Since I’ve had a middle-schooler in track and cross-country for the past two years, I’ve come to appreciate attending meets and watching these kiddos run their hearts out. Now I found out that Team Red Lizard organizes its own Cross Country Race series for runners of all ages and abilities. The Stumptown Cross Country Challenge consists of five cross country races held on five weekends between late September and mid November. You can participate in the races individually or as part of a team, and you’ll get a discount when you sign up for the entire series. Registration is open online.
For each race in which you participate, you will be assigned points for your individual performance, so you can see how you stack up against others in your age group throughout the series. For team scoring, the series follows the Stumptown XC Club scoring rules.
For teams, the top four runners on each team score and a 5th runner is a displacer. If there is a tie, the 5th runner breaks the tie. In addition, there are both open and masters scoring. To be on a masters team specify “MASTERS” after your team name such as “NAC MASTERS.” Open and masters teams are scored independently (e.g., a open runner doesn’t displace a master runner’s score). Team standings will be tallied over the full race series, with a series ranking based on lowest score calculated for teams participating in all of the races.
In addition to calculating team standings for the entire series, individual standings for the entire series will be calculated similar to a scoring system used in the Bay Area. Individuals competing in each race will receive a score based on a top-down system from 100 to 1 (eg, 1st place gets 100 points, 2nd place gets 99 points, etc.) based on how they place in each race. Men and women will be scored separately, and those 2 groups will be broken into open and masters. This scoring system will allow individual participants to see how they stack up against their peers over the entire series.
Stumptown Cross Country Series details:
Race #1: Saturday, September 24th at Portland Meadows. 8:00am – 5k (course map)
Race #2: Sunday, October 2nd at Fernhill Park. 9am – Women’s 5k & 9:30 – Men’s 5k
Race #3: Saturday, October 22nd at Gabriel Park. 9am – Women’s 4 miles & 9:45am Men’s 4 miles (course map)
Race #4: Saturday, November 5th at Pier Park. USATF Oregon State XC Championships. 9am – Women’s 6k (course map) & 9:45am – Men’s 8k (course map)
Race #5: Saturday, November 19th at Fernhill Park. 9am – Women’s 6k (course map) & 9:45am – Men’s 10k (course map)
