The Grand Prix Series explained in a Nutshell
or
Grand Prix for Smarties

What is it? The Grand Prix is the San Diego Track Club’s year-long series of races. Every road race organized by the club counts in the standings. There are typically a dozen club road races a year and each counts equally towards earning points.

Why have it? The Grand Prix was initiated to encourage club members to race the club races and also to volunteer for them. To be eligible for the year-end award, you need to first be a club member. Second, run at least 4 club races. Third, volunteer at least twice (thrice if a team member) during the year. Volunteering at the club races, RnR Saturday runs, and dinners count.

How is it scored? Your best 6 races count. For each race, the results for the men are separated from the results for the women. The first male gets 100 points. The last male gets 0 points (but actually it is changed to half the value of the next-to-last runner’s points because who wants to get 0 points really). Everyone in between is scored in a linearly decreasing fashion. The scoring is not age-graded. There is no weighting. The women are scored in the same way as the men are. On the Results web page, you can check out the current point totals.

Who wins the award? Top 3 men and women (based on points) in each 5-year age group who meet the above criteria are rewarded at the club’s annual awards dinner held in November.

When did this year’s competition start? The competition is not calendar-based, but rather revolves around the club’s annual awards dinner. So, this year’s competition started with the Mainly Masters held last December and will end with the Ursula Rains 5K to be held in October of this year. See the Races web page for upcoming races.

What happens if you move up in age group during the year? If you do at least one race in the older age group, you are eligible to compete in that age group.

Good luck to all competitors!