Last of the summer like no other!

With just nine days to go in the September Reward Running competition, we’re delighted to announce that a pair of Sennheiser headphones is being awarded to the 27,000th runbritain handicap claimant, a landmark figure which is fast approaching.

In addition - if you haven’t already heard - September is an even bigger and better Reward Running bonus month with another four spot prizes (Sennheiser headphones) up for grabs in addition to the top ten winners, so there’s added incentive to get involved beyond the adidas mi-coach for the overall winner!

If you haven’t entered Reward Running before, here are a few things you need to know!

Reward Running is our free monthly competition where runners can win a prize if they reduce their handicap score by the largest number of points in the month. At the end of the month, the runners who are in the top 10 of the leaderboard that month will win a prize - an adidas miCoach for the winner, and Sennheiser headphones for the rest.

*The first thing you need to do is claim your handicap!*

The top 10 consists of the runners who have improved their handicap the most in that month, but within the top 10, one place is reserved for the most improved in each of the four handicap categories:

1: 5 or under

2: 6-12

3: 13-20

4: 21 or above

There is also one place reserved for the most improved runner that has run at least 10 races in the year before the competition month.

If you haven’t already claimed your free handicap and the attraction of the Sennheiser headphones for being the 27,000th claimant hasn’t convinced you to sign up, here are five more great reasons to get involved:

1. 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.

2. 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?

3. Be part of ‘Reward Running’ and be in with a chance of winning an adidas mi-coach or Sennheiser headphones if your score shows the greatest improvement - it’s free to enter too

4. Find out where your times put you in the official UK road rankings

5. And finally...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.