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Coronavirus (COVID-19) update August 2021
The freeze that we put on handicaps potentially decreasing from 15th March 2020 when racing opportunities were very limited was lifted on 24th July 2021. We needed to do this because normally, a few months after each performance you do, we apply a time penalty to the worth of it for handicap purposes to try and make your runbritain runner handicap most reflective of your recent form. So we had just stopped those penalties being applied.
This means that over the next few months your handicap may start to increase slightly if you don't race and/or your older performances are still considered better.
Conversely, to improve your handicap then, as normal, you will need to register some performances better than your current best ones. You can see which ones are counting at present on your runner profile page by looking for a + (plus) sign at the end of each of your performances in the Performances panel.
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Handicap changes
Despite the above freeze you may have noticed that your handicap has changed slightly if you have not looked since before lockdown.
This is due to a change in the algorithm by which we compute the "SSS" (Standard Scratch Score) of each race or parkrun which attempts to rate its relative difficulty.
The algorithm was originally devised in 2010 so runners in the UK have now been able to have a handicap for 10 years. Back then parkrun was still quite small and the original algorithm only really used data from those who had done a number of races in order to compute the SSS scores. This meant that for many parkruns and other small races there was only a small number of "samples" to go on which, in turn, led to some SSS scores being a less than accurate measure of the actual difficulty which, in turn again, sometimes gave inaccurate improvements in handicaps.
The new algorithm attempts to improve this situation by making more use of parkrun performance data together with some other subtle changes.
We have also raised the max SSS to 10.0 from 6.0 to better differentiate the really tough parkruns and races. Further, the maximum athlete handicap has been increased from 36 to 54 to broaden the number of runners that may be able to benefit from the handicap scheme.
This means that some runner's handicaps will improve slightly and some will increase slightly. The average change is however largely zero.
We realise this may disappoint some runners but we hope that the changes will make your handicaps more accurate and give everybody a good baseline to start from when we can continue with races and parkruns.
Please feel to contact us (use the link in the footer) should you have any further questions.
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Reward Running 2021 #clickyourclock
*** We will hope to start Reward Running whenever racing in the UK can restart on a more regular basis. As yet we cannot anticipate when this might be. ***
In 2021, at the end of each week, any runner who has improved their handicap in that week and has clicked their clock will be in contention to win a prize.
Please click here to see the leaderboards and further details.
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Handicaps
runbritain's revolutionary handicap scoring system is designed to give runners
of all abilities the ability to benchmark their progress and compare their results
across a range of distances and terrains.
We include road, multi-terrain, track, cross country and trail races so now nearly all events that are licensed by UKA/runbritain can contribute to your handicap.
The algorithm we use allows a direct comparison of the current form of different runners to be made. It does not matter if the races if you do were in tough, moderate or fast conditions as the algorithm
asesseses the difficulty of the course on the day so that you have as good a chance of improving
your handicap on a hilly course on a tough day to a flat course on a calm day.
Click here
to see a sample page - the winner of the
2012 Reward Running Competition
Click here to claim your handicap.
The scoring system, which has been developed in conjunction with the team behind
the Power of 10 website,
rewards regular racing and factors in a degree of difficulty for slower courses.
The score is derived from all your results in UKA licensed road, multi-terrain, track & cross country
races and also parkruns from 2010 although you only need to have done one race or parkrun since 2010 to claim
a handicap.
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Once registered, you just need to log in
to be taken to your bespoke personal running biog profile page featuring:
* opportunity to enter the monthly Reward Running 2021 competition (from April)
* personal progress graph
* direct comparisons with other runners with a 'head-to-head' function
* weekly mileage logger and graph
* national ladder position showing your ranking amongst all UK runners
* current rankings at each of the major distances (5K, 10K, HM, Mar)
* handicap score updated automatically after each run
* target times to bring score down to the next level
* training schedules to help you achieve your targets