King of the Hill

[ksrunner]

A local 5K/10K had a King of the Hill award at their race -- offering awards for those who climbed a mid-race hill the fastest. I didn't attend the race, but I think that it sounds like a fun competition within the overall competition. I imagine that if I had gone, I would have pushed the pace up that hill, but not so much as to risk my overall finishing place. Looking at the top 10 in the hill competition, I think that most people followed that same strategy. Of the top 10 hill runners, 7 placed in the top 4 of either the 5K or 10K. The only huge outlier was one guy who placed 73rd in the 5K, but placed second in the hill competition.

• 1st 10K - 36:33
• 73rd 5K - 29:34
• 2nd 10K - 36:36
• 1st 5K - 18:56
• 2nd 5K - 19:24
• 8th 5K - 21:28
• 3rd 10K - 40:03
• 4th 10K - 41:43
• 10th 10K - 47:07
• 4th 5K - 19:45

[Ryan]

I believe I've seen something similar done in cycling races, where the fastest through a segment of a course or the first to an intermediate point on a course would win something. As I recall, the reasoning was that it would encourage people to go hard at difficult points or throughout the race, preventing a slow ride followed by a sprint finish. Interesting idea to bring to running, though I suspect I'd take a similar approach to you. I wouldn't sprint up the hill but it might be incentive to attack a little harder than I normally would.

Out of curiosity, how did they get the times? I would assume it was a chip timed race with intermediate mats at the bottom and top of the hill?

[ksrunner]

Out of curiosity, how did they get the times? I would assume it was a chip timed race with intermediate mats at the bottom and top of the hill?

Ryan, Since I didn't attend, I do not know for sure. It was chip timed, so I would assume the same -- that they had intermediate mats to record those times.

One other thought that I had is that the hill challenge might help turn a challenging course that might deter some runners into an asset to attract runners. It seems that I often see races promoted with the phrase "new flatter course". Though I like to run flat courses occasionally, one of the things that I like about road racing is the variety.