Once again it is time for the "Best Of" edition of Runner Rankings. Compiling the 2001 year-end rankings gave us a great look back on a year of top amateur running in the Washington, DC Area. It seems that every year more and more runners earn rankings, and the head-to-head competition only gets tougher. While compiling the results, we were able to come up with some incredible numbers. During the year, a total of about 7,000 qualifying times were turned in. The spring rankings were the largest this year, with more than 1100 qualifying times from women, and nearly 1400 from the men. These results were turned in at the more than 300 races run all over Washington, Maryland, and Virginia that we included.

Men's WRR 2001 Rankings

Women's WRR 2001 Rankings

We look forward to a new year in 2002, and we hope that this year is even better. As a reminder, we implore the runners and race directors that we work with to be patient, as we sort through the thousands of times on record. Please remember that you can help us by always using the same version and spelling of your name whenever you enter a race, and to make sure you include your age on your race entry. If you notice a mistake in the official results, please let us know so we can investigate and assure you get proper credit for that race.

For those of you new to the area, or who are still working toward earning your first ranking, here is a little information on what it takes to get ranked. Good running!

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--head-to-head competition, average times, number of races included, and performance at big races. We also took into account the number of qualifying times posted, as well as, in some cases, the variety of race distances tackled.

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.
4. At least 100 participants.

Here are the 10K qualifying times for the different divisions. All 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

The Ranking Schedule
We are currently in the winter ranking period, which began on November 24, 2001 and will continue until March 10, 2002. The results of the winter rankings will be reported in the May-June issue of the Washington Running Report.

The spring ranking period begins March 16, 2002 and runs until May 19. It will be reported in the July-August '02 issue

The summer ranking period is longer, and runs from May 25 to September 2. It will be reported in the November-December '02 issue.

The fall ranking season begins after Labor Day on September 7 and concludes November 17. It is reported in January- February '03.

The Best of 2002, the year-end rankings, will be reported in March-April '03.

And then the next winter ranking period runs from November 23 to March 9, 2003; it will be reported in May-June '03.

Also, if you want to be ranked and find yourself running races out of the area, or for some reason feel you aren't getting proper consideration, please drop a line to the Washington Running Report via e-mail to the Editor: Kathy Freedman.