05 May 2011

The IAAF Road Running Commission, at its most recent meeting, confirmed that it will be using the runbritain 2011 Road Race Handbook as the framework for developing best practice for road race organisers and national federations around the world. After minimal adaptation to fit the needs of an international audience, the handbook will be made available on the IAAF website.

runbritain MD, Geoff Wightman said: “Sixteen people contributed to the contents of that handbook, which will be updated online each year. This is a great tribute to the expertise and experience of all of them, but especially poignant because around a third of the content was compiled by the late Bill Reynolds. Bill’s life’s work was in pursuit of raising the standards of organisation in road racing at all levels. Eight months after his passing, he has shown how valuable that work was by setting the benchmark for quality not just in the UK but everywhere that road racing takes place.”

In addition, runbritain has reached – or is about to reach – a few landmark figures this week.

• 250: unique licensed races to use the runbritain online entry system expected this week. Don’t forget you can earn rewards for entering races using the runbritain online entry system and you are charged the race entry fee only with no extra cost for using this facility.

• 500: number of British runners who scored at least one Grand Prix point after round one at Reading Half Marathon. The next race in the Grand Prix is the Bristol 10km.

• 1,000: members of the free Run England initiative, launched on 11 April, expected this week. Joining Run England is a great first step if you want to get into running. It will give you support, advice and encouragement and help you to get the most from your running.

• 1,500: followers of runbritain on Twitter; keep yourself updated with what’s going on at runbritain by following us.

• 5,000: fans on runbritain’s Facebook page. Join in the discussions and comment on new articles.

• 11,000: runners using the handicap scheme; if you’re not using this yet to record your results, training and progress, it’s high time you did!

• 900,000: number of road results recorded from licensed events in 2010 and so far in 2011, enabling handicap scores to be updated automatically.