Updated 12/26/19
NHGP Rules
Eligibility of Runners
Members of RRCA or USATF clubs are eligible to score for their club.
Runners must be members when the race starts (signed up, dues paid).
Once a runner runs for a club in an NHGP race, that runner cannot run for another club in any other NHGP race that year.
Requirements for Races
USATF Certification is required for a race to be selected for the NHGP series.
Each race selected as part of the NHGP series must (1) contribute $300.00 to the series to be used for annual awards, (2) provide a space on the race application for the runner to list his or her NHGP club affiliation, and (3) list the current year’s NHGP races on the race application and website.
Nominating club shall send an invoice and GP rules to the race director of the GP race.
Nominating Club will notify race director of GP rules.
If any race has an outstanding balance, the race will no longer be eligible for the GP series until paid in full (Medical Center, St. Annes, Footrace for the Fallen, $150 each)
Scoring Divisions
Scoring divisions are the 12 following age/gender groups: F29&under, F3039, F4049, F5059, F6069, F70&over, M29&under, M3039, M4049, M5059, M6069, and M70&over (note that the former 39&under divisions were divided into two new divisions for both men and women beginning in 2008).
Runners are scored in only their natural age group (based on actual age on race day).
Chip Timing
If a chip-timed NHGP race uses a starting mat (so that both gun times and net times are available), the net chip times will be used for NHGP scoring.
Team Points
Only the first three runners from each club in each scoring division (“top 3s”) can score.
Each scoring division is scored separately.
The club total is the sum of the club’s points in all scoring divisions.
Each scoring division is scored top down from 10 points.
Each club must drop their lowest scoring race from their net score for the series. (Example: If there are 5 races in the series, each club’s top 4 race scores make up their total series score).
Individual Age-Graded Points
Club members are scored separately by gender based on age-graded finish times.
Scoring is top down from 25 points for each race. There is no limit to the number of scorers per club in the age-graded scoring.
Scoring Corrections
The timers should post the finish time, gender, age, and club affiliation for all finishers before leaving the race site, to give all participants a fair chance to make sure that their information is correctly listed. Although club representatives may submit corrections, it is the responsibility of each individual runner to verify that his or her results are correct before leaving the race site.
Recognizing that errors will not always be detected before leaving the race site despite reasonable efforts by runners and club representatives, any errors that will affect NHGP scoring but are only detected after leaving the race site should not be reported to the timers, but instead to the NHGP scorekeeper (currently Brandyn Naro December 2019). The deadline for reporting is 7 pm (eastern time) on the Wednesday after each race. The NHGP scorekeeper will compile all corrections and send them to the timers in a single submittal.
Award Categories
Individuals participating in all NHGP races in the year (“Granite Runners”),
top 3 clubs in overall team point totals for all NHGP races in the year,
top scoring individual in each of the 10 team scoring divisions for all NHGP races in the year, and
top 3 males and top 3 females in the individual age-graded scoring totals for the year.
The individual age group winner’s prizes will be paid to the clubs. The clubs may choose how to distribute it.