The 13th Annual Thetford Academy Woods Trail Run on October 4, 2003 will use the same race format it has used for many years, with the addition of a Citizens Race. Here is the format.

Citizens Race.  For the first time in 2003, there will be a Citizens Race at 9:00 a.m.

Junior-High Races. There are 2 junior-high races, one for girls, and one for boys.

Number of High-School Races. We divide the total number of entrants into races of approximately 150 to 200 runners, based on the seed times coaches provide. We expect to have five races for girls and five races for boys this year.

Reason For Seeding. We divide the runners based on their times in order to give comparably skilled runners the opportunity to run against each other. Awards are given by race, to give a wider range of runners a chance to win awards.

Team Scoring. If runners run in the race for which they are seeded, then the runners from most teams will run in several different races. For team scoring, the computer will identify all team members in all the various races, and, based on time, score the first seven runners from a school as a team.

How Seeding is Done. Coaches provide 5K times for each runner. We count on coaches to provide accurate times. We expect that coaches will be fair and keep their runners from running in races for which they are too fast. As set out below, we permit runners to run in faster seeded races, if they choose, but not it slower seeded races. We encourage coaches, however, to have their runners run in the race for which they are seeded.

Please Note: Artificial 5K times, such as listing all of a team's runners at the same times so that they may run in the same race, makes it very difficult to seed the races. It is our hope that coaches will not use this device. In the event artificial times skew our seeding process too much, we may require runners to run in the race for which they are seeded.

Which Race to Run In? Runners should run in the race for which they were seeded, or a race seeded for faster runners. Runners may run in faster seeded races, if they choose to do so. Runners may not run in slower seeded races than the one in which they are seeded. If a coach wants a whole team to run together, or a group to run together, they would run in the race for which the fastest of the group was seeded. We do not need to know if a runner is running in a faster seeded race; the computer system is able to recognize that change as the runner crosses the finish line.

Times of Races. The first race will be at 10:30. The two junior-high races are first. Girls' races alternate with boys' races. Girls run last in odd years, boys run last in even years. Slower seeds run before faster seeds. If there are fewer races for either boys or girls, the event will still start at 10:30, but all other races will move up. If there are more races for one sex, then the two slowest seeds of that sex would run in succession. For instance, in a year with 5 boys' and 4 girls' races with girls running last, the order would be B5, B4, G4, B3, G3, B2, G2, B1, G1. In 2003, we expect, but don't guarantee, that these will be the race times, if there are five races for boys and five races for girls. If you expect to run in a higher seeded race, be here prepared to run 25 minutes before the times listed below, in case we move the times up.

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