The Gate River Run Elite Team Competition is an annual event JTCRunning has established within the Gate River Run (2010 will be the second running).  It is known as The TenBroeck Cup,  named in honor of John TenBroeck, a long-time and tireless volunteer for the club.  We award the trophy annually to the top men’s and women’s team along with prize money.  Additionally, we etch the winning teams on the plaque that accompanies the trophy, and the combined trophy and plaque reside permanently in The Gate River Run Hall of Fame, inside the Riverplace Tower in Jacksonville.


For 2010, we are awarding prize money 3 deep in both the men’s and women’s divisions as follows:
• $6.000 for first place
• $3,000 for second place
• $1,000 for third place

Prize money will be awarded equally to the three scoring members of the top 3 teams..

RULES AND GUIDELINES
Firstly, we want to make it clear that the individual races for Gate River Run are USATF National Championships –but the team race is not a USATF championship. Thus, the rules in place are those made by The Gate River Run race committee, and do not necessarily conform to USATF rules for national team championships.

SCORING
To qualify a team score, teams must have 3 finishers, and the combined overall finishes of these three will be added together. Lowest score wins. For men, this will be overall place only against other males. For women, it will be overall place only against other females. (i.e. if the overall women’s champ finishes 19th overall, her team points will be (1) – not 19).
Teams may enter as many runners as they wish, but only the top 3 will score. In the event of a tie, scoring will move to the 4th runner.  If one team has a 4th runner, and the other does not – the team with the 4th runner will be declared the winner.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A TEAM ?
This is an issue that has been given a lot of thought. The current landscape of US elite distance running contains many teams and clubs, most (but not all) consisting of runners who live in the same geographical area. Most share the same coach – some have a few athletes that run for the club – but maintain their own coach. Some teams consist of runners who all have contracts with the same shoe companies. Many have runners with varied shoe company affiliations.
What we have attempted to do is to allow enough flexibility to be somewhat liberal in our rules for teams, stopping short of allowing “pick-up teams” or shoe companies “throwing runners together” temporarily for the purpose of one competition.

The following rules will be hard and fast – with no exceptions
• All team runners must be US citizens.
• All team runners must have demonstrated a visible prior affiliation with their team – either being listed in prior results under the team name, listed on team’s website, and/or clearly living in the same geographic area and/or sharing the same coach.
• All teams must submit their list of athletes in writing within 30 day of the competition.
While we realize that these rules allow a measure of subjectivity, we hope that you will trust that we will use our judgment in all cases to be fair and permit runners to compete with an established team with which they have proven an alliance.
What we hope to accomplish is an annual competition that is fun, fair, and one that serves to highlight, promote and enhance team running in the United States.
All decision as to “what constitutes a team” will rest with the Gate River Run race committee and all decisions will be final.

PUBLISHED TEAM RESULTS
Out of respect for the shoe companies who have generously sponsored athletes with contracts, we will continue to list all runners in the individual results with their shoe company name.
The team results will have a “heading” with the team name – but all runners on such teams will have their shoe sponsor listed next to their individual names.
We want to do everything in our power to ensure that we are not jeopardizing any athlete’s existing shoe contract, and as such, will be careful with the printed listing of athletes in the team results.

ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS REGARDING THE TEAM COMPETITION MAY BE DIRECTED TO
RICHARD FANNIN
904.662.3814