Virtual Grand Prix Results

Back in the darkest days of the pandemic, all races were cancelled and exercise was limited to one run a day in your local area. In areas where the police enforced the rules, travelling further afield, or pausing during your exercise to cool down or refuel, or just staying out for a bit too long could land you a fine. Plus there was the risk of catching Covid.

It was in these circumstances that YVAA launched the Virtual Grand Prix. This was Jason Newell’s brain-child, designed to keep our runners connected, provide as sense of purpose to our training, and to offer a chance to compete within lockdown rules; many thanks to Jason for making this happen and the substantial amount of work he put into it.

Each month there was a set distance for our athletes to run as a solo time-trial on a local route of their choice. Athletes tracked their runs using GPS watches and phones, and submitted their performances. These were then ranked by WMA age-graded, effectively handicapping the competition by age and sex, and the top man and woman scored 200 points each, second man and woman 199 points, and so on. When lockdown rules eased, many runners kept submitting their times each month to complete the series. Their best nine points scores over the year were then added up to give them their total score.

With 317 athletes submitting at least one time over the year, there isn’t space to give the full results here, but you can find every last detail in our Virtual GP spreadsheet. In this post, we’ll just highlight our top performers.

Top 10 Men

Chris Ireland (Sheffield RC, M60) won the men’s competition, dropping just a single point with 1799/1800. His best age-grade came in March, when his 29:09 for 5 miles was worth 90.68%.

In second place was Stephen Rennie (City of Hull AC, M65), with 1783 points. Stephen got the better of Chris in February and April, and peaked with an 18:56 5k for 87.94%.

Jed Turner (Sheffield RC, M60) came third, just 1 point behind Stephen on 1782. His best performance was his 29:45 5 Mile time for 88.85%.

Pos	Name	Club	Cat	Score	Jan (5k)			Feb (10k)			Mar (5 Miles)			Apr (10 Miles)			May (1 Mile)			Jun (5k)			Jul (10k)			Aug (1500m)			Sep (5 Mile)			Oct (10 Mile)			Nov (1 Mile)			Dec (5k)
					Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts
1	Chris Ireland	Sheffield RC	M60	1799	0:17:47	89.78%	200	0:38:26	85.34%	199	0:29:09	90.68%	200	1:02:27	86.26%	199	0:05:10	89.35%	200	0:18:09	87.97%	200	0:38:43	84.72%	197	0:04:52	87.67%	200	0:29:29	89.66%	200	1:06:16	82.04%	199	0:05:20	87.19%	200	0:18:24	87.50%	200
2	Stephen Rennie	City of Hull AC	M65	1783	0:18:56	87.94%	199	0:39:44	87.37%	200	0:32:08	86.93%	198	1:05:00	87.82%	200	0:06:06	79.78%	194	0:19:53	84.49%	198	0:40:24	85.93%	200	0:05:48	77.59%	195	0:32:15	86.61%	199
3	Jed Turner	Sheffield RC	M60	1782	0:18:50	84.78%	198	0:38:56	84.25%	198	0:29:45	88.85%	199	1:06:56	80.48%	193	0:05:26	84.97%	199	0:19:45	81.52%	191	0:41:01	80.70%	193	0:04:56	87.16%	199	0:32:12	82.87%	195	1:05:43	82.73%	200	0:05:26	85.58%	199	0:19:53	80.97%	195
4	Robert Cassy	Sheffield RC	M40	1771	0:16:32	84.07%	196	0:33:32	83.95%	197	0:26:49	85.52%	197	0:57:50	80.32%	192	0:04:59	80.60%	196	0:16:35	84.42%	197	0:35:13	80.55%	192	0:04:56	75.34%	190	0:28:17	81.08%	193	0:57:44	80.46%	198	0:05:06	78.76%	198	0:16:40	84.00%	199
5	Stuart Dunbar	Saltaire Striders	M55	1763	0:20:14	77.68%	179	0:38:46	83.06%	195	0:30:31	85.09%	196	1:02:11	85.02%	197	0:05:57	76.75%	182	0:19:09	82.68%	192	0:38:55	83.51%	196	0:05:06	83.01%	198	0:31:26	83.35%	196				0:06:02	75.69%	195	0:19:05	82.97%	198
6	Graham Justice	City of Hull AC	M50	1742	0:19:57	75.69%	167	0:38:41	79.66%	188	0:30:20	82.03%	190	1:03:22	79.77%	191	0:05:33	78.38%	191	0:17:58	84.04%	195	0:37:27	82.29%	195	0:06:05	66.03%	169	0:30:44	81.62%	194	1:08:16	74.68%	196	0:05:54	74.29%	193	0:18:27	82.48%	197
7	Charlie Goodwin	York Knavesmire Harriers	M45	1713	0:17:43	79.59%	186	0:36:32	78.28%	186	0:29:48	77.57%	183	1:01:19	76.38%	185	0:05:11	78.14%	190	0:17:58	78.48%	186	0:37:38	76.62%	189	0:04:58	75.84%	192	0:39:35	58.86%	173	1:04:52	72.79%	191	0:05:16	77.53%	197	0:17:23	81.78%	196
8	William Allan	Tadcaster Harriers	M75	1699	0:25:10	74.50%	158	0:47:37	81.41%	193	0:37:46	83.27%	193	1:18:18	81.27%	194	0:07:04	77.12%	183	0:22:35	83.03%	193	0:47:29	81.64%	194	0:06:33	76.84%	194	0:38:14	83.78%	197
9	Gordon Walmsley	York Knavesmire Harriers	M45	1681	0:18:02	78.84%	185	0:37:45	76.38%	180	0:32:26	71.84%	153	1:04:14	73.51%	177	0:05:23	75.85%	179	0:18:51	75.42%	179	0:40:42	71.42%	176	0:05:10	73.55%	186	0:31:05	75.55%	190	1:03:55	74.50%	195	0:05:31	74.62%	194	0:18:31	77.32%	193
10	Mark Harney	York Knavesmire Harriers	M55	1671	0:20:55	75.14%	162	0:42:56	75.00%	170	0:34:47	74.65%	171	1:10:41	74.79%	181	0:05:51	77.49%	186	0:21:02	74.72%	175	0:47:09	68.29%	169	0:05:40	73.82%	187	0:35:30	73.15%	187	1:11:11	74.27%	194	0:05:57	76.19%	196	0:19:50	79.24%	194

