Awarding of championship prizes from road and cross country competitions
To help provide clarity for the off-track community UK Athletics and the Home Country Athletics Federations (HCAFs) have issued the following statement, confirming championship titles can be awarded based on a timed result rather than the traditional first past the post. We very much hope that normality and mass start races can return as soon as possible.
UK Athletics and the HCAFs have clarified the rules in relation to the awarding of championship prizes from road and cross country competition providers.
Under normal circumstances the winner of a championship race is the individual deemed to have crossed the line first. However with more races adopting wave-starts in order to adhere to government guidelines and achieve licences, the sport has elected to adopt a measure to say Championship status can be awarded to athletes running the fastest time in a race, meaning that chip times will now be eligible for Championship status.
This change is a temporary measure to reflect the unique circumstances of the current pandemic, and ultimately it is the decision of the Competition provider as to whether they choose to adopt this approach for the awarding of the race winner.
Event organisers and record keepers may want to note all chip times are recorded on Po10 with a ‘c’ if chip times are being used.
Our thanks, as ever, go to the competition providers across the UK who have continued to provide competitive opportunities in these challenging times.