Handicap System for the TUNA/White Pine Relays ---------------------------------------------- I. Explanation of Handicaps The handicap system for the TUNA/White Pine Relays has been set up to allow all teams to have an equal chance of winning. This is accomplished by giving each racer a "handicap", which represents the amount that the racer's time exceeds that of the fastest "citizen" skiers (i.e., not the Norwegian hotshots from the University of Utah). In order to make the handicaps usable in races of any length, they are expressed as percentages. For example, for a skier who is usually 10% slower than the top racer in the field, the handicap would be 0.10. (This means that the Norwegians have negative handicaps, since their times are less than that of the fastest citizen skier.) Scoring of TUNA/White Pine Relays involves calculating a "net time" for each skier. This is done by reducing actual time by the product of the handicap and the fastest time of the day. For example, if a racer completed the course in 20:00, if the fastest time of the day was 15:00, and if the racer's handicap was 0.30, net time would be 20:00 - (.30)(15:00), which is 15:30. (Note that skiers with negative handicaps have time added, rather than subtracted, to calculate net time.) The net times for each skier are added up to give the team time. If everyone's handicap is proper, these team times will be extremely close. Handicaps are recalculated after each race. The amount that each racer's time exceeds the fastest time of the day is computed as a percentage of the fastest time. (I will refer to this as "percent back" or "% BACK".) Thus, the racer with a time of 20:00 in the above example would have a % BACK of 20:00 - 15:00 divided by 15:00, which is 0.33 for that race. A tabulation of all of the % BACKs from past relays is maintained in a spread sheet. Each racer's handicap is the % BACK from the last relay entered. The handicap calculation is complicated by the fact that one racer on each team must ski with classical technique. It has been empirically determined that classical times are approximately 10% slower that skating times. Handicap calculations take this into account by multiplying the times of classical skiers by 0.9 before figuring their % BACKs. Thus, if a classical skier completed the course in a time of 20:00, as in the above example, the % BACK would be (0.9)(20:00) - 15:00 divided by 15:00, which is 0.20 for that race. One more situation that may occasionally arise is when the fastest time of the day is that of a classical skier. In this case, the time used for all of the above calculations is 0.9 times the fastest one. Thus, if the fastest skier finished in 15:00, as in the above example, the time used for calculating net times and % BACKs is (0.9)(15:00), which is 13:30, rather than 15:00. For racers who have never participated in a TUNA/White Pine Relay, handicaps are assigned according to age and gender. A table of these "standard handicaps" is at the end of this document. These are based upon empirical data and represent the fastest times that can be expected of citizen racers of a particular age and gender. II. Calculation of Race Results The form used for tabulating race results is shown here: | finish | lap | | net | name | time | time | hdcp | time | % BACK ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | first racer on team | | | | | (classical skier) | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | second racer on team | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | last racer on team | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | total net time | | Handicaps are entered before the start of the race. As each racer finishes, the time is recorded in the appropriate box. The lap time for each skier can be calculated by subtracting finish time from that of the team member who preceeded him. After the race is finished, the fastest time will be known, and the net time for each skier can be calculated. Team time is the sum of the net times for the three skiers. The following example illustrates this process. Assume that the fastest time is again 15:00. | finish | lap | | net | name | time | time | hdcp | time | % BACK ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | first racer on team | 19:40 | 19:40 | .15 | 17:25 | (classical skier) | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | second racer on team | 42:24 | 22:44 | .55 | 14:29 | | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | last racer on team | 58:24 | 16:00 | .06 | 15:06 | | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | total net time | 47:00 | III. Calculation of Handicaps The % BACK for each racer is calculated by dividing lap time by the fastest time of the day and then subtracting 1.0. For example, the racer with a time of 16:00 would have a % BACK of (16:00 / 15:00) - 1.0, which is 0.07. The % BACKs for the racers in our example are shown below. Note that the lap time of the first (classical) racer was multiplied by 0.9 before % BACK was calculated. | finish | lap | | net | name | time | time | hdcp | time | % BACK ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | first racer on team | 19:40 | 19:40 | .15 | 17:25 | .18 (classical skier) | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | second racer on team | 42:24 | 22:44 | .55 | 14:29 | .52 | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | | | | last racer on team | 58:24 | 16:00 | .06 | 15:06 | .07 | | | | | ------------------------|---------|---------|-------|---------|-------- | | total net time | 47:00 | The % BACK for each participant is then entered in the spread sheet and becomes the new handicap value for that person's next race. TUNA/WHITE PINE RELAY DEFAULT HANDICAPS --------------------------------------- age male female age male female --- ---- ------ --- ---- ------ 8 .58 .64 60 .35 .70 9 .49 .61 61 .37 .72 10 .41 .58 62 .39 .74 11 .34 .55 63 .41 .76 12 .28 .52 64 .43 .78 13 .23 .49 65 .45 .80 14 .19 .46 66 .47 .82 15 .16 .43 67 .49 .84 16 .14 .41 68 .51 .86 17 .12 .39 69 .53 .88 18 .10 .37 70 .55 .90 19 .08 .35 20 .07 .33 21 .06 .31 22 .05 .30 Special Cases: 23 .04 .29 ------------- 24 .03 .28 25 .02 .27 University of Utah or US Ski Team 26 .01 .26 --------------------------------- 27 .01 .25 men -.02 28 .00 .25 women .05 29 .00 .24 30 .00 .24 31 .00 .24 32 .00 .24 Kids skiing 2 kilometers 33 .01 .24 ------------------------ 34 .01 .25 age male female 35 .02 .25 --- ---- ------ 36 .02 .26 4 -.12 -.02 37 .03 .27 5 -.17 -.07 38 .04 .28 6 -.22 -.12 39 .04 .29 7 -.27 -.17 40 .05 .30 8 -.32 -.22 41 .06 .32 9 -.37 -.27 42 .07 .34 10 -.42 -.32 43 .08 .36 11 -.47 -.37 44 .09 .38 12 -.52 -.42 45 .10 .40 46 .11 .42 47 .12 .44 48 .13 .46 49 .14 .48 50 .15 .50 51 .17 .52 52 .19 .54 53 .21 .56 54 .23 .58 55 .25 .60 56 .27 .62 57 .29 .64 58 .31 .66 59 .33 .68 updated 02/10/2010