Getting your head around the various ways in which athletes can compete is a bit complicated at first, so the guide below should help to explain some of that complexity. If you’ve never competed before, one of the things that will strike you is just how friendly and supportive the competitions are. Although winning is clearly the goal, you’ll see that there is as much emphasis on individual performance and improving personal bests, which makes it very inclusive.
Leagues and Open Competitions, and Qualification
Open competitions are just that; open, which means that you are responsible for enrolling yourself with the hosting organisation. Oxford City holds a number of Open competitions – all of which are on our website – but other clubs and regional organisations (like SEAA) also host many competitions, which you’d access through online enrolment. Oxfordshire County Championship is an open event, so do look out for these dates. You can find them all on Google and they’re listed on the Power of 10, the national database of athletes, competitions and results. https://www.thepowerof10.info/ Some of these competitions have a qualifying standard, particularly those at National level.
League Competitions are between clubs, and our athletes will be competing for Oxford City Athletics Club, amassing points which determine our position in the relevant league (some of which lead to promotion… or demotion). There are a number of these for Juniors, Seniors and Veterans, across the main groups (T&F, Cross Country etc). There are two types of entries for these competitions: scoring and non-scoring. Each event has two scoring athletes – A String and B String, and it is the position of the athletes in each of these scoring events that gain the team points. We are also able to enter non-scoring athletes into each event, the numbers for which vary from league to league. Team Managers are responsible for organising each team, and entering the athletes for every event in each of the matches. League rules state that we must put our strongest athletes in the scoring events, but they do try to make sure people get the opportunity to compete in their favourite events, balanced with the need to fill each space in the team.
Although the scoring events are important for the club’s position, the non-scoring entries and events are often extremely competitive, and every non-scoring event is important to individuals, and will be entered onto the Powerof10, just as for a scoring position.
English Schools is worth calling out as an exception. This is a national competition for Secondary School pupils, and this is organised by English Schools, by county. Your county is determined by the location of the school, not where you reside or the location of your club. Because some counties are far bigger with many more residents than others, there are four different groups, each of which competes for their own cup. However, each individual is competing against everyone so, should they win, they would be national champion. Oxfordshire belongs to Group C, which includes Bedfordshire and Luton; Cambridgeshire; Dorset; Durham Gloucestershire; Humberside; Lincolnshire; Norfolk; Oxfordshire; Somerset; Suffolk; Warwickshire Wiltshire. Group C counties are entitled to take 32 athletes, each of whom has to have attained the necessary Entry Standard (see English Schools for details). Obtaining the standard does not automatically qualify you for the Championships.
Here’s the link for English Schools https://www.esaa.net/
This is the link for Oxfordshire English Schools https://oxfordshireathletics.org.uk/schools
Multi-events competition is slightly different: each county selects a team of 4 for each age group, who then enter a regional competition. The best teams and the best two athletes (not in a winning teams) then qualify for the English Schools multi-events final, held in September.