009 Time 2009 Age grade 2010 Time 2010 Age Grade 2011 Time 2011 Age Grade Races Most Improved Ra John Morris 00:40:27 66.4 00:39:42 67.6 00:36:34 73.5 00:37:18 72.2 4 7.1 Sian Trace 00:47:03 66.7 00:44:38 69.4 00:42:46 71.2 3 4.5 Kevin Taylor 00:41:08 72.3 00:40:22 75.4 00:40:40 75.5 3 3.2 Geraint Jenkins 00:48:46 58.7 00:48:40 59.3 00:47:20 61.4 3 2.7
Roland Sherwood 00:49:04 68.6 00:47:42 71.2 00:51:10 67.0 3 2.6 Helen Phillips 00:55:12 62.1 00:54:23 64.6 00:55:50 63.7 3 2.5 Ffion Evans 00:51:20 61.1 00:49:55 62.1 00:48:13 63.6 3 2.5 Lisa Thomas 00:46:13 65.7 00:45:00 67.6 00:46:06 66.3 3 1.9 Ann Mogford 01:00:17 53.1 01:00:49 53.3 00:59:50 54.7 3 1.6 Amanda John 00:46:43 68.5 00:47:29 68.0 00:47:27 69.0 00:50:27 65.6 00:49:49 67.1 5 0.5 David Rosser 00:55:13 70.2 01:00:46 64.9 00:57:35 69.7 3-0.5 Rob Fowler 01:01:53 54.9 01:08:37 50.0 01:03:51 54.2 01:09:40 50.6 4-0.7 Les Chapman 00:40:47 81.2 00:41:46 79.2 00:47:50 69.8 01:00:33 56.6 4-2.0 Andrew Lloyd 00:47:34 56.4 1 Brian Mogford 00:43:43 69.7 00:44:33 68.9 2 Catrin Owen 00:55:38 55.3 1 Chris Jones 00:45:07 63.9 00:42:25 68.5 2 Clara Hatfiled 00:51:24 59.0 1 Harford Evans 00:44:53 74.4 1 Hayden Williams 00:47:42 59.1 00:47:26 66.7 2 Hywel Jones 00:41:56 71.5 1 Jade Williams 00:40:31 75.7 1 James Trace 00:49:03 61.1 1 Joanna Mogford 00:58:30 51.9 1 Joy Thomas 01:00:53 50.9 01:02:17 50.5 2 Karen Sparrow 00:53:56 56.4 1 Kathy Bradbury 00:50:31 67.0 1 Lyn Brown 00:53:06 61.3 00:58:28 57.2 2 Melanie Tancock 01:01:33 51.1 1 Michelle Owen 00:57:54 53.6 1 Michelle Phillips 00:54:16 56.3 00:52:24 58.7 2 Natalie Jones 00:51:54 58.4 1 Neil Jones 00:38:36 73.1 1 P Gruepel 00:50:49 68.2 1
Paul Butcher 00:42:31 69.4 1 Rachel Allcock 00:42:47 71.9 1 Rebecca Morgan 00:49:44 61.0 1 Samantha Mogford 01:00:54 49.8 00:58:17 52.0 2 Sarah Marsh 01:03:51 47.6 1 Simon Sheperd 00:49:58 56.9 1