The purpose of a handicap event is to give all the competitors an even chance of winning whatever
their ability. In a perfect handicap race all the runners would reach the finishing line at the same
time. However, in practice it is seldom the case, although we do get close finishes.
There are basically two methods of handicapping athletes for track and cross-country races:
a) Handicapping by staggering the distances from which a competitor starts.
b) Handicapping by staggering the time at which the competitor starts.
Method (a) is normally applied to sprint handicaps and middle distance races up to 1000 metres
while method (b) is simpler and more practical for distances from 1200 metres upwards on the track
and it is also used for road and cross-country.
7.4.1 Handicapping by Distance
The IFTA 800 metres handicapping tables can be seen in section 7.4.2 and are provided as a guide to
assist coaches to establish a handicap programme. They give the recommended starting position
measuring forward from the scratch line and fixed according to the ability of the runner.
The tables provide for young athletes in a range of ability bands. The recommended staggers have been
adjusted into simple steps of 10 metres apart from in level 4, which would only apply to young athletes
capable of very high performances. Using this method it must be realised that the stagger from the
scratch line should be related to the pace of the athlete to whom the handicap is being applied.
For example, consider the level 2 handicap for a young athlete capable of running 800 metres in
2 minutes 40 seconds. This runner would move at a pace of 5 metres per second and as he or she
would take 16 seconds longer to cover the distance than a 2 minutes 24 seconds scratch runner the
starting position is set forward from the scratch line by 80 metres (16 seconds x 5 metres per second).
This criteria have been used to create the scales for levels 1, 2 and 3 and the "in-between" staggers
have been evened out for simplification. However, as can be seen for level 4 a stricter criterion has
been applied.
7.4 Handicapping
Sustained Activities
7
142
WEB COPY
©EVEQUE
WEB COPY
©EVEQUE
