NHGP Rules
Updated 1/24/2023
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)
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
Women’s and Men’s divisions are scored separately. The club total is the sum of the club’s points in both divisions.
For each division (gender), the club runners are assigned a place according to their age-grade result. Runners then score points based on their placement. There is no limit to the number of runners that can score points, per club or per gender.
- Places 1 through 10 score 100 through 73 points (decreasing by 3 each place).
- Places 11 through 20 score 70 through 52 points (decreasing by 2 each place).
- Places 21 and to 114 score 1/2 the points of the place 20 before.
- Place 114 on scores 2 points.
| Place | Score (points) |
| 1 | 100 |
| 2 | 97 |
| 3 | 94 |
| 4 | 91 |
| 5 | 88 |
| 6 | 85 |
| 7 | 82 |
| 8 | 79 |
| 9 | 76 |
| 10 | 73 |
| 11 | 70 |
| 12 | 68 |
| 13 | 66 |
| 14 | 64 |
| 15 | 62 |
| 16 | 60 |
| 17 | 58 |
| 18 | 56 |
| 19 | 54 |
| 20 | 52 |
| 21 | 50 |
| 22 | 48.5 |
| 23 | 47 |
| 24 | 45.5 |
| 25 | 44 |
| … | |
| 30 | 36.5 |
| … | |
| 35 | 32 |
| 40 | 26 |
| 45 | 22 |
| 50 | 18.25 |
| 60 | 15.5 |
| 70 | 9.125 |
| 80 | 6.5 |
| 90 | 4.5625 |
| 100 | 3.25 |
Points table for places 1 through 100
A club’s score for the series is the total of the club’s points for all races.
New for 2023: Races 10 miles or longer in distance score 125% of standard races, simply multiplying all scores by 1.25. First earns 125 points, the minimum score is 2.5 points.
Runners under the age of 20 shall be age-graded as if they were 20, as this is an adult running club competition.
More on age-grading in an article in the UVRC newsletter: https://uppervalleyrunningclub.org/april-2021-newsletter#6
The latest age-grading factors can be found: https://github.com/AlanLyttonJones/Age-Grade-Tables
Individual Age-Group Divisions
The NHGP always recognizes individual age-group runners. A runner’s individual age-group score is the total number of points (per the Team Points section) scored in the series. Top 3 scorers per scoring division are recognized at the conclusion of the season.
For the purposes of individual age-group 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. Runners are scored in only their natural age group (based on actual age on race day). Note that these divisions have no effect on the Team Points 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 Jimmy Aiken March 2022). 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 the required number of NHGP races in the year (“Granite Runners”). For 2023, participation in 5 of the 6 races is needed.
- Top 3 clubs in overall team point totals for all NHGP races in the year,
- Top 3 males and top 3 females in scoring totals for the year.
- Top scoring individual in each of the 12 team scoring divisions for all NHGP races in the year.
The individual age group winner’s prizes will be paid to the clubs. The clubs may choose how to distribute it.
Older Rules