What's your "handicap" (Average Speed)

What is it? :  Your handicap is simply your average speed based on a minimum of 3 races. The "handicap system" helps identify paddlers who paddled better than average in any given race.

Why do this?: Since we are paddling boats that may be faster or slower than other boats and boats of different types, finishing first (or last) may not be a good indication of how well we paddled compared to our average performance.  To help identify who paddled better (and worse) than normal and eliminate the effect of those boat differences on the results, the adjusted times can be used - and we use your average speed for that.

How does it work?:   We're going to time each race and determine your "average speed". After a minimum of three races - to establish a reasonable average -  that speed will be used to calculate an "adjusted time". Here's an example using three boats:

Distance	Finish Time
Race = 6km	Boat A	Boat B	Boat C
#1	32:22		35:50
#2	33:33	35:35	36:40
#3		34:34	34:35
#4	29:59	33:50
Average Speed km/hr	11.26	10.39	10.09

Calculating the Adjusted Time

The "adjusted time" is simply the fastest finish time for the race multiplied by the ratio of your average speed to your speed in the race. Here's an example:

Since Boat A was the ONLY boat to travel slower than their average speed, it comes in last.  Boat B was at about it's normal speed while Boat C was a bit faster than average and wins based on the adjusted time.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q1) Is this a fair system?  A: The adjusted time is obtained by taking the fastest time and multiplying that time by the ratio of your average speed divided by your speed in the race.   Your  "average speed" is based on all races to date including the current race.  There are other ways to come up with a time adjustment and we can chat about that . . . but what we want to do is recognize paddlers who have the greatest improvement compared to their "normal" performance

Q2) What good is this - what does it mean?  A: It only identifies paddlers who did better than their personal average performance in a specific race.  If you paddled faster than average your adjusted time will be less than the "best" time.  If you paddled slower than average, your adjusted time will be more than the "best" time.

Q3) Why do this - why not just go by actual times.  A: This way, even people with slower boats or just different boats can race and still win if they have a good day.  All they have to do is paddle better than average - and that can be challenging and is (more or less) equally challenging no matter how fast or slow you normally paddle!

Q4) Does the factor stay the same all season? A: No.  It gets re-adjusted after every race - by the end of the year these numbers should be fairly reasonable predictors of speed relative to the fastest boats/paddlers.

Q5) What about someone who capsizes all the time - as long as they finish the race, wouldn't they get an average speed that would be easy to beat - just stay upright? A: Right! Any improvement is recognized by this handicapping system. If they can stay upright, that's a big improvement and recognizing that is what this system is all about!

Q6) What can we do with these numbers.  A: One possibility would be an end-of-season race to determine a "handicap winner".  Every paddler would have a very good chance of winning that race - even if they are slower than every other paddler.  We might have to provide other incentives to prevent "sandbagging" - getting a low handicap factor just to help win the handicap regatta, but I'm sure we can do that!

Q7) What about boats paddled by more than one person - how will the handicap be done for that? A: The same as for solo boats - If you paddle with the same paddler(s) each time, we'll establish a handicap after you've raced 3 times. If you paddle with different paddlers every time, you may not get the required 3 races.

Q8) It looks like I only need 2 races to qualify for the final handicap race with that final race counting as the third - is that correct. A: You clever devil!

Q9)Are these questions really asked frequently? A: No, but by answering them now perhaps they won't be asked at all!