Sandra has put together a handy list of all the cross-country races for the 2023-24 season: XC Fixtures Flyer 2023-24
East London Runners supports the running of equal distance for Men and Women in all cross country races. While some races/leagues/counties/nations/vets have equalised distances, some have not, as yet, done so. East London Runners also respects the right of each individual Club Member to decide for themselves what races they wish to run in and we will NOT obstruct in any way a member running in a race or League that does not have equal distances. It remains the Club policy that all members will run for FREE in Cross Country Leagues that the Club are members of (e.g Chingford League and the Run Herts Sunday XC League) and the County/Regional/National races whether of equal distance or not. The Club does pay League fees on members behalf in addition to any fees for entering our County, Regional and National Championships. The views of members expressed on Facebook and other types of Social Media are considered to be of a personal nature and may differ from those of the Club expressed above.
Meet at Wanstead Leisure Centre at 8.30am for car share to Cassiobury Park. 

Venue: Cassiobury Park, Watford, WD18 7LG. 
 Hosted by Watford Joggers. 

This race is free to all members of East London Runners. Turn up on the day to run. No pre race entry required. So that we can get an idea of numbers, please add your name to race entries, or email info@eastlondonrunners.org.uk if you are going to run. Race Instructions:

The start will be in the middle of the park, with the finish situated near the top of the park. Temporary toilets will be available near the finish. Meeting point and team tents at the finish and jog to the start, c.5 mins away. Apart from the changes to the start and finish locations the course will be as in previous years; two laps in the wood plus an out and back section.  The course will be marked and marshalled. The course comprises of tracks, woodland paths and parkland grass.  There is a short section of tarmac over the canal and River Gade bridges, both out and on the return leg. Start: What3Words: wool.crisis.mobile Finish: flame.parks.cling Car Parking. There are car parks in the town and also The Avenue car park (spend.manage.fully) WD17 4NR. There is parking available on local roads but please be considerate to local residents. Public Transport. The Metropolitan Line will be working but there is no Overground between Euston and Watford Junction.  The mainline from Euston will be working unless there is strike action. Toilets. Temporary toilets will be available at the finish. There are also toilets in the park at the Hub, which near the paddling pools.  The Hub is close to the start.  The Cha Café is closed and the toilets there are not available. Refreshments. At West Herts Sports Club: (branch.smile.belly) 8 Park Avenue, WD18 7HP.  We have the function room booked where hot drinks and food can be purchased. We wish you all a great run. Colin Taylor, Watford Joggers 
We are looking forward to this race in Cassiobury Park and hope to see you there. Please speak Karan or Mike if you have any questions. 

