I am trying to come up with my own ranking system for elite marathon runners. Here is what I am thinking, let me know your thoughts.
The rankings would be a rolling last 52 weeks, using your average score if you run more than 1 marathon in that 52 weeks.
You get 1 score for each race made up of a time component and place component.
The time component would be as follows:
sub 2:05 = 100 points
sub 2:06 = 90 points
sub 2:07 = 80 points
sub 2:08 = 70 points
sub 2:09 = 60 points
sub 2:10 = 50 points
sub 2:11 = 40 points
sub 2:12 = 30 points
sub 2:13 = 20 points
sub 2:14 = 10 points
Your points score for time would then be multipled by a multiplier for difficulty of the course. for a flat course you would bet a 1.0x miltipler, for a moderately rolling course you get a 1.15x multipler and for a hilly course you get a 1.3x multiplier.
Your adjusted time score would then be further adjusted for weather. Great conditions would get a 1.0x multiplier, decent conditions would get a 1.15 multiplier and bad conditions would get a 1.3x multiplier.
Exact definitions of what qualifies a course or weather for each standard would be determined.
Next there would be a place score that would be added to the time score. The place score would be set-up as follows:
1st = 50 points
2nd = 45
3rd = 40
4th = 35
5th = 30
6th = 25
7th = 20
8th = 15
9th = 10
10th = 5
Then the place score would be adjsuted by a multipler dependent on the quality of the race. "A" races would get a 2.0x multiplier, "B" races get a 1.5x multiplier, "C" races get a 1.0x multiplier.
Example: if a runner wins the London Marathon with a 2:05:20 performance in great weather conditions, his total score would be:
(90 x 1.0 x 1.0) + (50 x 2.0) = 190 points
if a runner places 3rd in a "b" race with a 2:10:30 on a moderately rolling course in decent but not great weather they would earn:
(40 x 1.15 x 1.15) + (40 x 1.5) = 112.9 points
Ties would go to the better placer in any head to head meetings. If no head to head meetings then the tie would go to the one who beat more top 20 ranked runners.
Plan to keep a ranking (updated weekly) of the top 20 runners in the world and top 10 in the U.S. both male and female and post once per week on my blog.
This scoring system is preliminary so let me know if you can think of improvments or tweaks I should consider.