This year’s list of Grand Prix races:
| No | Date | Event | Venue | Event |
| 1 | 18-Mar | Ashby 20 Miles | Ashby, Leics | Road |
| 2 | 31-Mar | MCAA 12 /6 Stage Relays | Sutton park | Road – Team |
| 3 | 02-May | Dudley Kingswinsford 10km | Dudley, West Mids. | Road |
| 4 | 29-Apr | Shakespeare Half Marathon | Stratford on Avon | Road |
| 01-May | Lichfield Half Marathon | Lichfield | Road | |
| 5 | 22-Jun | Blakedown Bolt 10km | Blakedown, Worcs | Multi-terrain |
| 6 | 14-Jun | Rowheath 5km – Race 1 | Bournville, B’ham | Road |
| 7 | 07-Jul | Black Country Half Marathon | Wolverhampton | Multi-terrain |
| 8 | 19-Jul | Rowheath 5km – Race 2 | Bournville, B’ham | Road |
| 9 | 09-Jul | Frampton 10km | Worcester | Road |
| 10 | 15-Jul | Pitchcroft 10 km | Frampton-on-Severn | Road |
| 11 | 26-Jul | BvH Killer Mile | Clare Hill, B’ham | Road – Event |
| 12 | 16-Aug | Rowheath 5km – Race 3 | Bournville, B’ham | Road |
| 13 | 22-Sep | MCAA 6/4 Stage Relay | Sutton Park, B’ham | Road –Team |
| 14 | 04-Sep | Wolverhampton Half Marathon | Wolverhampton | Road |
| 15 | 07-Oct | Bournville 10km | tbc | MT – Event |
| 16 | 21-Oct | Birmingham Half Marathon | Birmingham | Road |
| 17 | 4-Nov | Conductive Education 10k | Cannon Hill Park | Road |
| 18 | 10-Nov | Birmingham Men’s XC | Newbold Comyn, Leamington | XC - Team |
| 10-Nov | Midland Women’s XC | |||
| 19 | 01-Dec | Birmingham Men’s XC | Cofton Park (BVH Host) | XC – Team |
| 01-Dec | Midland Women’s XC | Burbage Common, Hinckley | ||
| 20 | 09-Dec | Sneyd Xmas Pudding Run 10 miles | Walsall, W.Mids | Road |
| 21 | -Jan | Centurion RC 5m | Kingshurst, Bham | Road |
| 22 | 12-Jan-13 | Birmingham Men’s XC | Sandwell Valley | XC - Team |
| 12-Jan-13 | Midland Women’s XC | Sandwell Valley | ||
| 23 | 09-Feb-13 | Birmingham Men’s XC | Perry Park, Birmingham | XC - Team |
| 09-Feb-13 | Midland Women’s XC | Pitville Park, Cheltenham | ||
Q.E.D, with leather upholstery and chromium plating!
Thanks Chris- you’re time and effort are much appreciated
Points updated today (3/9/2012) to include points from Wolverhampton Half Marathon. Mistake with both men’s and women’s Pitchcroft points corrected as well. We now have 1 man and 1 woman who have completed the minimum 8 races to qualify. Well done to Andy and Jude!
No problem at all! Thanks for saying thanks.
Hey Chris, thank you for taking the time to update this, much appreciated.
The Norwegian blue falls through the bar at the Nags head.
Hi all,
GP points are now up to date. I will be taking this over again, as GoogleDocs and Lesley’s computer don’t seem to get along very well! Please contact me at bvhchairperson@bournvilleharriers.org.uk if you think your points are wrong. (The Killer Mile points in particular were challenging to figure out, as the published results were a bit of a mess, so please get in touch if I’ve missed you out or made any mistakes!)
It seems I was slightly wrong, as it could be that as many… and up to seven people are passionately… or at least vaguely interested in the GBHVP*.
So as a profoundly neutral fence sitting bystander, I would like to offer a red (like ferraris, and they’re fast) BvH 2012 tee shirt (unworn) to the best defense of this very nearly, much loved competition** (no entries on the day***).
* Sorry I’m still a bit drunk from saturday night.
