Growing fields on the roads of Cheshire!
A great weekend of racing saw the biggest field on the roads of Wilmslow! There were over 3300 athletes who completed the Cheshire event.
On a cool morning, under blue skies, Matt Clowes (handicap -5.0) won the Run North West organised Wilmslow 10k. The Staffordshire runner who competes for Cardiff took the race out from the start passing 5k in 14:47. Clowes crossed the line first in 29:47, with Ben Fish (handicap -4.2) second in 30:37 and Chris Arthur (handicap -3.2) of Bowland finished third in 30:56.
Laura Hesketh (handicap 0.7) of Clayton le Moors and Katy Hedgethorn (handicap 1.4) passed 5k in 16:52 and 16:56 respectively. However, it was the Clayton athlete who built up a lead in the second half to take the victory in 34:30 in a new personal best. Hedgethorn of Cambridge & Coleridge took second in 34:46 smashing her personal best by over a minute. Gemma Connolly (handicap 2.4) of St Helens Sutton AC finished third with 35:56. Full results via the Wilmslow Festive 10K link.
Did you race this weekend on the road, trails or cross country? Most of the results are in and it's time to check your handicap score and your ladder position.
The top races from last weekend were:
Wilmslow Festive 10K - 3,307
British Athletics Cross Challenge
(Liverpool & District League & Mid Lancs League) - 2,046
PECO League - 1,118
Bushy parkrun - 1,100
Seeley Cup 10K - 893
Scottish East District League - 791
The runbritain hanidcap scoring system was launched just over seven years ago and each year there has been an average of almost 10,000 signing up to the system that tracks race and parkrun performances and gives every runner in the UK a handicap score that reflects fitness and commitment levels.
The number of sign-ups per year show a peak of 13,264 in 2012. With five more racing weekends to complete this year, we are close to a total of 80,000 since we began.
Some of the benefits of the runbritain handicap scoring system:
- It’s a unique handicap system for running. Just like golf you get a handicap from 0.0 – 36.0 giving runners of all abilities the chance to benchmark their progress and compare their results across a range of terrains and distances. The score automatically updates each time you race (once you have claimed) and rewards regular racing as well as automatically factoring in a degree of difficulty on races that are multi-terrain, hilly or windy.
- You can be a part of the European Athletics Innovation Award winning #clickyourclock competition. This competition rewards runners who reduce their handicap score. The competition runs from March - October each year. Last year, #clickyourclock was presented with the overall prize for innovation at the prestigious European Athletics Golden Tracks awards night,
- You can be part of the National Running Ladder and check out where your handicap puts you compared to every other runner in the UK, e.g. does your 5k time put you higher than your friend’s half marathon and marathon times?
- You can check out where your handicap puts you in your age group and postcode.
- You can find out where your times put you in the official UK road rankings
- You can log your training mileage, watch your progress graph rise and check out head-to-heads with your training partners.
All the information you need is on the runbritain rankings site. Sign up today and see your handicap improve as you target your fitness goals.