We’re now deep enough into our 2023 Road Championship season to be able to see how things are shaping up. With the Race 9, the Big Dipper Half, on Sunday, let’s take a look.
First a quick reminder of the format: You can score points by running at any of 12 designated races, plus an eligible marathon of your choice. Your points are calculated by dividing the winner’s time by your time, and your best 5 scores count towards your total for the season. As there are 4 races and various marathons still to come, it’s technically possible for someone currently on 0 points to win. But I’m going to assume that anyone who’s going for this will have at least 2 or 3 scores on the board by now. We’ll award medals to our top 2 in each age category at our AGM.
So, going category by category, here are our current leaders and the contenders behind them. For full standings, please see the main championship spreadsheet.
Age-Graded
This category is slightly different to the others, in that it’s handicapped by age and sex. Instead of scoring points based on a comparison of your time to the winning time at the same race, you score points based on a comparison of your time to the world record at the same distance by someone the same age and sex as you. This lets everyone in the club compete against everyone else on a fair basis. As this is our only whole club handicapped competition, you can make the case that our age-graded winner is our overall club champion.
Our current leader is Karen Clark (F55), who has a narrow lead over Paddy Treehowes (M55), with Seth Kirby (MSen), Paul Bentley (M65), and Wei Chen (M50) just a little further back. However, Lucy Broom (F45), Kate Waddicor (F65), Caroline Brock (F35), Jane Evans (F60), and Kate Scott (F55) all have high enough average age-grades from four races to take the lead if they can put in another performance at the same level. Last year’s top two, Stephanie Street (F65) and Rob Byers (MSen), are there or thereabouts too. Basically, anyone of those twelve could win it.
| Pos | Name | Cat | Age-Graded Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karen Clark | F55 | 381.00 | 5 | 76.20 |
| 2 | Paddy Treehowes | M55 | 377.79 | 5 | 75.56 |
| 3 | Seth Kirby | MSen | 367.84 | 5 | 73.57 |
| 4 | Paul Bentley | M65 | 367.44 | 5 | 73.49 |
| 5 | Wei Chen | M50 | 358.06 | 5 | 71.61 |
| 15 | Lucy Broom | F45 | 326.69 | 4 | 81.67 |
| 16 | Kate Waddicor | F65 | 324.96 | 4 | 81.24 |
| 17 | Caroline Brock | F35 | 317.54 | 4 | 79.39 |
| 18 | Jane Evans | F60 | 305.73 | 4 | 76.43 |
| 19 | Kate Scott | F55 | 304.95 | 4 | 76.24 |
| 20 | Rob Byers | MSen | 302.04 | 4 | 75.51 |
| 21 | Stephanie Street | F65 | 301.99 | 4 | 75.50 |
Senior Men
We have an incredible cohort of Senior Men at the club at the moment. Of our top runners, only Seth Kirby has registered five scores so far, so he tops the table. Rob Byers and Naeem Stevens look menacing behind him, with high average scores despite light pacemaking duties at the Sheffield Half still dragging down their numbers. Liam Brennan has the highest average score so far from his 2 races, and is on the start list for Race 9, so could be one to look out for.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seth Kirby | 436.16 | 5 | 87.23 |
| 2 | Harry Browne | 359.91 | 5 | 71.98 |
| 3 | Rob Byers | 349.65 | 4 | 87.41 |
| 4 | Naeem Stevens | 337.16 | 4 | 84.29 |
| 5 | Will Hitchmough | 322.52 | 4 | 80.63 |
| 7 | John Egginton | 305.62 | 4 | 76.40 |
| 8 | Chris Boland | 305.47 | 4 | 76.37 |
| 11 | Liam Brennan | 178.26 | 2 | 89.13 |
| 12 | Luke Mair | 170.77 | 2 | 85.39 |
Senior Women
The Senior Women’s category is the most competitive it’s been in years. Emily Green leads a group of 7 ladies maintaining an 82-85 point average over 4 or 5 races. Caroline Brock and Simone Young-Alls both have average scores over 90, but neither has 5 races yet. Emily, Laura, and Kathryn are all set to run in Dronfield, so they may well be our top 3 on Monday.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emily Green | 418.31 | 5 | 83.66 |
| 2 | Ellen Broad | 410.30 | 5 | 82.06 |
| 3 | Katie Gill | 404.59 | 5 | 80.92 |
| 4 | Caroline Brock | 371.64 | 4 | 92.91 |
| 5 | Yasmine Chaffer | 338.87 | 4 | 84.72 |
| 6 | Annie Chambers | 338.14 | 4 | 84.53 |
| 7 | Laura Mella | 332.61 | 4 | 83.15 |
| 8 | Kathryn Liddiard | 330.20 | 4 | 82.55 |
