Creating equality within the running community has always been a big goal of mine. Who am I? Simon. A frequent racegoer for the last 10 years, an active member of a running club, and also a Level 3 EA Endurance Coach.
I've been part of my own running club's Handicap Race for many years, and introduced an Improvers' Award to celebrate runners who might not be the quickest but have worked hard to improve their own race times. Now I want to roll that out across the whole running community. Let's give everyone a chance of winning a prize.
There are too many races where we know the outcome before the gun has even gone off. With Open Podium, anyone has a chance to win if they perform well on that day, relative to their own ability.
I also want to celebrate and reward participation — those runners who turn up, week in week out, try their best and perform consistently. These runners will now have every chance of gaining recognition by earning points that contribute to our series leaderboards.
I've used all my knowledge to create algorithms which predict your target time, based on recent results and the difficulty of the course. As a coach, I'm also aware of the issue that many runners have pacing themselves in a race. Far too often, runners set off like lunatics and pay the price late on. So I've introduced target pace splits for featured races, which factor in elevation, and allow you to execute your race far more efficiently. The race analytics will help you understand which races are best suited to you, and which ones you should be entering to get the most out of your ability.
I really hope you enjoy Open Podium, and celebrate every single runner who takes part in races, not just those who cross the finish line first.
Founder — Simon Linklater