Age/sex adjusted times for Hollins Green and Bowdon

Although Damian dominated the main Summer Series league last year, this was not true when the times were adjusted for age and sex. He was beaten into fifth place by Tom (who was also top in 2008), Rob, Tony and Mick. This year may turn-out differently.

Mick has won the two races he has run but was injured for both these 5k races. Tom has also run only two races; second to Mick at Whitley and first at Chester. Tony was first at  Sandstone, Goyt Valley and Alexandra Park. Damian now has two 1^st., four 2^nd. and a 5^th. and  is closing fast on Tony at the top of the table. Beating Tony (on an age/sex adjusted basis) in the next race would almost certainly take Damian into first place.

With Rob and Malcolm, both of whom could win this category, yet to get their campaigns on the road, Damian is starting to look the man to beat.

When I first looked at the age/sex adjusted times for those who had run both Hollins and Bowdon they looked wrong, but looking at the actual times of those who ran both races provided the answer. Damian and Jim, at the front, set the benchmark, both were 14 seconds faster at Bowdon. We would have expected this differential to stretch as we moved down the field, to perhaps 22 seconds for Group 5. The actual results, however, do not conform to this pattern, in fact they do not conform to any pattern, some of us might want to ask ourselves some questions about our consistency.

The top eleven places in age/sex adjusted table (see the website), like all the other tables are, at this stage, determined firstly by who has run the most races and it is only the position within that eleven which reflects the quality of our running. After Tony and Damian, Clare and Kate in third and fourth lead the female challenge then it is Ian, Richard, Sarah, Roy, Owen, Julie and Martin.