Arenatopia Round 6 October

Arenatopia virtual series – 6th round – Mystery round
For this round there will be no set distance, but instead for you to run whatever distance you like… within certain parameters that is… It still has to be a minimum of 4km, and a maximum of 16km to count. The mystery distance shall be revealed only after entries close and your time for that distance will be calculated based on the average pace of your submitted run.
“So why don’t I just run 4km flat out?” I hear you cry… well, you can. But there are deductions to your average pace that can be gained by running further.
With every completed km after passing the threshold of 4km, you can gain a 3 second deduction to your average pace up to a maximum of 16km.
For example:
4.99km is NOT a completed km so you would not gain anything for this
5.00km is however 1 completed and qualifying km so would gain you a 3 second deduction, then another 3 seconds for 6.00km, then 3 seconds for 7.00km and so on…
Make sense…? Good!
The following is a table illustrating an example of 3 runners, with the example mystery distance being 8km.

So which do you gamble on…? Flat out over a shorter distance or try and recoup a few valuable seconds with a longer, but slightly slower tempo run…?
The mystery distance will be somewhere between 4km and 16km. It probably won’t be an exact distance either. I don’t even know it myself at this stage.
I’ll even throw in -5 bonus points for anyone who runs the exact distance or -3, -2 and -1 bonus points for the nearest 3 if no one runs it exactly, for both genders.
A summary of the points and the usual rules follows:
As with the previous Arenatopia rounds, the rules will follow current government guidelines on social distancing and running with other people outside of your household etc, so these must be adhered to. Further rules and guidelines still need to be followed and are described below.
As is customary with these types of virtual runs now, as we can’t be there at the time of your respective runs you will need to submit a screenshot of your run by sending one of the following to . The following is a list of examples of screenshots that need to submitted with your name, distance, time, age group and final kilometre elevation (if you wish to participate in that bonus point):

  • Strava
  • Garmin or other type of smart watch data
  • Any other running app that can provide the same type of data
  • A photo of a watch provided it displays the time and distance

For those that don’t have one of these, I suggest downloading Strava to your phone and tracking with your run with that by setting up a free account – you can even then join the Arena Strava group!
The rules:

  • The distance is a minimum of 4km, up to a maximum of 16km
  • You must complete at least 4km for your entry to count
  • For every COMPLETED km over 4km, your overall average pace shall be deducted by 3 seconds
  • The maximum distance for qualifying completed km’s is 16km
  • The distance is unknown and shall only be revealed after entries close – even I don’t know it
  • Entries are now open and all entries must be submitted by 23.59 Sunday 25th October at the latest
  • Social distancing rules apply

Scoring/ further info:

  • All scores will be valid to count towards the current parkrun/ Arenatopia virtual series
  • There is no longer a minimum number of runs to participate in order to score. I.e. anyone can take part and potentially win overall even if they haven’t run one yet
    • Your top 5 highest scores across the series will count
  • As there is no set distance, there is therefore no course records or PB’s to strive for in this round
  • There will be two opportunities to score as your result for both position and age grading will count
    • As such there will be a maximum of 25 points for the lowest scoring runners
  • 75 points will now be given to those that do not participate at all (up from 50 in light of runs being scored on both age and position formats)
  • Age times based on 70% of the oldest age within a category
  • Include your age when submitting your entry or your time will not count towards the age grading score and you receive the lowest score
  • You can try as many times as you like during the challenge window but can only your latest submitted scoring run will count

Finally, once the submission date has passed, I’ll probably need a further week to figure it all out so please bear with me!
Good luck!