Karan Gadhia and Mike Wilson 
Winter League Captains 



Mike Wilson John OBrien
Notes: - I: Missed race due to injury, illness, self-isolation or exceptional circumstances. Time calculated based on relative performance in other races (see rules below for details). The calculated time will change as the runner completes more races. - M: Missed race for any other reason. Time = slowest time of the race plus 1 second. - H: Handicap applied - replacement for a runner who withdrew (see ELR Virtual Cross-Country Teams below). - G: Ghost runner - replacement for a runner who withdrew (see ELR Virtual Cross-Country Teams below).
Notes: - M: missed race. Time = slowest time of the race plus 1 second.
Notes: - M: missed race. Age grade = lowest grade of the race minus 0.1%.
The final race of the ELR virtual XC competition was held in Epping Forest in the Pole Hill / Chingford area, during the month of March. Course details here. Results:
The fourth race of the ELR virtual XC competition was held in Claybury Park during the month of February. Course details here. Results:
The third race of the ELR virtual XC competition was held in Epping Forest near Oak Hill, Woodford in January. Course details here. Results:
The second race of the ELR virtual XC competition was held in Hainault Forest in December. Course details here. Results:
The first race of the ELR virtual XC competition was held in Wanstead Park in November. Course details here. Results:
Sunday 16th January 2022 - Cross Country League Race 4 - Cassiobury Park, Watford - 10.30am start.. Meet at Wanstead Leisure Centre at 8.30am for car share to Cassiobury Park. Venue: Cassiobury Park, Watford, WD18 7LG. Hosted by Watford Joggers. This race is free to all members of East London Runners. Turn up on the day to run. No pre race entry required. So that we can get an idea of numbers, please comment below or add your name to race entries if you are going to run. RACE INSTRUCTIONS: Dear Runners, The next race this season is at Cassiobury Park, Watford. Sunday January 16th. Start 10:30. Car Parking: Parking is available either in the (small) park car park or on local roads. The roads on the opposite side of the park to the Cha cafe offer the best guarantee of getting a space. Please park considerately. There are also car parks in the town centre, which are a modest walk away, and at Watford Met Line station in Cassiobury Park Avenue (WD18 7LE) where there are 70 spaces and the cost is £3 Toilet Facilities. Temporary toilets will be available and there are flush toilets available near the Hub (Daisy's) cafe at the paddling pool complex. The toilet facilities at the Cha cafe are for customers only. We are again running in the shadow of Covid. Please do not travel if you have symptoms or have tested positive. Hand sanitising gels will be available near the temporary toilets. In Cassiobury Park we have the benefit of a wide start, so please give each other a little space and courtesy as you line up awaiting the start. The Course (Approx 6 Miles). The course will be the same as in recent years, out to the woods, 2 laps, then return back to finish adjacent to the start. The attached map is slightly incorrect in that on the opening "out and back" section you will run down and up on the grass and not on the footpath. This will be clearly marked and marshalled, as indeed the rest of the course will be. For those who haven't run here before, in terms of footwear, please be aware that there's a tarmac section over the "rustic" and canal bridges and the path beyond that, between MP6 and MP9 (the top of 5 Ways Hill) is a firm trail type surface. We are excited to be able to put this race on and look forward to seeing you. Good luck and kind regards, Colin Taylor On behalf of Watford Joggers We are looking forward to this race in Cassiobury Park and hope to see you there. Please speak Karan or Mike if you have any questions. Karan Gadhia and Mike Wilson Winter League Captains MAP OF COURSE. This is a very good course. Downhill from the start into the woods, then two laps whilst in the picturesque woods and back uphill to the finish.
Well done to all members who ran in this winter's Sunday Cross-Country League. The club finished in good positions in all categories: - Men overall: 7th, vets: 8th - Women overall: 11th, vets: 11th Out of 19 clubs. The following members finished in the top 10 of the individual categories: - Maud Hodson: 5th VW45 - John Henry: 7th VM40 See you all again at Cheshunt in October 2020! Michael Wilson and Jacob Stevens Winter League Captains
For the 2019-20 season, we have introduced a new internal ELR competition, where runners are given scores based on a combination of participation and age-adjusted performance in the Chingford and Sunday League races (see Scoring Method below for details). Trophies will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed runner of each gender at the end of the season. Final Standings Here are the final results of the 2019-20 competition. Some interesting stats: - 109 ELR members took part at in at least one Winter League race. Almost certainly a club record! - 9 members ran in all Chingford League races: Euan Brown, Fiona Day, Becky Evans, Maud Hodson, Catriona Hoult, Mark Moir, Billy Rayner, Jacob Stevens & Michael Wilson. - 7 members ran in all Sunday League races: Karan Gadhia, John Henry, Maud Hodson, Mark Moir, James Nichols, Jacob Stevens & Michael Wilson. - The 5 women with the highest age-adjusted performance score (omitting volunteering) were Becky Evans, Paula Bedford, Caroline Frith, Emily Clarke & Ellie Wilkinson. - The 5 men with the highest age-adjusted performance score (omitting volunteering) were Euan Brown, Calvin Bobin, John Henry, Rhys Edwards & Thomas Grimes. - 31 members ran in only one Winter League race. Columns: Part. - Participation score Perf. - Overall performance score Race perf. - Performance score in last race Score - Overall score Pos.chg. - Position change (N: new runner/volunteer)
