Grand Prix

2026 Information

The Grand Prix Series is intended as an added incentive to participate in club races and have some fun in the process.

There will be 15 races to count in all, and option to use your wild card (see Fixtures below). Each club member will be scored according to their age grade percentage figure earned for each race, based on their age on the day of the race and rounded down to the nearest whole number; e.g. anything from 59.00% to 59.99% will score 59 points. There will be separate Grand Prix championships for women and men. No allowances are made for missed fixtures so members will need to take part in all races in order to score maximum points.

Note that the Turner-Arkwrights 5k fixture hosted by Newmarket Joggers at the Rowley Mile training grounds, does not count towards the Grand Prix in fairness to those who are volunteering to help organise and marshal the event.  It does of course count towards our points total and position in the Summer Series league, so we are still very grateful for a big turnout of Joggers in the race as well as for the help of our faithful volunteers.

The current standings table is shown above and is updated after each fixture.

There are normally prizes for the first three men and women in the Grand Prix which are presented at the NJ Christmas Party in December.

Good luck!

Newmarket Joggers Grand Prix 2026 will be based on:

  1. The results for the final 4 fixtures of the SOAR Suffolk Winter XC League 2025-2026, as detailed below;
  2. All the 2026 Turner-Arkwrights Series 5k fixtures, except the one at Newmarket, 6 fixtures to count, from April to August, see below);
  3. The Newmarket 10k on 28th June 2026;
  4. The first two SOAR Suffolk Winter XC League 2026-2027 fixtures at Framlingham (Framlingham Castle, November 2026, date TBA) and Woodbridge (Sutton Heath, December 2026, date TBA).
  5. The Suffolk Championship 10k road race for 2026 – The Stephen Williams 10k hosted by St Edmund Pacers. These are to open to all members whether Suffolk qualified or not.
  6. The Sudbury Fun Run 5 Mile hosted by our co-team in the SWL XC series – Sudbury Joggers
  7. Your choice of “wild card” race, see below.

Please note that for the Newmarket 10k fixture, all volunteer marshals and other helpers will get points towards the Grand Prix equal to the highest scoring Newmarket Jogger in the race. Those running in the race will get just the points they earn. That’s an incentive to volunteer!

Fixture 1: Stowmarket (Haughley Park, 11th Jan)

Fixture 2: Bungay (Woburn Farm, 25th Jan)

Fixture 3: Bury St Edmunds (Pakenham, 8th Feb)

Fixture 4: Haverhill (Horseheath, 15th Feb)

Fixture 5: Sudbury 5 Mile Fun Run (Sudbury, 3rd Apr)

Fixture 6: Summer Series 5k ER (Ely Runners, 30 Apr), Ben’s Yard, Stuntney, near Ely CB7 5TR.

Fixture 7: Stephen Williams 10k – Suffolk 10k County Champs Race (Thurston, 10th May)

Fixture 8: Summer Series 5k HI (Histon & Impington Runners, 21 May), at Chivers Old Farm, CB24 9EL, behind the Spire Hospital. 

Fixture 9: Sunday 21st Jun  Newmarket 10k, Ellesmere Centre, Stetchworth. CB8 9TS. As explained above, volunteers can claim the same points as the highest scoring NJ competing in the race.

Fixture 10: Summer Series 5k HRC (Haverhill Running Club, 25 Jun), venue TBC.

Fixture 11: Summer Series 5k SS (Saffron Striders, 16 Jul) at Carver Barracks in Wimbish/Debden, to the south of Saffron Walden, CB10 2YA. 

Fixture 12: Summer Series 5k RR (Royston Runners, 30 Jul) at Heath Sports Club.

Fixture 13: Summer Series 5k C&C (Cambridge & Coleridge, 13 Aug), at Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton – closed roads course.

Fixture 14: Framlingham XC at Framlingham Castle, November 2026 TBC.

Fixture 15: Woodbridge XC at Rock Barracks, Sutton Heath IP12 3LU, December 2026 TBC.

PLUS: The ‘wild card’ is back again this year. So, you should nominate one external race of any distance (minimum of 3km), to be completed any time prior to the end of November 2026. Your wild card must be declared in advance; please give 48 hours’ notice before the race if possible, but it is acceptable if emails are dated and timed before the start. The race can’t be a parkrun, Run Newmarket or any races hosted by Newmarket Joggers. The wild card result is used in addition to the other fixtures for your Grand Prix points total. Please email: chris.aylmer@newmarketjoggers.co.uk

These are the current rules (2013 onwards).

The scoring will be calculated using the WMA age grading system and your score for the race will be calculated from your age grade % achieved in each race. You may enter as many of the races as you would like to and all results will contribute to your final score. Obviously, the more races you enter, the higher your score will be!

To be eligible, you must be a paid up member of the club and must race wearing a club vest in organised real events. The league table will be updated and posted on the website so you can all see how you are doing.

Good luck to you all!

* The age used is your age on on the day of your race. The spreadsheets update your age automatically and we need your DOB details from your membership form to give you a score.  Technically, your score is calculated from your age- and gender-adjusted speed as a percentage of the world record speed for the event. We are using the most up-to-date WMA 2015 tables to calculate the age grade %, using the free online calculator supplied by:

http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup15.html

Although the XC courses are supposed to be approximately 5 miles in distance, they can vary significantly. The age grade % calculator we are using can cope with non-standard distances, so we can get reasonably accurate performance ratings for XC, a lot better than assuming that the distances were exactly 5 miles. All the summer 5k races are accurately measured courses and, from experience, are as near 5km as you can reasonably expect.