Why we need a universal handicap formula

SLMM has four category prizes for each course: Female, Male, Mixed and Veteran. The Veteran category uses a handicap to compare teams across different ages and genders (and Bedafell has its own separate handicap system for junior teams, which is unchanged and not covered here). The alternative approach for vets would be to split the prize into multiple age bands (eg FV50, MV65, etc), but with seven courses and a field of our size, that would produce too many sparse or empty categories to be meaningful.

A single handicap factor across the whole vets category solves this. Teams are still treated fairly relative to each other regardless of age and gender, and the prize structure stays simple.

The handicap system was introduced at the 2018 SLMM and has worked broadly well since. But feedback from competitors and a review of nine years of results have pointed to three things that needed fixing. An updated handicap formula will apply from this year’s event in July 2026.

What’s changing, and why

The old rule ignored the age of the second partner. It used only the older partner’s age, so a team of 60 and 45 was given the same handicap as a team of 60 and 60. That doesn’t reflect how mountain marathon teams actually work — the younger partner contributes navigation, route choice and pulling work, and their age genuinely matters. The new rule incorporates the age of  both partners.

The addition of 10  years to the age of  women was an approximation. It worked reasonably well in practice, but it was a single rough adjustment doing two jobs at once — accounting for both the physical strength gender gap on rough terrain and the slightly steeper female age decline. With the World Masters Athletics (WMA) tables now readily available, we can separate these out and use proper gender-specific figures rather than an approximation. Women’s age decline is read directly from the female WMA table, and a separate adjustment accounts for the additional disadvantage women face on fell terrain.

Eligibility now starts at 40, in line with FRA categories. Veterans under FRA convention are 40 and over, but our old rule only handicapped teams where both partners were 45+. Teams in their early 40s couldn’t compete for the vets prize at all, even though physical decline is measurable from age 40. From 2026, both partners need to be 40 or over – matching how veteran categories are defined across UK fell running.

What the new handicap is doing, in plain English

The handicap reflects each runner’s age, with an additional adjustment for women to account for the greater physical disadvantage on rough fell terrain. The two partners’ factors are blended, with more weight given to the runner with the higher handicap. The resulting adjustment is then reduced by 20% to recognise that SLMM rewards judgement and teamwork as well as fitness.

The maths is built on the WMA age-grading tables — the international standard used by top international masters athletics events as well as parkrun and similar systems. So your handicap is calibrated against real-world running performance, not a flat rule of thumb. 

What you do as a competitor

Nothing. Your handicap factor will be calculated automatically from your team’s ages and genders and published alongside your team name on SI Entries. On linear courses, your raw time is multiplied by the handicap factor. On Fairfield, your raw score is divided by the handicap factor.

We have built a simple calculator so you can enter your own ages and genders and see your team’s factor before entering, or check how a different partner pairing would change it. The calculator is available here

What stays the same

The four-category prize structure (Female, Male, Mixed, Veteran), the high quality slate trophies cut from local Honister slate, the same 54 prizes across our seven courses. The Bedafell course has no vets prize — it runs on its own separate junior handicap system, which is unchanged.