| 12 | Simone Young-Alls | 274.84 | 3 | 91.61 |
M40-49
When I joined the club, it seemed like Michael Richardson always won the M40 category in the Road Champs. After a couple of years of global turbulence where he didn’t feature, the world has righted itself and he’s back in top spot. But look out for challenges from Darren Barnett, Michael Cockings, and Richard Carter, as well as the dangerous group with 80 point plus averages from two races, who may or may not make a late bid for glory.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Richardson | 383.74 | 5 | 76.75 |
| 2 | Steve Blake | 357.84 | 5 | 71.57 |
| 3 | Robin Nelson | 353.62 | 5 | 70.72 |
| 5 | Darren Barnett | 303.84 | 4 | 75.96 |
| 9 | Michael Cockings | 249.21 | 3 | 83.07 |
| 12 | Richard Carter | 229.13 | 3 | 76.38 |
| 19 | Paul Middlemas | 176.84 | 2 | 88.42 |
| 20 | Stephen Schubeler | 171.05 | 2 | 85.53 |
| 21 | Adrian Fisher | 169.26 | 2 | 84.63 |
| 22 | John Kilcoyne | 164.02 | 2 | 82.01 |
F40-49
Lucy Broom, Jacqui Herring, and Sarah Allcard are clustered together as our top three F40s, with Claire Grisdale posting similar scores but with one less race to date. The only one braving the hills of Dronfield this weekend is Jacqui, so she should move into the lead at least until the next race, which is the Sheffield 10k.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucy Broom | 339.68 | 4 | 84.92 |
| 2 | Jacqui Herring | 335.49 | 4 | 83.87 |
| 3 | Sarah Allcard | 324.82 | 4 | 81.20 |
| 4 | Claire Grisdale | 249.03 | 3 | 83.01 |
M50-59
Wei Chen has a comfortable lead in the M50 category, ahead of Paddy Treehowes and Adam McAuley. The main danger man could be Robert Dawson, who’s only run twice this year, but has the highest average score and a race number for Sunday. Reigning champion Nick Booker will run too, but with only the Newark Half completed so far may have left it too late this year.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wei Chen | 385.09 | 5 | 77.02 |
| 2 | Paddy Treehowes | 376.38 | 5 | 75.28 |
| 3 | Adam McAuley | 368.17 | 5 | 73.63 |
| 6 | Neil Schofield | 224.91 | 3 | 74.97 |
| 7 | Nick Burns | 219.14 | 3 | 73.05 |
| 8 | Ben Heller | 215.41 | 3 | 71.80 |
| 11 | Robert Dawson | 158.58 | 2 | 79.29 |
F50-59
The F50 category is too close to call between Karen Clark and Kate Scott. Karen has more points; Kate has the higher average. But when Kate’s run another race and Karen’s Sheffield Half score (65.89) drops out of her top 5, they’ll be neck-and-neck. All to play for.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karen Clark | 371.60 | 5 | 74.32 |
| 2 | Kate Scott | 311.28 | 4 | 77.82 |
| 3 | Vikki McAuley | 249.71 | 4 | 62.43 |
| 4 | Nada Ross | 202.73 | 3 | 67.58 |
| 5 | Catherine McKeown | 196.30 | 3 | 65.43 |
M60-69
Last year Paul Bentley saw off Richard Pegg to take the M60 title. This year he’s embroiled in a battle with Andy Hinchliffe, Peter Brown, and Dave Beech. I don’t expect any of them to race in Dronfield, so we’ll have to wait a little longer to see who comes out on top, but it’s great to see another category with a tight contest going on.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andy Hinchliffe | 337.60 | 5 | 67.52 |
| 2 | Paul Bentley | 333.37 | 5 | 66.67 |
| 3 | Peter Brown | 275.07 | 4 | 68.77 |
| 4 | David Beech | 259.91 | 4 | 64.98 |
F60-69
In our F60 category, Jo Gleig has the points in the bag, while Jane Evans has the edge over Kate Waddicor and Stephanie Street on average score. Show me another club with as good an F60 competition as this!
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jo Gleig | 308.05 | 5 | 61.61 |
| 2 | Jane Evans | 276.36 | 4 | 69.09 |
| 3 | Kate Waddicor | 272.87 | 4 | 68.22 |
| 4 | Stephanie Street | 269.73 | 4 | 67.43 |
M70+ & F70+
We’re waiting to see whether any of our M70s and F70s get five races in this season. Chris Reece, Dot Kesterton, and Helen Eberlin look most likely. If anyone wants to go for it we’ll be cheering you on.
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Reece | 122.10 | 2 | 61.05 |
| 2 | Graham Goff | 64.48 | 1 | 64.48 |
| 3 | Graham Hague | 55.40 | 1 | 55.40 |
| Pos | Name | Points | Races | Ave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dot Kesterton | 153.46 | 2 | 76.73 |
| 2 | Helen Eberlin | 119.39 | 2 | 59.70 |
| 3 | Sheena Woodhead | 51.02 | 1 | 51.02 |