** GP tips: if you can resist being too ernest, or using emoticons, you have a very good chance of winning.
*** What day suits you?
Hi Lesley – thanks for that – for information the Uni 5k is not taking place this year. They hope to have it next year. I didn’t realise that this bit was your responsibility as well as the spreadsheet – or I would have forwarded the e-mail to you. I did suggest maybe the Wasley Wobbler as an alternative – totally different sort of race, but around the same time and local.
Finally the list of events is 99% complete – just a couple of dates missing but rest assured as soon as I receive the details from the race organisers I will update these.
As far as results year to date, the spreadsheet has decided to misbehave – Chris is aware and I will be updating it in due course.
Ignore my idiotic previous comment, lol
There is no date listed on our site yet, but at least you know now! 
Hi there. I just wanted to let everyone know that, according to the MCAA website, the road relays at Sutton Park are on the 22nd September, not the 13th of Sept as is currently listed on the BvH site – http://www.midlandathletics.org.uk/ . Just thought I’d better mention it so that everyone that wants to race does not get the wrong date in their head
…. Thanks to Lesley and Chris for keeping the Grand Prix results page going. Cheers, Paul 
Thanks for taking this on Lesley, and thanks to all the committee for all your hard work- much of which I suspect the majority of us are blissfully unaware of!
I ‘formally’ took over this voluntary role from Chris about a month ago – the thanks go to him for getting the results up to date so far this year
I echo his comments that it is time hungry when you are juggling it with family commitments, work commitments, training commitments – I am doing my best to combine my passion with spreadsheets, geekness for analysis et al to ensure that the information is available in a timely way.
Given the limited amount of commitment I have been able to contribute so far, I am surprised(and relieved!) at the absence of queries about points/standings etc.
Rest assured I do understand that for those of you taking part this year, the results and standings are important.
Lesley you have made some excellent points and suggestions – whilst Eds remark may have been slightly tongue in cheek, I have to say I would agree that you really do seem to be the person for the job. If not this year, you are clearly a passionate ambassador for both the event and the Club.
Congratulation Lesley, the Jobs yours, when can you start?
Chris – I know people are doing this on top of loads of other things and really do appreciate it. Is it not possible to at least get the dates of the events onto the schedule? When the events are announced the dates are not all known, but a lot of them are now e.g. BRAT 5ks, relays, XC – so it would be good to get them onto the website then we can encourage people to enter. Thanks also for the update on the results – I don’t know if that was down to you or Lesley or a combination, but either way thanks.
Jude – That’s not sad at all, and you’re actually in 2nd place right now as well! (Only a point off of first…)
Lesley – The people who currently calculate the points and maintain the GP spreadsheets are doing this in addition to the other roles they have taken on for the club, and it’s a more time-consuming process than most people would assume. Age-grading would (arguably) make the scoring fairer, but would make the process take twice as long as well. We will be looking at revamping the scoring system before launching the 2013 GP series, but whether or not it includes age-grading will partly depend whether people who feel strongly about it are willing to help out a bit with the scoring.
I’m no good with spreadsheets either…. or bedsheets… hospital
corners are a nightmare… talking of which, I dreamt about a sick puppy last night… now that WAS sad……..ok ok settle down…My mother in law, etc etc etc etc etc…
Both of you should get together with the “frequently found others”* and become TEAM GP
*a,k,a, The ( perhaps unfairly named ) hardly anybodies.
I don’t think you are sad, Jude – I think that the GP is an important part of what BvH does and I intend to complete enough to qualify, although I know I could never do well in it as there is no age grading!
At the risk of appearing completely sad qualifying for the Grand Prix is one of my aims this season!! Of course I have only been running for just over a year so I’m still full of beginners enthusiasm
-but I’m hopeless with spreadsheets so I’m NOT volunteering on that front 
Hardly anybody-
Either hardly anybody looks at this website, or hardly anybody is interested in the GP… I think the hardly anybodies are in the majority on both counts.
So perhaps the hardly anybodies should run the GP…I can’t see how anyone would object, and as an incentive, I will donate all my future points to the exclusive (by default) BvH GP.
