Pod Racing - No, Not The Kind in the Worst of Star Wars Films
To accommodate a large field of high school runners, we could break up the race into smaller pods of teams with staggered starts separating multiple pods. Pods of similar-level teams and individual runners experience head-to-head competition, while chip timing lets us ultimately score teams and individuals upon completion of the race. One pod starts the race, the next pod takes off at least 3 minutes later, and so on until all pods have completed the race.
This format lends itself well to Colorado's State Championship with its 100-runner fields and limit of 25 runners per wave. If we assume racing head-to-head in the first pod to be an advantage, we could use a seeding system that, depending on classification, would reward the top teams and individuals from each region.
Here's how Pod Racing could look for the 2A State races based on CHSAA's rules:
Pod 1 (25 runners):
4 regional champion teams (5 runners x 4 teams = 20 runners)
1st individual qualifier from each regional (1 runner x 4 regionals = 4 runners)
Randomly selected 2nd qualifier from regionals (1 runner) [25]
Pod 2 (25 runners):
4 regional 2nd-place teams (5 runners x 4 teams = 20 runners)
Remaining 2nd individual qualifiers from each regional (1 runner x 3 regionals = 3 runners)
2 randomly selected 3rd qualifiers from regional (2 runners) [25 + 25 = 50]
Pod 3: 4 regional 3rd-place teams (5 runners x 4 teams = 20 runners) + remaining 3rd individual qualifiers from each regional (1 runner x 2 regionals = 2 runners) + 3 randomly selected 4th individual qualifiers (3 runners) [50 + 25 = 75]
Pod 4: 4 regional 4th-place teams (5 runners x 4 teams = 20 runners) + remaining 4th individual qualifier (1 runner) + 5th individual qualifiers from each regional (1 runner x 4 regionals = 4 runners) [75 + 25 = 100]
2A Girls schedule example
2:45 Pod 1
2:50 Pod 2
2:55 Pod 3
3:00 Pod 4 (60 minutes to clear runners)
For 3A/4A/5A, the number of Regionals and qualifiers from each regional changes, so we'd likely have to lean on rankings for some of the seeding. We could still guarantee that all Regional champion teams earn a spot in one of the first two pods.
Here's how Pod Racing could look for the 3A/4A/5A State races based on CHSAA's rules:
Pod 1: 3 top-seeded teams (6 runners x 3 teams = 18 runners) + 1st individual qualifier from each regional (1 runner x 5 regionals = 5 runners). [23]
Pod 2: 3 next-best-seeded teams (6 runners x 3 teams = 18 runners) + 2nd individual qualifier from each regional (1 runner x 5 regionals = 5 runners) [23 + 23 = 46)
Pod 3: 3 next-best-seeded teams (6 runners x 3 teams = 18 runners) [46 + 18 = 64]
Pod 4: 3 next-best-seeded teams (6 runners x 3 teams = 18 runners) [64 + 18 = 82]
Pod 5: 3 next-best-seeded teams (6 runners x 3 teams = 18 runners) [64 + 18 = 82]
4A Boys schedule example
9:45 Pod 1
9:50 Pod 2
9:55 Pod 3
10:00 Pod 4
10:05 Pod 5 (40 minutes to clear course - in 2019, no runners in any race ran slower than 33 minutes)
One matter will still need to be worked out if some form of Pod Racing or wave start is used at Norris-Penrose/Bear Creek Park. Will we have runners going both directions at the same time on the few overlapping sections of the course?