HAVOC/SOS Midweek Twilight series 2024

11th Aug 24

We had the final race in the Twilight series for 2024 on Wednesday 16th October, based in Wickford.  A mainly street based series, with some off road route choices, these were all score events with two time limits available each race, based on the same map. 

The concensus was that this worked well, both in terms of score courses making it more of a mental challenge in an urban environment where sometimes line courses can seem a bit routine, and in that beibng able to combine the short and long course runners into one overall table worked well.

The series was a new idea for this season, looking to fill the gap between our summer and winter series, and based on the feedback it will likely be repeated next year.

All races were based on MapRun, which generally performed well and allowed runners to compare routes immediately after the race, and allowed for things such as an efficiency table in the results where runners could see how many points per km they gathered, and therefore if there route was optimal or not.

Thanks to the planners and organisers of these events, without whom this series could not take place: John Allen & Tim Hull, David Float, Mark Owen & Kevin Machin, and Colin Jackson.

We continued with the concept of additional points for an "on-the-night" run to encourage participation at the event, but still allowed runners to "catch-up" by running for points after the event date.

We had 57 different runners taking part in at least one of the raves over the series, and Veronica Machin, Justin Ruggles, Thomas Wood, Teresa Wood, Colin Jackson, David Float, Kevin Machin and Marc Owen attended all of the events on the night.

Seven runners had three runs with no penalties for over time, the highest scorers being Seb Parris (1460), Marc Owen (1380) and Dean Pepper (1180).

In terms of efficiency, looking at all runs, the top three in points scored per km run were David Float (42.02), Jackie Sibthorp (41.60), Rob Tratt (41.28).

Marc Owen (BOF) won the series, with two wins, points for organising an event, and a full complement of on the night bonuses.  Second in the table was Kevin Machin (SOS) with Seb Parris (HAVOC) placing third.

I hope you enjoyed the series fitting in between the summer and winter, and liked the score format.  Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for this or our other series.

 

With the clocks going back in just over a week, we turn to the Winter series and running in the dark.  Once again we will have 10 races, 5 hosted by SOS and 5 by HAVOC, every two weeks with a break for Christmas.  We have tried to make as many of the runs accessible by public transport as possible.  Full details are available on the series homepage.  The races will be mostly line courses this season, with a Long (5-6km straight line) and a Short (3-4km) option.

Entries are available on Racesignup.  There is a Golden Ticket available at a discounted price if you are going to get to most of the events, or you can enter each event individually.  The first event is hosted by SOS, at Chelmer Village on October 30th.

Series flyer is here.

 

 

 

This year we are introducing a new series to take place between the summer and winter midweek leagues.  We will be running a Twilight Series during September and October.

It will consist of 4 evening events.  There will be two courses - Short and Long, although these will be based on the same map, just with different time limits.  Both courses will be Score based, with a range of different value controls.  Competitors can choose their own route, and indeed which controls to visit and which to leave out.

Points will be awarded based on final score (multiplied by 150% for Short) adjusted using an age/gender handicap system.  Best 3 results from the series will count for the final table.  Full results will be emailed and published on the SOS and HAVOC websites.  Links to details/results for the events are shown in the table below.

It is hoped that courses will be available after the event date for two weeks, on MapRun, for points in the league, subject to an Anytime penalty of 6 mins Long, and 4 mins Short.  There will however be a 15 point bonus for each run attended on the night, to encourage on the night runs and socialising.

 

Series flyer

 

SOS/HAVOC Twilight Series 2024

Date Club Location / Results Planner Anytime Map Anytime Instructions
Wed September 4th SOS Colchester John Allen, Tim Hull

Map

 

Wed September 18th HAVOC Brentwood South David Float

Map

Instructions

Wed October 2nd

SOS Chelmsford North Marc Owen, Kevin Machin

Map

 

Wed October 16th HAVOC Wickford North Colin Jackson

 

Map

Instructions

Series co-ordinator: David Float.  Email: