When I took on the AAA in late 2005, I asked people what they thought about it, and there were a number of concerns raised which I've tried to sort out. However, there was one matter which was controversial at the time, namely the AAA formula and AAA points. These are based on the rate of climb and the distance of the event.
Just over half wanted to keep the present points system.
Just under half wanted to change to a new simpler system based on one point per 1,000m of climbing.
After 3 years I thought it worth raising the matter again to see what people's views are now.
Just as a reminder, there is a minimum rate of climb for each distance, e.g. for a 100km event it is 15m per km, for a 200km event it is 14m per km, for a 300km event it is 13.33m per km etc.
The present formula provides a quarter point for achieving the minimum rate of climb. So a 100km event with a rate of climb of 15m per km, i.e. 1500m in total, is worth a quarter point. A 200km event with a rate of climb of 14m per km, i.e. 2800m in total, is also worth a quarter point. Each additional 100m of climb gains an additional quarter point regardless of distance. So a 100km event with 1600m of climbing is worth half a point, a 200km event with 2900m of climbing is worth half a point, and so on.
The new simpler system suggested in 2005 was to keep the minimum rate of climb for each distance as now, but to score a point per thousand metres for all climbing in the event regardless of distance, rounded to the nearest quarter point. So a 100km event climbing 1500m would score 1.5 points, a 200km event climbing 2800 metres would score 2.75 points, etc.
Discuss!
Steve, the AAA Man