Chris Ireland at the Cross Country Championship 2019. Photo by Lionel Wolstenholme.

Top 10 Women

Winning lady Sue Haslam (Scarborough AC, F65) was without any doubt the star performer of the series. She not only scored the maximum possible 1800 points, but also broke the 90% barrier every month of the year. With 100% being roughly equivalent to world record pace for your age and sex, Sue often posted age-grades above 97%, and her July 10k time of 43:05 scored 99.65%. Running that hard outside of a race environment is incredibly difficult, so Sue’s achievement here is staggering.

In second place was Dot Kesterton (Steel City Striders RC, F65), with 1791 points. Dot also broke the 90% barrier as often as not throughout the year, and her best run of 6:25 for 1500m in August had an age-grade of 94.81%.

Yvonne Twelvetree (Totley AC, F70) finished 3rd with 1778 points. Her best performance was her 6:44 1500m time, worth 93.32%.

Pos	Name	Club	Cat	Score	Jan (5k)			Feb (10k)			Mar (5 Miles)			Apr (10 Miles)			May (1 Mile)			Jun (5k)			Jul (10k)			Aug (1500m)			Sep (5 Mile)			Oct (10 Mile)			Nov (1 Mile)			Dec (5k)
					Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts	Time	AG	Pts
1	Sue Haslam	Scarborough AC	F65	1800	0:21:27	93.24%	200	0:43:40	98.32%	200	0:34:38	97.93%	200	1:11:20	98.71%	200	0:06:30	97.44%	200	0:20:50	97.28%	200	0:43:05	99.65%	200	0:06:10	95.41%	200	0:35:58	94.30%	200	1:12:04	97.71%	200	0:06:44	94.06%	200	0:22:06	91.70%	200
2	Dot Kesterton	Steel City Striders	F65	1791	0:23:36	88.21%	198	0:52:16	84.66%	196	0:37:39	92.78%	199	1:22:49	87.66%	199	0:07:00	93.57%	199	0:23:16	89.47%	199	0:48:02	92.12%	199	0:06:25	94.81%	199	0:38:41	90.31%	199	1:24:43	85.70%	199	0:07:12	90.97%	199	0:23:19	89.28%	199
3	Yvonne Twelvetree	Totley AC	F70	1778				0:52:06	86.24%	198	0:40:48	86.89%	198	1:29:23	82.49%	195	0:07:13	92.15%	198	0:23:56	88.23%	198	0:53:56	83.31%	196	0:06:44	93.32%	198	0:44:53	80.17%	194	1:32:14	81.23%	197	0:07:44	87.50%	197	0:25:57	82.47%	198
4	Shirley Oglesby	East Hull Harriers	F65	1770	0:24:02	85.44%	196	0:49:15	88.49%	199	0:40:40	84.63%	195	1:25:27	83.66%	196	0:07:34	86.56%	196	0:24:41	84.33%	195	0:50:52	86.99%	198	0:06:56	87.74%	195	0:43:16	80.74%	196				0:07:22	88.91%	198	0:25:29	81.69%	196
5	Pat Goodall	Totley AC	F65	1768				0:50:07	83.21%	192	0:39:50	83.93%	194	1:20:01	86.71%	198	0:07:30	83.11%	191	0:23:34	84.87%	196	0:50:49	83.24%	195	0:06:32	88.52%	197	0:40:44	82.08%	198	1:24:16	82.34%	198	0:07:18	85.39%	195	0:24:24	81.97%	197
6	Madeleine Stansfield	Dewsbury RR	F65	1758	0:25:26	79.69%	192	0:51:18	83.69%	194	0:42:11	80.40%	188	1:30:15	79.21%	187	0:07:29	85.97%	194	0:23:43	86.58%	197	0:51:29	84.66%	197	0:06:46	88.42%	196	0:42:10	81.62%	197	1:39:43	71.69%	190	0:07:27	86.35%	196	0:25:45	79.74%	195
7	Barbara Lee	Baildon Runners	F65	1709	0:25:52	77.32%	186	0:55:18	76.49%	180	0:45:45	73.08%	171	1:27:36	79.20%	186	0:07:44	80.60%	188	0:24:42	80.97%	193	0:51:07	82.75%	194	0:06:48	85.05%	194	0:41:26	80.69%	195				0:07:37	83.15%	193
