Bedford Harriers A.C.
Most Improved Runner: 2008
Harriers Championship Ranking :
Single
Race Championship
Single
Road Race Improvement Ranking
Home :
Race Results
Most Improved Runner 2008
We have 3 years' worth of data now - 2006, 2007 and 2008. I compared races run
in 2008 compared to 2006/7 at the same distance (but not necessarily the same
race!). So the best 5 mile age-graded % from 2008 was compared to the best 5
mile age-graded % set in 2006/7 etc. This wasn't restricted to the 6 main road
race distances so 12K, 15M, 30K and 20M were also included. For each distance
comparison I calculated the raw % improvement and also the "adjusted"
improvement, which allows for the fact that faster runners have less room for
improvement. There are 1 or 2 cases only where I removed an obviously "rogue"
result - where a faster runner was "pacing" a slower runner for example...Mark
Tinkler springs to mind...
Runners were allowed into the final table if they had at least 4 distances at
which they had improved and their mean adjusted improvement was positive (ie
they didn't get worse on average !). They were then ranked by the mean
adjusted improvement.
This method was approved before the final race day of the season and, unless
there are any objections, will be the basis for the Most Improved Runner of
2009, comparing 2009 with 2006-8. Also, as we have now established a method,
we can publish interim versions of this table at various times during the year
(although I might relax the 4 distances rule for the interim results).
Any constructive comments, as always, are appreciated.
| Name | N | Mean | Mean_adj |
| Karen Robertson | 4 | 8.02% | 19.20% |
| Andy Purdy | 7 | 4.93% | 14.50% |
| Lynne Greenard | 5 | 4.24% | 13.40% |
| Simon Fawcett | 5 | 2.73% | 11.10% |
| Pauline Bambury | 4 | 3.10% | 11.10% |
| Lynne Gingell | 4 | 4.23% | 10.00% |
| Alison Cooper | 4 | 3.36% | 9.79% |
| Nora Haggart | 6 | 2.45% | 9.09% |
| Richard Watson | 6 | 2.72% | 6.93% |
| Samantha Linney | 5 | 2.62% | 6.35% |
| Mark Tinkler | 5 | 2.02% | 6.19% |
| Stuart Trevallion | 4 | 1.64% | 6.13% |
| Adam Hills | 7 | 2.27% | 6.12% |
| Amanda Friman | 4 | 1.91% | 5.81% |
| Linda Watson | 5 | 2.21% | 4.66% |
| Sarah Lee | 5 | 1.05% | 3.22% |