Summary For each runner, we calculate a participation score and a performance score. The participation score is the percentage of Chingford and Sunday XC League races that the runner has taken part in. The performance score is calculated by taking the runner's time for each race, applying a gender/age adjustment (similar to parkrun age grading) and then comparing that to the median time of all runners in the race; this is then averaged over the races they took part in. The overall score is a weighted average of the two scores: 60% of participation score plus 40% of performance score. All Winter League races are included in the competition, both cross-country and tarmac, including the Chingford League relays in March. Volunteers at the relays (organised by ELR) also score points: a fixed race performance score of 100 is used. Detailed Calculation For anyone interested in the details, the scores are calculated as follows: Time = Runner's race time (individual time in the relay) CatFactor = Conversion factor from gender/age category standard to mid-point between SM & SF standards - see below. AdjTime = Time * CatFactor MedianTime = Median time of all runners in race (all clubs, all categories) RacePerfScore = MedianTime / AdjTime * 100 (or fixed value of 100 for relay volunteers) PerfScore = Mean RacePerfScore for runner over season PartScore = (Number of races attended by runner) / (Total number of races) * 100 Score = PerfScore * 40% + PartScore * 60% Category factors are calculated using WMA age factors and male/female 5 mile road race records (similar to the data used for parkrun age grading). Factors for 5y Chingford League categories: SM 1.0676 SW 0.9404 M40 1.0076 W40 0.9017 M45 0.9690 W45 0.8630 M50 0.9304 W50 0.8156 M55 0.8917 W55 0.7674 M60 0.8531 W60 0.7192 M65 0.8145 U18M 1.0523 Factors for 10y Sunday League categories: SM 1.0676 SW 0.9404 M40 0.9883 W35 0.9144 M50 0.9110 W45 0.8393 M60 0.8338 W55 0.7433 Example (for one runner, one race): Time = 20:50 AdjTime = 20:50 * 1.0076 (M40) = 20:59 MedianTime = 24:15 RacePerfScore = 24:15 / 20:59 * 100 = 115.52 Score = 115.52 * 0.4 + 100 * 0.6 = 106.21
Sunday 20th October 2019 Event 1 Cheshunt Park, Cheshunt - Hosted jointly by Broxbourne Runners and Garden City Runners. 11am start. Sunday 1st December 2019 Event 2 Trent Park, Cockfosters - Hosted by Trent Park RC. 10.30am start. Sunday 22nd December 2019 Event 3 Fairland Valley Park - Hosted by Fairlands Valley Spartans. 10.30am start. Sunday 12th January 2020 Event 4 Cassiobury Park, Watford - Hosted by Watford Joggers and supported by Ealing Eagles. 10.30am start. Sunday 9th February 2020 Event 5 Royston - Hosted by Royston Runners. 10.30am start. Sunday League website: http://www.runherts.com/xc.htm Mike Wilson and Jacob Stevens Winter Leagues Captains
Sunday League Race 4 details below! Please add your name to the Race Entries page of this Website if you are keen to represent ELR ! If you are going and can offer or need a lift, please meet at Wanstead leisure centre at 8.30am. Race Venue: Cassiobury Park, Watford WD18 7LG Once again, this race is free to enter and no pre-entry is required - just turn up on the day to run. Hosted by Watford Joggers. Date: Sunday 12th January 2020. Start time: 10:30am. Trains: There are two rail stations in close proximity. Watford Junction - overground. Watford Metropolitan - underground. Car parking: There are car parks in the town. Nearest are behind the Town Hall and in the middle of the roundabout near the Swimming Pool, the Avenue postcode is: WD17 4AJ. There is ample street parking on the local roads adjacent to the park. Please park considerately. Toilet facilities: Close to the park, there are facilities in the underpass under the roundabout in front of the town hall. A short walk from The Avenue car park. Toilet facilities in the park are limited but we hope that we may be able to provide some temporary toilets. The course is Approx 5.9 Miles. The race starts & finishes near the Cha cafe. The course will be a run out to Whippendell Woods - two laps then back to the park. The course will be marshalled and marked throughout. The route remains unchanged from previous years. PLEASE ENSURE THAT ALL ATHLETES ARE AWARE THAT AFTER DESCENDING INTO THE WOODS THEY WILL RUN TWO laps before returning up the hill and retracing the route back to the finish. The course is a variety of grass, parkland, stony paths, gravel tracks, and muddy paths. There are also the two bridges to cross with tarmac to head out of and return to the park. Please speak to Mike Wilson or Jacob Stevens if you have any questions. We look forward to another good turnout for this penultimate race of the Sunday League season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2018/02/24/cross-country-new-battleground-women-step-bid-equality/
Cross Country Captain Mike Wilson reports. With the Cross Country season drawing to a close, I would like to congratulate Thomas Grimes who was crowned overall winner of the Sunday League title. He achieved this with a top five finish at the final fixture at Royston. This is a great achievement with record attendances of over 500 runners at some of the races. I am pleased with the turnout from the club in both Leagues, with numbers increasing from last year. We had 10 enjoyable races in total on on a variation of surfaces and conditions, appealing to novices and experienced athletes alike. In the Chingford League we had a record 54 runners compete on a cold autumn evening at Hog Hill in October. The ladies and men's 'A' teams finished 4th and 5th in this League respectively. I would like to thank everyone who took part in 2017/18 and look forward to welcoming new and old members again, when the season starts again in October.