Maryland RRCA Grand Prix Series Rules for 2017

The Maryland RRCA Grand Prix Series for the year 2017 will consist of the TEN race events shown in the grid. The races were selected to provide a diversity of dates and distances and to offer a geographical dispersion through the major population centers of the State of Maryland. The purpose of the Maryland RRCA Grand Prix Series is to foster a healthy sense of athletic competition among RRCA running clubs and members in Maryland plus the DC Road Runners, while at the same time generating a sense of cohesion among athletes in the broad running community.

The competition will be conducted for men and women in both open and age group categories. Five-year age groups will include all ages after the new 19 & younger category and will continue to 70 and older. An individual must be a member of a RRCA club in Maryland or with the DC Road Runners and finish FOUR of the ten scheduled races in 2017 to be a series qualifier. Your age category is determined by your age on the date of the first event in the series that you participate in. Individuals earn points as their times relate to the winning time in each age/gender category for each race. The points for an individual’s FOUR best races are summed to determine the series standings. At the end of the year, individual winners who finish first and second in their age/gender category and who have completed the requisite number of FOUR races will win awards that will recognize suitably their competitive accomplishments.

The 2017 awards will be determined at the end of the 2017 series and will be awarded at the 2018 MD/DC RRCA Club Challenge 10 Mile Race.

Please note that awards will be available at the 10 Mile Club Challenge in Columbia, MD the following year (February). The awards will be given out at an awards ceremony after the 10 mile club challenge while waiting for the team results of that race. If awards are not picked up there, then the award winner(s) will need to meet with the State Representative at an event some time during the year (awards will not be mailed).

Sometimes runners are confused by the race tracking terms. Chip time simply means that it was electronically timed, not manually. Gun time is the official time. Net time, which is confused with chip time, is merely a feel good time which is tracked by when the runner’s chip first crosses the starting line. Net time will always be faster than the official gun time. Runners are welcome to note that for their personal use but it has no place in the series results.

TEAMS


Competition will be conducted Maryland RRCA clubs and the DC Road Runners in the following categories for Coed: Open (all ages), Masters (age 40 and older) and Grand Masters (age 50 and older). There is no maximum limit to the size of a team, but to score in the Series each team must finish a minimum of five runners. There must be at least two runners of each sex in the team. Ties are broken via the time of the slowest scoring finisher. Multiple age scoring is permitted (a masters runner may score for both the open and masters teams) and (a grandmasters runner may score for all teams, including open and masters teams). Scoring team members must be members in good standing of the club for which they are competing. Each eligible individual must choose and compete for only one club during a single season. Teams in each category earn points in the following manner: If six teams score in a particular category in a given race, the first place team would earn six points and each succeeding team would earn one point less, down to the final team earning one point. At the end of the year, the winning club will have bragging rights throughout the state.

REGISTRATION


MD/DC RRCA Challenge 10-Mile entrants are already entered in the Grand Prix Series competition. Other participants may register by notifying the Series Record Keeper, James Moreland (240-476-5913 or runjames3@aol.com). Individuals MUST identify the club for which they will be competing during the year and they will be eligible to compete only for that club during the year. There is no registration fee for registration as a series participant, AND registration in the series does not enter an individual to participate in a specific race. Each participant must register for each race in the series and enter the club identification in the space provided on the registration form for that race.