VAL Handicap Changes and Stawell Gift Incentives 2024-25

Welcome to season 2024-2025!

It has been a huge off-season in the VAL Office, as you would be aware we have welcomed our new Executive Officer Shane Wylie to the team who has taken the reigns over the past 5 weeks.

Many will now be aware we have a new website and database management system.  This is a vital and significant upgrade in infrastructure for the VAL to replace a long overdue and redundant system and website.  Whilst it is still a work in progress, we had to move quickly to upgrade our system to get our season started in time. 

A huge thanks to Shane, who was handed this challenge from day 1 and immediately began implementation.  I would like to put a call out to our community for some continued patience around this.  Yes, registration and entry processes have changed, results and history are not yet available, but we are working on this over the coming months.  The upgrade will enable us to do so much more in the future and with greater flexibility.  

Our system and backend database now aligns with that of the South Australian Athletic League (SAAL). We have continued to work with and strengthen our relationship with the SAAL and migrating to a shared database marks a significant step in our evolution to a national approach.  A special thank you to Jenny Poole from the SAAL who has invested significant time to support our implementation.

We look forward to seeing our returning and new members this coming season, stay tuned to our social channels for some exciting updates and news about the season ahead.

Changes to Handicap Guidelines

The following adjustments have been made to the VAL Handicap Guidelines effective for season 2024-2025.  The below is a summary of the changes, some sections are new, and others supersede or amend existing guidelines.  All changes will be consolidated and updated in a revised version of the VAL Handicap guidelines to be published here https://val.saal.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/VAL-Handicap-Regulations-June-2024.pdf

by 25^th October 2024.

1. All events will be clarified as either:

Regular Events

Are offered on a regular basis throughout the season. Standard handicapping system applies, with athletes receiving a starting handicap. Athletes can be either Established or On-Going Assessment (OGA).

Non-Regular Events

Are not regular events offered through the season, Junior events or Series events. In Non-Regular Events all athletes are classified as OGA.

REGULAR EVENTS 70m Open, Men’s, Women’s100m or 120m Open, Men’s, Women’s, Masters400m Open, Men’s, Women’s800m Open1600m300m Masters

NON-REGULAR EVENTS 200m Open, Men’s, Women’s300m Open, Men’s, Women’s550 Open800m Women’s800m 45+1600m Masters3200m OpenAll junior & restricted eventsAll NSW races

• Established criteria.

To be considered established in a particular event the requirement is to have the following number of verifiable performances:

8 in the past 2 years and 14 in the past 4 years

for 800m & 1500m/1600m

6 in the past 2 years and 14 in the past 4 years

• Verifiable performance Can include those from VAL, AAC interstate leagues, state, national and International amateur performance.

• Established athletes – You can only be established if over the age of 18.

• If Interstate athletes meet the Established criteria, they can be Established and not automatically designated OGA.

• If interstate athletes do not meet the Established Athlete criteria but have competed at least 8 times in past 2 seasons in their own league and/ or other verifiable state or national sanctioned competition, then they may receive a handicap greater than novice. HRP Endorsement required for 100m/120m category.

• Notional Starting Handicap calculation for Established athletes:

Best verifiable performance from the past 4 years

and

next 2 best verifiable performances from past 2 years

(i.e. average of 3 best)

• The handicapper can apply a handicap lift to Established athletes after their first run for the season if their handicap is more than 4 minimum graduations behind their Notional Starting Handicap.

An individual lift should not exceed 2 x the minimum graduation unless approved by HRP.

• Ceiling Point Adjustment when an athlete breaks ceiling Time:

If an athlete breaks Ceiling Time, then their handicap for the remainder of season will be based on that 1 run only and thus will receive an adjustment to Ceiling Point Handicap based on that performance.

1. Accepted deviation will be based on the fastest time run by an Established athlete in that particular event. To Clarify – Established athletes running in an event will have their time assessed against the other Established athletes and thus OGA’s will be excluded for the purposes of acceptable deviation assessment and awarding of AP, NAP, UP.

1. Increase Target Times / Ceiling Times for the following:

• 800m = 1:54   / 1:52
• 1600m = 4:10 / 4:06
• 3200m = 9:30 / 9:20

1. Men’s/Women’s 70m– performances in either Women’s\Men’s 70m or Open 70m will count towards handicap progression in both. However, if an athlete runs in both an Open and Male/Female 70m on the same day/meeting it will only count as 1 run for assessment/progression purposes.

