Looking forward to autumn races in the 2015 Grand Prix

Now that the first three races in the 2015 Grand Prix are done and the standings have been updated we are looking forward to the autumn series.

Grand Prix points are awarded for the first 250 finishing positions in the six races that are in the series. 250 points are awarded to the first British finisher, down to 1 point for the 250th British finisher and there are extra points available for fast times. Up to the best four scores from the six available races count at the end of the series. If the athlete scores points in less than four Grand Prix events, their best two, three or single score will count towards the final standings. Prize money totals £18,000 and is shared by the top 10 male and female British runners at the end of the series.

The races that  have taken place so far are:

Vitality Reading Half Marathon on  22nd March

BUPA London 10,000 on 25th May

Bristol 10k on 31st May

At this half-way point, some runners have done all three races, some have done two and some only one and so predicting the outcome in the autumn is tricky.

Currently, in the men's standings, the top four places are taken by runners who have done all three races. John Beattie (handicap -5.0) is leading with 1035 points after finishing 2nd in Reading, 7th in London and 9th In Bristol. He also received bonus points for fast times at Reading and London and these have given him a significant gap in front of Ben Livesey (handicap -4.7) who is in 2nd with 733 points.

In the women's standings the top five have done all three races. Emma Stepto (handicap -0.7) is leading with 732 points but she is only four points ahead of Georgie Bruinvels (handicap 0.3) who is currently in 2nd place. Emma was the 2014 Grand Prix  winner and will be hoping to repeat this in 2015.

 The autumn Grand Prix races will be held at the Cardiff 10k on 6th September, Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon on 4th October and the Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash 10k on 15th November.