Knockout Cup

THE CLAREMONT KNOCK OUT CUP

What is it ?

It is a competition running inside the regular Claremont Handicap which continues in its normal format.

So there will still be two trophies every handicap; the race winner and the knock out cup winner

There will always be four knock out cup competitions going on.

The Winter Cup, the Spring Cup, the Summer Cup and the Autumn Cup. For the Winter Cup, the first round is in Spring, the quarter final in Summer and the semi final in Autumn. For the other three seasonal cups, just follow the sequence from the Winter Cup as appropriate to the season eg Spring Cup first round in Summer

Who does it favour ?

The regular runners who turn up to most handicaps and post a set of consistent results

What is different ?

The winner is known as soon as they cross the line. There is no working out for handicap administrators and no waiting for the result.

So how do I win a knock out cup ?

Lets say you want to win the Winter Cup

1. Turn up and run in the Spring Handicap. That will also incorporate the first round of the Winter Cup. Try and finish in the first 16. If you do , you will qualify for the quarter final of the Winter Cup
2. Turn up to the Summer Handicap. If you finish in the first 8 of the 16 who qualified for the Winter Cup quarter final , then you will qualify for the Winter Cup Semi Final
3. Turn up to the Autumn Handicap. If you finish in the first 4 of the 8 who qualified for the Winter Cup semi final, then you are in the Winter Cup Final
4. Turn up for the Winter Cup Final, eyeball your 3 opponents then hammer them to take the cup.

So when I run in a handicap I could be running in more than one knock out cup competition ?

If you have run and done well in four successive handicaps, you could be one of the four running in the Winter Cup Final, the eight running in the Spring Cup semi final and the sixteen running in the Summer Cup quarter final. You might also be first home in the handicap and take the winner’s trophy.

What happens if there are not enough qualifiers in a round. ? Say only seven runners turn up to contest a quarter final or three to contest a semifinal ?

What about guest runners?

Guests are allowed to run in the handicap but they cannot qualify for the next round of the knockout cup if they are not a member. Only the first 16 club members go through.

What if a runner turns up late ?

Runners are always identified at round up time when we are milling around at the start and it is very rare for somebody to miss their start times. Qualifiers will be known to the rounder uppers. The first runners off may be cup finalists who will not know if their opponents have turned up, but that adds to the excitement.

Cup Finals with four Claremonters competing with the rest of us sound exciting. How can we tell who amongst us is in the Cup Final ?

We have got four blue armbands with a shiny silver C on them which the finalists will be given to wear at the start of the race. If you do get to the final, bring your own mean stare.