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Mccain uk challenge

The McCain UK Challenge is a nationwide, season long competition comprising of a series of events from mid May to theend of August. It combines successful, quality, existing events with newly created meetings.

This series provides a focus for the season for Britain’s top club athletes and aspiring internationals and creates a structured pathway.

Athletes compete within a series of meetings which form the McCain UK Challenge. A minimum of 4 performances across the series are required by each athlete - the best four will determine who wins the overall series titles!

Click here for Fixtures, results and rankings - opens new window

The Challenge series offers the biggest prize fund ever for a domestic series…also includes weekly and series long prizes. The Final prize fund offers over £30,000 with opportunities to win Prize Money in various meetings across the Series.

Using a rich mixture of McCain UK Challenge web pages and innovative rankings stay informed and up to date with your Challenge.

For more information use the tabs below!

Competition Outline

When was the McCain UK Challenge created?

In 2005, UK Athletics launched a new competitive structure for the outdoor season, the McCain UK Challenge. The ideas came from a group of volunteers within the sport who worked alongside UK Athletics to bring about more appropriate and meaningful competition for athletes and to elongate the season for top club athletes.

Through a combination of quality existing events as well and newly devised competitions to concentrate on building strength in depth within the specific disciplines, the branded series provided a focus for the season for Britain’s top club athletes and aspiring internationals and was introduced to create a structured pathway from the beginning of the season in May through to its end in August.

What are its objectives?

To provide the strata of British athletes just below that of our international standard with effective, professional competition from the beginning of the season in May through to the final event in August.
To provide wider competition opportunities and focus for the season for aspiring athletes.
To provide quality competition for athletes who may not otherwise have the opportunity to compete against each other.
To provide competition that covers the whole of the UK.

How does the Challenge work?

Throughout the season athletes will have the chance to register their 4 best performances and these will be converted into points. After the last event those with the best scores will be potentially crowned as one of the McCain UK Challenge Champions for 2012

How many and which events are in the Challenge?

The total of 50 events have been created through a number of existing competitions and new initiatives such as the Event Specifics. Existing competition providers have chosen to be part of this increasingly prestigious series to form a link across a number of events during the season. The events are spread across the Four Home Countries such as the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Senior Championships.

A number of well established events are also included such as the Loughborough International, CAU Championships, BIG 2012 and McCain Birmingham Games. The Aviva 2012 Trials are also included as are nearly all the fixtures in the BAL and UKWL Leagues and the BMC Nike Grands Prix.

In order for athletes to focus on their particular events there are also included Event Specific Competitions, such as the McCain JumpsFest and ThrowsFest.

As there are a number of opportunities this gives athletes every possible chance to achieve their `Fantastic Four` performances and see where this places them into the McCain UK Challenge Rankings.

How are the points calculated?

An example of how the athlete’s performances are converted into points is outlined below:

Men

50 points 100 points 200 points 250 points

100m 11.05 10.80 10.30 10.05

1500m 3:54.00 3:49.00 3:39.00 3.34.00

Long Jump 6.70 7.10 7.90 8.30

Hammer 41.00m 51.00m 71.00m 81.00m

Women

400m 58.75 56.75 52.75 50.75

5000m 18:10.00 17:20.00 15:40.00 14:50.00

High Jump 1.56m 1.66m 1.86m 1.96m

Shot 10.00m 12.50m 17.50m 20.00m

An athletes best 4 performances across the series (4 highest scoring performances) or commonly known as the `Fantastic Four` will be used as a basis to calculate their overall score. This point’s total, plus any bonus points, will then be used as a basis to calculate athletes final placing in the rankings.

In certain events, due to the limited number of opportunities across the Challenge, less than 4 performances will be considered with an example being the Steeplechases.

How can an athlete check their rankings?

The UK Challenge rankings are readily available and can be accessed via the link at the top of this page or by clicking here to visit the Power of 10 website. The rankings are updated after each event and an athlete’s current placing will be shown based on the scores derived from their ‘Fantastic Four’ performances. An athlete’s progress or decline in the rankings is shown by a directional arrow indicating their current status.

What do the top scorers win?

- Title of `McCain UK Challenge Champion 2012` and added to the UKC Roll of Honour.

- Prize Money, a share of approx £30,000

Competition Rules and Scoring

Rules

Age Senior & U20's Competition. U17’s will not be considered for the McCain UK Challenge Rankings. This does not exclude those athletes from competing in the events that are part of the McCain UK Challenge however the performances will not be scored and will not be considered when inviting athletes to the Final.

Eligibility Athletes must be eligible to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland to be considered as part of the McCain UK Challenge.

Scoring

All of your performances during the McCain UK Challenge will be converted into points using the `Points Tables` as noted below. There are also additional ways of earning points for your overall total. Your four best performances or `Fantastic Four` plus any bonus points will then be added together and shown in the McCain UKC Rankings.

Fantastic Four

Your four best performances across the McCain UK Challenge plus any bonus points will be simply added together to formulate your grand total that will determine your final placing in the McCain UK Challenge Rankings. Your `Fantastic Four` can be achieved in your first four performances of the year, the last four or anytime during the season. Irrespective of when they are achieved, they will be considered as your four highest scores and added together.

If an athlete competes in an event comprising of a number of Heats, Quarter, Semi and Finals only their best performance throughout the competition will be taken. If your event consists of 6 throws or 6 jumps its only the best performance that will be recorded.

In certain events where there are limited opportunities such as the Steeplechase, less than 4 performances will be considered. The athlete’s performance will be converted using the tables as noted later.

Additional Bonus Points

If you achieve any of the following you will receive bonus points.

Personal Best If an athlete breaks their existing Personal Best during a UK Challenge qualifying event they will be awarded 5 points. They will receive these bonus points each time they set a new PB at a McCain UK Challenge qualifying event.

Winner If an athlete is the highest overall points scorer at any of the 50 McCain UK Challenge Qualifying Events they will receive an additional 10 points. If two or more athletes score the same number of points they will all receive 10 points. If an athlete wins two different events during the season they will receive 10 points each time

National P10 If an athlete achieves a National P10 mark at any of the UK McCain Challenge Qualifying events they will receive an additional 15 points. This will only be awarded once during the course of the Challenge.

UKC Records If an athlete breaks an existing McCain UK Challenge Record during the course of the 50 McCain UK Challenge Qualifying events they will receive an additional 20 points. This will be awarded each time the record is broken. These records are displayed on the UKA website.

Points Table

These point’s tables have been carefully devised to give equality across all events so each athlete within their own discipline will be scored to a similar value to all other athletes.

Follow the link to the full McCain UK Challenge Points Tables and Calculator.

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