Woody's Tortoise And Hare

This race is a true handicap event in that it measures your fitness level based on your age, sex, height and weight! Following a victory at the Boston Marathon, Bill Rodgers said that his effort to run a 2:10 was not nearly as difficult as the effort of those who were “out there for 4 1/2 hours!” How would you stack up against those speedsters, the Hares, if you were able to factor out some reasons for running a 4 1/2 hour marathon? How good is your training?

Membership Discount

This race is free for Pikes Peak Road Runner members.  The membership discount will be applied during checkout.

For the registration process to recognize that you are a Pikes Peak Road Runners member, if you have not already claimed your PPRR membership within RunSignUp, you first need to go to the Club page for the Pikes Peak Road Runners and claim you membership.  This is done as follows.

Go to: https://runsignup.com/Club/CO/ColoradoSprings/PikesPeakRoadRunners In the left column of buttons, click on "Members". Search for your name. Click on "Is this you?" An e-mail will be sent to the E-mail address of this user, which contains a link with instructions to complete the process.

 

Once your membership has been claimed within the RunSignUp system, you will then have an account with RunSignUp.  If you have a family membership, you can then add family members that live in your household.  Those family members will also be able to apply the membership discount.

When you register for an event that offers discounts to PPRR members, on one of the first Registrant screens, you'll see a "Have An Account?" message followed by a SIGN IN button.  Click on the SIGN IN button and sign in using your RunSignUp account information.  That will allow RunSignUp to recognize that you are a PPRR member, and the member discount will be applied.

Registration Fees

Online:
Free - PPRR members (member discount will be applied during checkout)
$5 - Non-PPRR member (plus $2 RunSignUp fee)

Online registration is open until 5:00 AM on race morning.

Race Day at the Race Site:
$10 - PPRR Member
$15 - Non-PPRR Member

Handicap Explanation

Over the last several years, Woody Noleen and Bob Mutu have worked on handicap charts for our local running scene. Given that we run high altitude, we wanted to somehow factor in training at 6500 feet. We worked with charts from the National WAVA standards that are used by most races of this type, using local 5K race results to massage the data. We came with charts and a formula to measure performance and fitness levels based on four key body factors: age, sex, height and weight.

WAVA data indicated that runners aged 20-34 are in their prime. We therefore gave them no age handicap. All other runners get handicap seconds subtracted from their actual running time.

Women are generally not as fast as men at the 5K distance. Local race analysis showed us that for the prime age group 20-34, this differential was 2 minutes. As runners get older, this differential widened and topped out around 4 minutes. For children, it was less than 2 minutes until they get to be about age 19.

We used a height to weight ratio based upon local race times to develop additional handicaps. Men and women are not built the same and the race results clearly showed the handicap pattern was not the same for men and women.

The formulas we ended up with seemed refined enough and very workable. The Tortoise and Hare race became a true measurement of performance weighted for age, sex, height, and weight!

How Does It Work?

How does it work? At registration you will give us your age, sex, height and weight.  We will then compute your handicap according to the charts and use these seconds to determine your starting time.

The runner with the largest predicted handicap starts first. For the start, the clock is set at this number of seconds and begins counting down. Other runners start when their handicap time (written on their bib number at registration) comes up on the clock.

When the clock reaches zero, all runners have started and the clock then starts counting elapsed time for the race. Since handicaps were awarded at the start, the order of finish is therefore the actual standing in the race. (In addition to handicap times, we will also compute actual running times for all runners.)

The race is like a normal 5k in reverse. The Hares start well behind the Tortoises and have to catch them. The tortoises experience the fun of being in front. This can lead to pretty fast times for everybody, not to mention a very closely contested finish! It is not a predict event, so you do not have to try and hold onto a certain pace—just race!

How fast can you run a 5K if we factor out your age, sex, height, and weight?

Awards

Trophies are given to the 3 top finishers (with the handicap factored in).  These will be the first 3 runners that cross the finish line.