Welcome to the Victorian Runners & Trainer's Association!

It's obviously more difficult to determine how to treat new athletes as we don't have many past performances to assess. New athletes or athletes that have not yet recorded a large sample of performances in a particular event or similar event are classified as under ongoing assessment (OGA) for that event or similar event. This can be designated for an event or for all events. These athletes will start on the novice mark or behind and will be subject to a discretionary lift as outlined in the attached table. The only time they will start on a higher mark than novice is if they have earnt that mark via competition and it is their finish mark and the mathematical rating does not state a lesser position. OGA athletes are never guaranteed a lift in that distance and can be re-assessed at any time if warranted (although a lift requires them to have completed a number of acceptable performances). They become treated as regular competitors once they are no longer within the definition of OGA or have competed over the distance or similar distance in at least at least 20 VAL carnivals or until the Handicappers are satisfied. At this stage they then fall into the standard system.

Each run is assessed and placed in one of three categories:
Acceptable Performance (AP): the athlete ran within the acceptable range of times and the Stewards were happy with his/her effort. The acceptable range of times is determined from the set deviation from the fastest adjusted heat time of the event. Any athlete achieving a time faster than that deviation parameter and satisfying the stewards test shall be deemed an AP. (Conditions apply). Please also note that heat winners shall be regarded as having a heat AP irrespective of their time provided their semi final or final is inside the deviation parameter (ie : Unchallenged heats or walkovers). Also note that if the fastest heat time breaks the target time the next fastest heat time (not breaking target time) shall be used to apply the deviation for acceptable parameters. See the table for the deviations.

Each established athlete will be handicapped mathematically on the basis of their three best performances (out of a sample size of their last 20 carnivals over that distance or similar distance at the start of the season) in terms of the time taken to complete the distance travelled. An additional best performance in the last seven years has been included in the average irrespective of the number of carnivals completed. However if the performance is more than five years old and is no longer reflective of the athletes abilities then the handicapper has discretion to exclude that performance from the average. This rate per metre (RPM) calculation therefore takes into consideration the athlete's handicap when assessing a performance or a history of performances including their capacity performance.