Penistone Footpath Runners

Club Championship

No pain, no gain

The 2024/25 Club Championship

The format of the Championship is similar to previous years. All the events will be listed in the Calendar with links for further information – Club Championship races are identified with (C). There is also a list of events in each section at the bottom of this page with links for further information.

The competition involves races across three main sections (Road, Trail/Cross-Country and Fell). The Championship comprises 15 fixed races (5 in each section), but two of the 'races' are the Spencer's Dash and Silkstone Shuffle series. Members can run as many of the Spencer's Dash or Silkstone Shuffle races as they wish, and their season’s best time from each will be counted.

Results

Standings for 2024/25 will be posted here.

Results for previous years: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 onwards

Past Club Champions

Qualification

Qualification for the section Championships and overall Championship is similar to recent years, but the number of races has been reduced a bit: to qualify for each section you need to compete in at least 3 of the section events (out of 5 events, including, if you wish, series events, but you don’t have to run the Spencer’s Dash or Silkstone Shuffle).

To qualify for the Overall Championship you have to compete in 8 events, with at least 2 of these races from each section. Your 8 best race scores, including the minimum of 2 from each section, will be added together to form an Overall Championship total.

All first claim members are included in the Championship. Juniors running in senior races (where permitted) will be included in the Under 20 category. Members joining (or re-joining) during the year will only have results counted from the date their subscription has been paid.

Scoring

Points are calculated based on their time relative to the overall race winner (male and female respectively). This is exactly the same as the Fell League. If a PFR runner is first overall (ie first male or first female), he or she will get 100 points. If your time is exactly double the winner’s time, you get 50 points: the points are calculated on a scale so the faster you run the more points you get. For the series events, the points are based on your fastest time of the series relative to the fastest race winning time of the series.

The main advantages of this method are: 1) it means that every second you run faster will gain you points (not a lot, but something – unless you are the race winner). Beating another Penistone runner (of the same sex) in a race will always mean you get more points than them – but the bigger the gap you get the more points you gain. 2) you don’t get points as a result of other PFR runners not turning up – you get points for your own performance.

The disadvantage of this method is that your points do depend on how fast the winner is – if Mo Farah or Eilish McColgan turn up to the Oughtibridge Chase, the points will go down – generally, less popular races will yield more points. This may help boost less popular races, which is no bad thing.

The Challenge Championship is based on the total points from all events completed (including your best Spencers Dash and Silkstone Shuffle). The more races you complete, the more points you will get.

Prizes

Your age group for the Championship in any year is determined by your age on April 1st. Prizes will be awarded for each age group for both male and female categories for each section winners, eg Fell Lady Vet 40.

  • The groups are as follows: Male U20, M Senior, MV35, MV40, MV45, MV50, MV55, MV60, MV65, MV70, MV75, MV80, Female U20, F Senior, LV35, LV40, LV45, LV50, LV55, LV60, LV65, LV70, LV75, LV80.
  • The Sections are Road, Trail/Cross Country and Fell.
  • The Overall Champions will be the Male and Female with the best scores from the 8 races needed to qualify.
  • The title of Challenge Champion will be given to the runner who acquires the most points from all qualifying events.
  • Run as many or as few races as you want but you must compete in the correct number of races to win an award.

2024/25 events - PROVISIONAL

All the events will be listed in the Calendar with links for further information – Club Championship races are identified with (C).

Road Section                                  
Spencers Dash 1 Thu 9 May
Rother Valley Relays Tue 14 May
Joe Percy 10K Wed 12 Jun
Spencers Dash 2 Thu 11 Jul
Spencers Dash 3 Thu 29 Aug
Travellers 6 Sun tbc Dec
Wombwell 5 Sun 5 Feb
Trail/Cross Country Section
Silkstone Shuffle - 1 Thu 25 Apr
Furty Furlong Sat 11 May
Oughtibridge Chase Wed 19 Jun
Silkstone Shuffle - 2 Thu 27 Jun
Silkstone Shuffle - 3 Thu 8 Aug
Stan's Toffee Run Thu 15 Aug
Higham Hurtle Thu 5 Sep
Fell Section                                        
Bamford Sheepdog Trials Mon 27 May
Charlesworth & Chiswick Carnival Sat 13 Jul
Crowden Horseshoe Sun 18 Aug
Cop Hill Sun 3 Nov
Hoppits Hill Sun tbc Feb