8	Kate Scott	Steel City Striders	F55	1709	0:23:31	75.19%	183	0:46:22	80.63%	188	0:36:48	80.57%	190	1:18:34	77.96%	185	0:06:23	85.38%	193	0:22:37	79.07%	189	0:48:07	77.69%	187	0:06:34	77.16%	188	0:38:57	76.12%	192	1:28:52	68.92%	189	0:07:24	73.65%	186	0:23:23	76.48%	193
9	Mags Beever	Stainland Lions RR	F40	1695				0:41:11	76.85%	182	0:32:07	78.52%	185	1:05:19	79.25%	188	0:05:38	79.88%	185	0:19:11	80.02%	190	0:43:30	72.76%	181	0:05:12	80.45%	192	0:33:25	75.46%	191	1:11:08	72.77%	191	0:05:43	79.59%	191
10	Helen Armitage	Stainland Lions RR	F55	1694	0:24:23	72.52%	173	0:48:14	76.50%	181	0:38:09	76.76%	182	1:20:15	75.33%	180	0:06:36	81.31%	189	0:22:48	77.56%	187	0:47:57	76.96%	185	0:06:32	76.28%	187				1:21:01	74.61%	195	0:06:32	83.42%	194	0:22:36	79.13%	194

Yvonne Twelvetree at the Cross Country Championship 2019. Photo by Lionel Wolstenholme.

Well done to everyone who got out there and got their runs in, even when it was challenging to do so. We hope the competition helped you to keep sharp, or at least active, through lockdown, and gave you a sense that even when we’re apart we can still do things together.

Clubs

We didn’t have a clubs competition as part of the Virtual Grand Prix series for 2021, but we’ll be announcing a new series for 2022 very soon, with club rankings included. So just for fun, and to give you a taste of how this will work, here’s how the club rankings would have looked based on the 2021 Virtual Grand Prix performances. Obviously if this had been a competition, other runners might have run extra runs, and the results could have looked very different, so don’t take any of this too seriously; it’s just an illustration.

Mixed Teams

The Mixed Teams ranking will let clubs compete based on their breadth of talent across all vets’ demographics. Here, a club’s score will be the total of its best athlete’s score in each of six age categories: M35-49, F35-49, M50-59, F50-59, M60+, F60+.

If we’d ranked clubs like this in 2021, Steel City Striders would have come out on top, with a team made up of Darren Barnett (M45), Jacqui Herring (F45), Jonathan Legon (M55), Kate Scott (F55), Dave Beech (M65), and Dot Kesterton (F65).

York Knavesmire’s team would have come second, and would have consisted of Charlie Goodwin (M45), Anna Marshall (F40), Mark Harney (M55), Pauline Foot (F55), Michael McGrath (M70), and Jane Morby (F60).

In third place we would have had Saltaire Striders, with Paul Parkins (M40), Heather Bayliss (F40), Stuart Dunbar (M55), Urmila Mistry (F55), Mohanlal Mistry (M60), and Sylvia Ross (F70) all scoring for their club.

See below for the top 5 mixed teams, or the Virtual GP spreadsheet for the full rankings. In 2022’s series, do encourage club-mates to take part to fill in any gaps in your team!

