The summer rankings cover the longest time period of any ranking period. However, most of the races included are smaller and shorter in distance, making for a bit less head-to-head competition. Still, there was an incredible number of very impressive runs, especially considering how hot and dry this summer was. More than 1600 qualifying times were posted during the hottest months of the year, with nearly 350 runners included in these rankings.

Women's Summer 2002 Rankings

Men's Summer 2002 Rankings

We hope you find these rankings exciting, and for those of you included in them, we hope they serve as motivation to keep running strong. For those not ranked, perhaps they will serve as extra incentive to improve your times to become a ranked runner.

Before we begin, here are just a few words about how to get ranked, for those of you who are not sure exactly what you need to accomplish to find your name in the Runner Rankings.

How to Get Ranked
First, one must meet the qualifying time twice in at least two included races in a given ranking period. A great many factors go into compiling these rankings--best performance in a season, head-to-head competition, average times, number of races included, and performance at big races. Please consider that in every age group we must make "judgment calls" as many of the talented runners included in these rankings are very close in ability and performance and there is no hard and fast way to determine who had the better season. Keep in mind that the difference of one or two places in the rankings may indicate a very small difference between runners.

In order for a race to be included in the rankings, the race must have:

1. Full race results available on the Web, or submitted to the Washington Running Report. While we try to include all the results we can, if we don't know about your race, or where to find its results, it is less likely that your race will be included in the rankings.

2. Been run in Virginia, Washington, DC, or Maryland. At this time, there are too many races for us to consider races outside this area.

3. Include runners' name, gender, age, and time. We prefer the results to also include hometown and placement information. Incomplete information has been a challenge, and in these rankings we were forced to omit two large races; the O'Doul's Shamrock 5K and the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K, due to the fact that there were no genders listed in the race results.

4. At least 100 participants. The only exception to this rule is if two (or more) races with less than 100 participants each, but with a total of at least 100 runners, are run on the same course. We have made this exception because we feel that it punishes smaller club runs that offer multiple distances in an attempt to appeal to a wider array of runners, if we require each distance to have 100 participants.

Here are the 10K qualifying times for the different divisions. All race distances are converted to 10K equivalents:

Division   Men    Women
Open	  34:20	  41:15
35-39	  36:40	  44:10
40-44	  38:20	  46:05
45-49	  39:45	  48:45
50-54	  42:00	  51:45
55-59	  43:55	  54:30
60-64	  49:45	  62:05
65-69	  52:50	  75:00
70-74	  56:20	  89:40
75-99	  95:00	  99:00

If you have any questions about the Washington Running Report Runner Rankings, please drop a line to the Editor.

Races Used in this Ranking Period

Alltel 10K & 5K
Animal Day 5K
Annapolis Ten Miler
Annapolis Women's Distance Festival 5K
Arlington Women's Distance Festival 5K
Battlefield Half Marathon
Bel Air Town 5K
Belle Haven 8K
Bun Run 5K
Capital Crescent 5K
Capital One Toucan 10K
Charles Village 5K
Charlottesville Women's 4M
Check it Out Challenge 5K
Chesapeake Bagel Bakery 10K
Civitans 10K
Clifton Caboose 5K
Coast Guard Day 5K
Cure Autism Now 5K
Dreaded Druid Hills 10K
Dundalk Heritage 6K
East Coast Surfing Championships 5K
Fairview 5K
Fathers Day 10K
FBI National Academy 5K
Forest 5K
Frederick Memorial Hospital 5M
Friends of Ian 5K
Gaithersburg Cross Country 5K
GBMC Fathers Day 5K
Heritage Festival 5 Miler
Hugh Jascort 4 Miler
Iron Furnace 5K
Katie DeRosa 5K
Kentlands 5K
Kiwanis 5K
Laurel 5K
Lawyers Have Heart 10K
Leesburg 10K
Lewis Gale Salem 10K & 5K
Lisa's Run 5K
MCRRC Run for Roses 5K
MCVET 10K & 5K
Mitzvah 5K
Norfolk Women's Distance Festival 5K
Oriole Advocates 5K
Oy Vay 10K & 5K
Party in the Park 5K
Paul Thurston 5 Miler
Rileys Rumble Half Marathon
Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K
RRCA Women's Distance Festival 5K
Run for Recovery 5K
Run for Sight 5K
Run with Dad 5K
Screwpile 5K
SPCA Rescue Run 5K
St Agnes Labor Day 5K
Stonleigh Stampede 5K
Sue Wen's 4 Miler
Superday 5K
Tim Harmon 5K
WaWa Hartwood 10M
Williamsburg Jaycees 10K
Williamsburg Women's Distance Festival 5K
YMCA Independence Day 5K
Yorktown Freedom Run 5K