Who is below scratch and how did they get there?
How is your runbritain handicap score looking? If you have run in a runbritain licensed event or a parkrun since the beginning of 2010 you will have a handicap score between MINUS 6.6 to 36.0. How are you doing?
The handicap scoring system is now in its fifth year and the national ladder is more full than ever but we still have room for more and are eagerly anticipating passing the 50,000 mark!
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. It works just like a golf handicap system as a measure of the course difficulty and your ability on that course.
Recently the system has been upgraded to include all age groups, including juniors,from 800m and up (at the beginning we only featured 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon) and to give rankings within age groups and postcode areas. So, with more runners than ever in the system, we thought it would be a good time for a quick stock check, a peek at the numbers below scratch in all age group categories and an idea of what it takes to get there.
| Category | Number below scratch | Category leader | Points of interest |
| M15 | 47 | Alex Botter (-1.916) | Alex is making great progress and has gone from 15.1 in March 2012 by training and racing on the track. |
| M17 | 271 | Daniel Rowden (-4.392) | Daniel is specialising in 800m and so his graph shows progress every summer and then tails back down in the winter. His 800m time is 1:52. |
| M20 | 464 | Kyle Langford (5.415) | Like Daniel, Kyle rarely races in the winter and so his graph looks a bit like a roller coaster. He runs 1:47 for 800m and 3:52 for 1500m. |
| W20 | 5 | Jessica Judd (-1.995) | Jessica, who is just two hundredths of a second outside the UK junior 800m record, still has another year in this age group. Her 800m time is 1:59.77. Like the other track specialists, she reduces her handicap every summer and it slips in the winter. |
| M23 | 331 | Charlie Grice (-6.141) | Charlie represented England at this year's Commonwealth Games and GB & NI at the European Championships. His 1500m time is 3:35 and he is 6th overall on the ladder. |
| W23 | 21 | Laura Muir (-2.288) | Laura is also an international track athlete who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and GB & NI at the European Championships. She runs the 800m in 2 minutes and the 1500m in 4 minutes and is 4th overall on the women's ladder. |
| M Open | 1000+ | Mo Farah (-7.643) | Mo, who ran 2:08:21 on his marathon debut, got the British half marathon record also got a European two mile best time and won the European 5000m and 10,000m this year. His year was interrupted by illness, however, and so he was occasionally superseded by Andy Vernon, Andrew Osagie and Michael Rimmer at the top of the ladder but is back there now and almost 9 points clear of Andy Vernon. |
| W Open | 66 | Gemma Steel (-2.630) | Gemma's times of 31:26 for 10k and 68:13 for the half marathon have put her 3rd on the all time rankings for those distances. She is currently a little more than 1 point ahead of Lynsey Sharp. |
| M35 | 216 | Andi Jones (-5.089) | Andi has moved into this category within the last year and firmly established himself at the top. His win at the Greater Manchester Marathon in 2:16:55 demonstrates his class. He has also been a prolific racer and keeps his handicap around -5 but, with his recent move to Qatar, that may be affected. |
| W35 | 3 | Alyson Dixon (-1.056) |
Alyson was as low as -1.6 after the Mattoni Olomouc Half Maraton where she ran 73:12 for 13.1 miles. |
| M40 | 131 | Steven Way (-5.475) | Steve ran 2:15:16 for the marathon at the Commonwealth Games and this is the all time best time for the M40 marathon. |
| W40 | 3 | Jo Pavey (-2.380) | Jo became the oldest female European Champion when she won the 10,000m only 10 days after getting the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games for 5000m. |
| M45 | 46 | Tim Hartley (-3.032) | Tim has been at the top of the M45 ladder for the last year and, with a 31:00 10k time at the Bupa Greater Manchester 10k in May will be hard to knock off! |
| M50 | 17 | Guy Bracken (1.498) | Guy mixes track and road running and has achieved some of his best scores in relays on the road. |
| M55 | 1 | George Thomspon (-0.336) | We didn't have any M55s under scratch this time last year so congratulations to George who has had a really good summer and is currently running just over 16 minutes for 5k. |
| M60 | 1 | Martin Rees (-1.174) | Martin has the all time best times in the M60 category for 5k, 5 miles, 10k, 10 miles and half marathon. This year he ran 33:26 for 10k and 72:26 for the half marathon! |
To compare with last year click here.