Freezeroo Series: Down to the Last Second.

With 1 race to go the 2012-2013 Freezeroo Series is going to be decided by a matter of a few seconds.  It is the kind of exciting scoring the organizers had in mind going into the series (even though I disliked the system at the time).  Below is a quick breakdown of how the scoring for the series works.

All men will be scored based on the performance of the overall male winner; all women will be scored based on the performance of the overall female winner. The male and female winners will be awarded the maximum score of 100 points. Other finishers in each category are awarded points proportional to their performance. The male or female winning time will be divided by the finisher’s time and that decimal value will be multiplied by 100.
For example, if the overall female winner completes the 8-mile Valentines Day race in 60 minutes and the first woman in the 50-54 age group finishes in 80 minutes:
• The first overall woman is awarded (60/60 x 100) = 100 points.
• The first 50-54 age group woman is awarded (60/80 x 100) = 75 points.

The series normally scores your best 4 races out of 6, but because the 8 miler was canceled it is now a best 3 out of 5 contest.  Below are the current standings through 4 races.

Things are pretty tight at the top, but they get even closer if you take just the 2 best races for each runner and assume that in a 5k the field will be less spread out making the final race count as one of everyone’s best 3.  I’ve put in a Seconds Back field based on another assumption that it will take the winner 1000 seconds to finish the 5k.  that could vary a bit depending on weather and course conditions (which at least in some sections will slow the field way down).

Armed with some insider information I can tell you that the final race leaves more things in the balance 1-5 that they appear even now.  Neither Matt Roberts nor Jeff Bigham will be running the final race.  That means their scores are locked in at 293.51 and 286.9 respectively.  While no one currently in the top 5 can be knocked out of it, Dave Bradshaw could move up to the top if he either wins the race outright or finishes less than 5 seconds behind the winner.  It is shaping up to be an exciting race!

I only crunched the numbers for the men’s open top stops, but I’m sure many people have battles of their own going on.  It looks like the women’s overall stop is secure but 2nd is only a few seconds part.

Who needs to eek out a few seconds here or there to claim an age group prize of their own?