A complete team consists of 4 runners for men and 3 for ladies. An incomplete team which has one runner short (ie 3 men or 2 ladies) may still score, with the missing runner's score being substituted by the last same sex runner in the race. If a club has no runners or more than 1 short of a team they are considered a "no show".
Each club may field A and B teams in the league, if they have so affiliated. The A team consists of the first runners for that club over the line, and when the A team is complete, the leading runners remaining will form the B team. Large clubs may choose to affiliate a C team, D team, etc. on same principle.
Race Points (RC) are the way the teams positions are decided in each race. So in the case of the men, by adding up the finishing positions of the 4 runners. For example a team with runners 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th has a score of 14 race points. The team with lowest numeric score is the winning team. If incomplete it could be 1st, 2nd, 5th+ 150th = 158 (RC) - this score will be highlighted in the league tables. For ladies the same but allowing for one less team member.
The League Score (LG) is scored as follows: the 1st team in the division scores 1 pt, 2nd =2pts, 3rd = 3pts and so on.
Complete teams are scored first, with incomplete teams score the positions behind the last complete team. This is to ensure that an incomplete team does not score ahead of a complete one.
No-show teams score the maximum score of the total number of teams in their league plus one. For example, if there are 10 teams the no shows would score 11 points. The race points for a no-show team will be the highest points score amongst the competing teams (including any incomplete teams), plus 10 points.
Men’s team leagues are decided on the best 7 races from the series, the Ladies' teams on the best 6. Note that the Isle of Wight race has in the past been counted as a mandatory fixture but this is not the case for the current season – i.e.. if it is one of the worst scores for any club it can be dropped like any other race.
The league shows both the total score from all races and the score once the worst scores are removed.
The League is run under UKA Rules and under normal road running rules. To be eligible to score for the team, the runner has to be a FIRST CLAIM runner of the MEMBER club and CANNOT BE SECOND CLAIM, even if their first claim club is not part of the league (unless their club is not affiliated to the UKA, then they would be eligible).
Runners transferring between clubs must go through the recognised transfer system and score only for their eligible official club at the time of the race.
The league champion is the team with lowest LG score after worst race scores are removed. If there is a tie it comes down to RC points and then, if there is still a tie, the team with the most 1st places , then seconds etc. until the teams can be separated.
Relegation: the 2 teams at the bottom of each league division (other than the bottom division) will be relegated and if there are teams tying the positions will decided by the same method as above.
Promotion: the top 2 teams in each league division (apart from the top division) will be promoted to the next level, and again all positions are decided as per champions.
There is no promotion and relegation in the B divisions. And no promotion or relegation between the A and B divisions
From 2008, all runners are counted in the individual leagues (it was formerly the first 51 Men and 51 Lady league runners in each of the 10 races). The score will be calculated as the percentage of same sex runners in the race (counting league and non-league runners). All runners that are not league runners are removed from the scoring once this is calculated. So, the first man and lady in the race each score 100, and the last will score 0. A runner exactly halfway down the field will score 50, and so on.
To win the championship the best 7 scores for ladies and men are taken over the season and will be highlighted from the 7th race onwards. A special prize is awarded for the highest total achieved over the season (all races counting).