I have noticed that a number of members who I have spoken to are not aware of the GP – we are not really promoting it at all. Results are not being updated and there are few reports on GP events. The women’s results page is not available and the men’s is not up to date. I think that if we are going to continue with it (and I agree that age grading would be fairer – Stourbridge seem to manage it, maybe we could ask them for advice?) it does need to be promoted more among the membership. I do try to prioritise these events – although I am not able to do long races on road, so cannot do the 1/2Ms or above – but frequently find that others are not even aware of the GP.
Ed –
Sorry, read Barrie’s post but not yours. I agree, and think we need to do a bit of a survey into whether or not people actually care. I get the feeling that a lot of people complete the series unintentionally, as we tend to choose races that a lot of club members do anyway.
In my opinion, it needs to either be about a) rewarding pure performance, b) rewarding pure improvement, c) encouraging club members to run certain races where we want to be a visible presence, or d) encouraging club members to run certain races at certain times of year in order to benefit them in their training.
At the moment it is a bit of everything, which is fine, but I agree that we need to sharpen it and make it more meaningful and useful to the club.
(You do realise that you and Barrie have both just volunteered to help us sort it out for next year, right…?)
Barry –
I agree completely. We need to decide what the point of the GP series is and then work out a scoring system that fits. I do not agree that the current system currently favours faster athletes, however. It favours improving athletes, but where 2 athletes are both improving year on year, the faster of the 2 will do better under the current system.
Also, the time/energy we will need people to commit to this, should we change it, would need to be time/energy spent doing the scoring and calculating WAVAs etc. That is the reason we don’t currently age grade it. I did the whole thing myself last year, and it was very time consuming even without the added complication of having to age grade people’s performances.
Chris H-M – I think that `we`,at some stage, should start again with a plain sheet of paper.Two main issues need to be addressed:-
1) What is the philosophy ? ie. reason for having a Club Grand Prix. (Ed`s point).
2) Scoring system(s) Depends on what the anwer is to question of philosophy/`raison d`etre`.
—————————————————————————————–
The current `core`scoring system,even with a plethora of various bonus scoring opportunities,is overwhelmingly in favour of the fastest runners in the Club and mitigates against some of our more mature athletes/participants.ie.CONTRARY TO ASPIRATIONS SET OUT IN OUR `DRAFT CONSTITUTION!`
—————————————————————————————-
If `we` want a Club Grand Prix which is inclusive and competitive,then age grading ,in some form,has to be included.I am prepared to spend time/energy pursuing an alternative system,but only if BvH wants me to do so. eg.I would look at other running clubs and see what they do.
Barrie Roberts
PS.Much hard work has already been put into this,and I am grateful for that Chris H-M, and the Race List seems pretty good to me. But the level of participation,in general,has been disappointing. Maybe,`we` need to do some market research to decide whether or not the BvH Membership wants a Grand Prix in the first place.
Age grading. would only be fairer if the marshals and cake makers where included… In short, I think the Grand Prix is about being a good club member… I have no objections to the competition, it’s just that I have absolutely no Interest in it either… What if the majority felt that way?…. some one would be going to a lot of hard work for nothing…… Sorry to be the kitten kicker.
The Grand Prix needs to sort it’s philosophy out.
Barrie – I would agree that introducing some degree of age grading into the scoring system would be interesting and might give an added incentive to many club members. The process of calculating WAVA scores for each runner for each race, however, is a pain in the backside. (Trust me – I tried it for the first few races last year).
If you would be interested in taking this on, or know someone else who would, then I think we should take a serious look at adding in a bonus for improving upon previous WAVA score for a particular distance etc, as I agree with you that it would make things fairer.
The BvH Grand Prix continues to provide a fairly good range of locally based runs/races to which Club members can be encouraged to participate.One or two track meetings would improve the choice on offer.
However,without age grading,and I`m not necessarily advocating such a move,it can never be truly competitive. Nevertheless,running/racing on a regular basis will raise general fitness levels, and promoting/advertising Bournville Harriers in and around the West Midlands is surely a good thing.On balance the BvH Grand Prix has to be beneficial for many members,but at the end of the day we have to take personal responsibility for our running commitments/aspirations.
An intra-club challenge, that has the added benefit of getting a largish number of BvH runners out to local races and getting us known even more.
What is the point of the Grand Prix?