Pos	Club	Total Score	M35-49			F35-49			M50-59			F50-59			M60+			F60+
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	Steel City Striders	9,920	Darren Barnett	M45	1,580	Jacqui Herring	F45	1,588	Jonathan Legon	M55	1,624	Kate Scott	F55	1,709	Dave Beech	M65	1,628	Dot Kesterton	F65	1,791
2	York Knavesmire Harriers	8,425	Charlie Goodwin	M45	1,713	Anna Marshall	F40	796	Mark Harney	M55	1,671	Pauline Foot	F55	1,537	Michael McGrath	M70	1,134	Jane Morby	F60	1,574
3	Saltaire Striders	7,829	Paul Parkins	M40	1,339	Heather Bayliss	F40	509	Stuart Dunbar	M55	1,763	Urmila Mistry	F55	1,429	Mohanlal Mistry	M60	1,257	Sylvia Ross	F70	1,532
4	Holmfirth Harriers	7,129	Jon Burdon	M45	869	Julia Jagger	F35	379	Kevin Dessoy	M55	1,634	Dawn Berry	F55	1,416	Rob Kersey	M70	1,518	Karen Sinkinson	F60	1,313
5	Sheffield RC	6,997	Robert Cassy	M40	1,771	Rachel Rose	F35	471	Nicholas Watson	M50	1,509	Rebecca Pierce	F55	1,447	Chris Ireland	M60	1,799

Age Categories

Each of the six age categories used for the Mixed Teams ranking above will also have its own team competition, with a club’s best three athletes in that category to count. Here’s how the top 3 in each category would have looked in 2021 based on Virtual Grand Prix performances (only teams with three runners included). Again, see the Virtual GP spreadsheet for the full rankings.

M35-49

Pos	Club	Total Score	1st Scorer			2nd Scorer			3rd Scorer
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	York Knavesmire Harriers	3,592	Charlie Goodwin	M45	1,713	Gordon Walmsley	M45	1,681	Chris Gregory	M40	198
2	Hyde Park Harriers	3,475	Michael Vargas	M35	1,619	Chris Smith	M45	1,617	Richard Edwards	M45	239
3	Sheffield RC	3,213	Robert Cassy	M40	1,771	Paul McWhirter	M40	722	Gareth irvine	M40	720

F35-49

Pos	Club	Total Score	1st Scorer			2nd Scorer			3rd Scorer
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	Steel City Striders	4,616	Jacqui Herring	F45	1,588	Christine Booth	F45	1,531	Sarah Percival	F40	1,497
2	Abbey Runners	2,373	Lisa Stansbie	F45	1,667	Julia Sheer	F45	592	Lisa Persico	F45	114
3	York Knavesmire Harriers	2,306	Anna Marshall	F40	796	Hayley Jackson	F40	777	Emma Hartley	F40	733

M50-59

Pos	Club	Total Score	1st Scorer			2nd Scorer			3rd Scorer
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	Holmfirth Harriers	4,346	Kevin Dessoy	M55	1,634	Adam Sunderland	M50	1,488	Michael Hall	M55	1,224
2	Saltaire Striders	3,501	Stuart Dunbar	M55	1,763	Robert Boughen	M55	967	Martin Fillingham	M50	771
3	Baildon Runners	3,380	Nigel Shaw	M55	1,457	Dave Lonsdale	M55	1,398	Chris Burke	M50	525

F50-59

Pos	Club	Total Score	1st Scorer			2nd Scorer			3rd Scorer
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	Steel City Striders	4,073	Kate Scott	F55	1,709	Joanne Battersby	F55	1,581	Kate Morris	F55	783
2	Sheffield RC	3,853	Rebecca Pierce	F55	1,447	Sara Corker	F50	1,446	Elaine Shortridge	F50	960
3	York Knavesmire Harriers	3,410	Pauline Foot	F55	1,537	Jenny Steele	F55	1,160	Teresa Huntley	F55	713

M60+

Pos	Club	Total Score	1st Scorer			2nd Scorer			3rd Scorer
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	Sheffield RC	4,962	Chris Ireland	M60	1,799	Jed Turner	M60	1,782	Robert Pearson	M65	1,381
2	Steel City Striders	3,409	Dave Beech	M65	1,628	Richard Pegg	M60	897	Michael Ingham	M70	884
3	Saltaire Striders	2,761	Mohanlal Mistry	M60	1,257	Alun Griffiths	M60	803	Frank Masley	M70	701

F60+

Pos	Club	Total Score	1st Scorer			2nd Scorer			3rd Scorer
			Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score	Name	Cat	Score
1	Steel City Striders	4,845	Dot Kesterton	F65	1,791	Nicole Nield	F65	1,683	Sheena Woodhead	F70	1,371
2	Baildon Runners	3,844	Barbara Lee	F65	1,709	Denise Johnson	F60	1,569	Jackie Walters	F70	566
3	Holmfirth Harriers	3,415	Karen Sinkinson	F60	1,313	Elaine Stewart	F60	1,051	Elaine Stewart	F60	1,051

As noted above, we didn’t have club competitions in 2021, so this is all just for fun, to whet your appetite, and to encourage you to get organised within your club. Watch this space for more details of our 2022 competition, which will be announced shortly.