Off-Road League Rules

The Wiltshire Off Road Race League (The League) is an annual series open to the athletes belonging to clubs affiliated to Wiltshire Athletic Association.

Composition

The League shall consist of two divisions.

Teams in The League will consist of up to five men and up to five ladies belonging to the same League affiliated club.

The First Division of The League will consist of twelve teams. The Second Division of the League will consist of those teams belonging to clubs not represented in the First Division and any ‘B’ teams formed by representation outside of the ‘A’ teams unless the ‘B’ teams are already resident in the First Division.

New clubs and/or additional teams wishing to join The League will be permitted to do so at the lowest division, subject to the criteria for eligibility being satisfied.

At the end of The League season the two lowest positioned teams in the First Division shall be relegated to the Second Division and the two highest positioned teams in the Second Division shall be promoted to the First Division.

Races

Races for inclusion in The League shall be selected by the XC Secretary of the Wiltshire Athletic Association. The League shall be run over seven races hosted within the geographic boundary of the county of Wiltshire, though at the discretion of XC Secretary a maximum of two races could be selected from events hosted in adjacent counties or if forming part of a regional or national championship event. The XC Secretary shall try to ensure a balance of distance events within the League and an even spread of timings throughout the season. It will be a mandatory requirement that any event selected for inclusion in The League is identifiable through the issue of a race permit by either UK:Athletics, Trail running Association or Association of Running Clubs and that any minimum standards attached to the issue of the permit be met.

There will also be a requirement for a Race Organiser Agreement being signed to indemnify Wiltshire Athletic Association against any claim made against those events through failure to comply with the permit conditions. There will also be a fee payable to Wiltshire Athletic Association for the inclusion of a race into The League.

In the event of a race cancellation, the following steps shall be taken to mitigate:

a) The rescheduled event if within the current League year and avoiding date clashes with any other League race or county championship would be it’s replacement.
b) An alternative event within the county, the current League year and avoiding date clashes with any other League race or county championship would be it’s replacement.
c) If less than five races had been run, then the race would be removed from the League and no points scored by any Team or Individual.
d) If five or more races had been run then the race would be removed from the League and points awarded according to the sum of all scores achieved at the time that the race was due to take place.

If you are a Race Organiser and would like your event considered for a future season of The League then please use contact form.

Eligibility

The League is open to teams of up to five male and up to five female runners belonging to the same club affiliated to Wiltshire Athletic Association. A club however may field both an ‘A’ and ‘B’ team.

At the discretion of Wiltshire Athletic Association, clubs that are not affiliated to Wiltshire Athletic Association may enter team(s) into The League subject to paying the appropriate fees.

It is the responsibility of individual athletes to ensure that they have entered the League race with the correct club details. In the event of an error, athletes and/or their clubs will have no more than five days to notify the Race Organiser and League administrator

Scoring

Scores are determined by the finishing position of an athlete belonging to a registered League team relative to other finishing eligible athletes of the same sex. Starting with a score of 100 for the first finisher, 99 for the second finisher, 98 for the third and so on to the 100th registered finisher who would score 1 as would any subsequent finisher. If a finisher was the 6th runner for a club with just one team entered into The League then they would gain an individual score but would be a Non Scoring member of the Team. However if the club had additional teams entered into The League then the same finisher would score points for the ‘B’ team and as an individual.

The scores achieved by the leading (up to) five men and (up to) five ladies for a Team would be summed. The Team that scores the highest cumulative amount shall be awarded 20 points, second team 19-points, third team 18-points and so on. Should a team not generate a score through no participating athletes in a League race then they will be awarded zero points.

If a team receives points in more than five races then the lowest one point(s) shall be voided, preserving the five highest point achieving races. This however will not impact the scores achieved by individual runners, however individual runners will also be subject to a scoring limit of five races with the lowest one scores achieved voided as appropriate.

Prizes

A trophy shall be awarded to the team that has amassed the most points within the division of The League that they sit, based on the five highest points received. In the event of a tie, then the total scores received at the best five point scoring races shall be used as a deciding factor.

Awards will be made to the individual man and woman who have achieved the highest cumulative score for a team throughout The League. Awards shall be made to the highest individual scorers in the Senior, V40, V50 & V60 categories according to the athlete’s age as declared in the first League race in which they compete. In the event of a tie on individual scores then the deciding factor will be the total number of races in which they have competed (higher the better as participation is being encouraged). A further deciding factor is the relative finishing positions of the individuals to each other in any League races that they have competed in.

All awards will be presented at the final League race of the season and must be collected unless by prior arrangement with the XC Secretary.

16th January 2017