The Longwood Harriers Annual Point to Point race - across country and road

Club members only. Normally takes place on the first Saturday in October each year (or as close to this as can be arranged) starting at 10 a.m.
The trophy for the race was once won by Sebastian Coe (now Lord Coe former Olympic Athlete and of London 2012 fame)

A point to point race is where Athletes are given a start point and a destination point and have to run between these in the shortest time they can, taking any route they decide for themselves. Normally most Athletes will take the standard one, which is generally the direct one. However, by taking account of the terrain and the weather, sometimes a longer route may actually be quicker and an Athlete is allowed to take such a route

In the Annual Longwood Castle Hill Point to Point a time handicap is also given based on known performances of the Athletes. In theory if this is accurate Athletes ought to cross the line at the same time! Of course this would not happen other than perhaps for two of them

For safety reasons, Young Athletes must take the direct route. Typically the race takes about 15 minutes for Juniors or around half an hour for Seniors

A time handicap is given in seconds (or minutes and seconds) which will be taken off the actual Athlete's own running time recorded by the race officials. Positions and prizes are awarded on this basis not just on the finishing positions. The idea is that it gives more Athletes the chance to win. One Athlete in each race will have no handicap - they start from 'scratch'

Have a look at the results from 2011 here to give a better idea of what is involved

The typical Route for the race is shown below

Under 11 Athletes run from the start up to the road below Castle Hill, but don't cross it. Junior Athletes run up and down Castle hill from St John's Church, Newsome running up and down along the track; marshalls are in place for safety across the road and on the hill. Seniors run from the same point, over Castle Hill to Farnley Tyas and back by any route they see fit

Map from Streetmap.co.uk - full map here