1. Novice marks for Women to reduce to 9m in Open 70m and increase to 4m in Women’s 70m

1. Masters 300m penalties to be reduced as per the following:

PRIZEMONEY	MIN	DISCRETION
UP to $700	2m	2m
$701 to $900	3m	3m
$901 to $1,200	4m	4m
$1201+	4m	4m
STAWELL	8m	8m

1. No events are required to be re-handicapped to scratch (i.e. series finals etc.).  If any club requests an event to be handicapped to Scratch it must be approved by the VAL Board.

1. Terminology Changes:
2. Starting Time to Target Time
3. Rate per metre to metres per second (MPS)
4. Season Start Marks to New Season Starting Handicaps
5. Remove SP (Satisfactory Performance) > Use only AP (Acceptable Performance), NAP (Non-Acceptable Performance), UP (Unacceptable Performance)
6. NAP – add sub-category: LOT (Loss of time), OTR (Outside Time Range), INJ (Injury), BRK (Break), ICP (Inconsistent Performance)

1. Stawell Bonus – Refer to Schedule 1 Below

1. HANDICAPPING OF SPECIFIC EVENTS / CATEGORIES

All athletes in non-regular events are handicapped as an Ongoing Assessment status.

The following guidelines are provided in setting handicaps for non-regular events:

Initial Handicap and Season Starting Handicap

Verifiable performance inputs that can be used:

• 8 Verifiable performances in VAL /SAAL /NSWAL in past 2 seasons
  • 6 Verifiable Amateur performances in past 12 months

The handicapper will use the athletes best verifiable performance to set an initial or season starting handicap based on the events published starting time.

Conditions:

• If an athlete has no Verifiable Performance History, they will receive a set novice handicap for that event – Refer to Schedule 2 Table of Novice Handicaps.
• The allocated initial/starting handicap cannot exceed a handicap that places the athlete under the target time for that distance based on their best verifiable performance both within and external to the VAL.
• The allocated handicap is to consider the previous performances of the athlete over the distance and other similar distances in all categories, including Open, Restricted and Junior

Adjustment to Handicaps

The handicapper may adjust an athlete’s handicap as they compete regularly throughout the season and progress towards the event’s Ceiling time.

• The handicapper will consider the potential for rapid improvement of new and developing athletes in determining the allocated handicaps.
• Handicaps can be reduced from the last allocated handicap based on the above circumstances.
• The allocated handicap cannot exceed a handicap that places the athlete under the Ceiling time for that distance based on their best verifiable performance both within and external to the VAL.
• Throughout the season as the athlete competes over the event distance in the VAL, provided they receive an Acceptable Performance, at the discretion of the Handicapper, they can be lifted out to a maximum handicap based on the ceiling time for that event.

Further details related to specific event categories are listed in the VAL Handicap Guidelines.

2025 Stawell Gift – Handicap Incentives

The VAL will continue to offer Stawell Gift handicap incentives to reward athletes who compete regularly throughout the season with the VAL.  The incentives have certain eligibility criteria as listed in the Handicap Guidelines.

120m Stawell Gift – Handicap Bonus (Men’s & Women’s)

MONTH	MEETING	HANDICAP BONUS
OCTOBER	Cobden	0.75m
	Mortlake	0.75m
NOVEMBER	Essendon	N/A
	Lancefield	0.75m
	Macksville (NSW)	0.50m
	Warrnambool	0.75m
DECEMBER	Terang	0.75m
	Waverley	0.75m
	Seymour	0.75m
JANUARY	Maryborough	0.25m
	Newcastle (NSW)	0.50m
	Rye	0.50m
	Frankston	0.50m
	Wangaratta	0.50m
FEBRUARY	Beachside	0.25m
	Ballarat	0.25m
	Shepparton	0.25m
	Castlemaine	0.25m
MARCH	Braybrook	0.25m
	Jack Giddy (NSW)	0.25m
	Bendigo	0.25m
	VAL Gift	0.25m
	Ringwood	0.25m

* Refer VAL Handicap Guidelines for terms and conditions

Stawell Gift – Other Event Incentives

Athletes who win a race in the following events throughout the 2024-2025 season are eligible to retain their winning handicap for that same Event at the 2025 Stawell Gift.

Eligible Events:

• 70m all categories
• 100/120m Masters
• 300m Masters
• 400m all categories
• 550m Open
• 800m all categories
• 1600m Open
• 3200m Open

 * Refer VAL Handicap Guidelines for terms and conditions