League Rules & Constitution

League Rules (– last reviewed and updated: 5th January 2023)

General League Rules

The League is run according to the current UKA Rules of Competition.

1. All member clubs of the League must be affiliated to the national governing body – England Athletics (EA).
2. The Club Affiliation Fee for the League is based on the number of participants in the previous season as follows:
   

   No. Participants	Club Affiliation Fees
   Up to 25	£96.00
   25–79	£156.00
   80 or more	£216.00

   Note: The Club Affiliation Fee for new member clubs in their first season is that for Up to 25 participants.
3. The Athlete Entry Fees are on a pro rata basis as follows:
   

   From Round	U9–U17 Fees	U20+ Fees
   Round 1	£15.00	£20.00
   Round 2	£12.00	£16.00
   Round 3	£9.00	£12.00
   Round 4	£6.00	£8.00
   Round 5	£3.00	£4.00

4. Any athlete who fails to be entered by the entry deadline for a fixture will not be permitted to run at that fixture and will not appear in the results.
5. Only fully paid up members of the clubs entered in the League will be eligible to compete.
6. All athletes must be a member of an EA affiliated club.
7. All athletes of age 11 years and above must be registered as paid–up EA affiliated athletes.
8. Athlete club affiliations, EA registrations and eligibility to compete will be checked.
9. An athlete’s first claim club status takes precedence.
10. No athlete may compete for his/her second claim club, while his/her first claim club is a member of the League.
11. Bona–fide second claim club members may compete, but must be registered with the League by the entry deadline for Round 1 of the current season.
12. In the event of a change of club it is the responsibility of the athlete to ensure the proper transfer procedure has been completed as clearly set out on the EA website – see the Team Managers’ Guide for more details.
13. No competitor may compete for more than one club during the course of a season.
14. Unattached runners are not permitted to run.
15. The age qualification date to determine the athlete’s age category for the season is the 31st August immediately prior to the commencement of the current season.
16. U9 athletes, aged 7 on the age date (31st August), must be 8 years of age on the day of the fixture to comply with the League’s minimum age rule.
17. On–the–day entries for athletes aged 8, 9 or 10 years only will be permitted using the club’s ‘spare’ race numbers provided for that purpose – see the Spare Race Numbers section of the Team Managers’ Guide for more details.
18. No entries will be accepted on the day for athletes aged 11 years or above.
19. Athletes must run and compete in their correct age category.
20. All entries for Round 1 are to be received by midnight on the Sunday, 13 days prior to the fixture.
21. All entries for each subsequent fixture are to be received by midnight on the Sunday, 6 days prior to each subsequent fixture.
22. All competitors aged 11 years of age and upwards on the day of the race must wear club vests or club t–shirts. No club vest or club t–shirt – no score. Note: Athletes aged 8, 9 or 10 years of age on the day of the race are not required to wear club vests or club t–shirts.
23. All competitors must wear an OXL race number for the current season – please refer to the Race Numbers section below.
24. Any number of runners from member clubs may compete.
25. Any competitors switching between clubs within the League during the season will keep individual and team scores prior to the club switch but will be treated as guest runners thereafter, i.e. they will not score further in either the individual or team competitions.
26. Any runners wearing earplugs/headphones will be disqualified.
27. A second–claim club member must be registered before Round 1 in order to be registered to run for his/her second-claim club in the League that season.
28. A second–claim club member not registered before Round 1 may run at subsequent fixtures of the season, but must be entered as a registered 'Guest' athlete by the relevant entry deadline.
29. ‘Guest’ athletes may be permitted to run with the prior permission of the League Manager provided they are a member of an EA affiliated club and are registered as paid–up EA affiliated athlete, but will not be eligible for prizes.
30. A ‘Guest’ athlete is non–scoring and will not appear in the team results.
31. The winner of each race will score 1 point, the 2nd finisher 2 points, and so on.
32. The winning team will be the one scoring the lowest number of accumulated points over all Rounds.
33. Team points are calculated by totalling the points scored by each team in groups of seven for men (Race 8) and groups of three for the other team races (Races 4–7 and Race 9).
34. Any incomplete A team will have the team score made up by adding to that total the appropriate number of last finisher + 1 scores to make the full team.
35. The same method of scoring will apply to all other teams (i.e. B, C, etc. teams) except that all such teams will require more than half the necessary number of finishers (i.e. a minimum of 4 runners in Race 8 or 2 runners in Races 4–7 and Race 9) to qualify as a team and count in the results.
36. Individual and team standings are determined as detailed on the Overall Standings Calculation page under the Resources section of this website.
37. Any team failing to register a score at any of the fixtures will automatically be dropped from the team standings.
38. Overall individual prizes are awarded based based on the best four out of five results achieved by each competitor – i.e. to qualify, competitors must complete at least four of the five rounds.
39. Overall team prizes are awarded based on the results achieved at all five rounds.
40. In the event of a fixture cancellation the overall individual prizes will be awarded based upon the best three out of four results achieved by each competitor.
41. In the event of a fixture cancellation the overall team prizes will be awarded based on the results achieved at all four rounds.

Race Numbers

1. All race numbers will automatically be assigned from pre–allocated club blocks of race numbers that will be supplied in the Team Manager’s club race pack
2. Just one complete set of race numbers will be issued from Round 1 onwards.
3. All race numbers incorporate a medical information form on the reverse side to assist medical services in attending to an athlete.
4. Any athlete who has a pre–existing medical condition is requested to complete the form on the back of the race number prior to the start of his/her race.
5. All athletes must retain their season’s race number for use at each fixture.
6. Round 3 of the Oxfordshire XC League will be run in conjunction with the 2023 Oxfordshire County XC Championships (- entry details will be made available on the Oxon AA website in due course). All runners who enter the 2023 Oxfordshire County XC Championships will need to wear their assigned race number and Tyvek wristband (– to be issued before the start of each race) as directed according to the instructions that will be published on the Oxon AA website in advance. Any Championship entrant crossing the finish line without their Tyvek wristband will be disqualified.
7. An athlete must not run wearing another athlete’s race number under any circumstances. Doing so will result in disqualification.
8. Any athlete seen wearing a race number for the wrong season or for another event in an OXL race will automatically be disqualified from the race.
9. Any athlete finishing without a number (– either worn or held visibly) will be excluded from the results.
10. If an athlete loses or forgets his/her race number a replacement will be chargeable at a cost of £5.00. The Team Manager should contact the OXL Results Secretary with the replacement fee to obtain a replacement number.
11. Registered ‘Guest’ athletes will be issued with standard race numbers for which the same rules as above will apply.

The above rules will be enforced on the day by the Race Referee in conjunction with the League Manager.

Guide for Team Managers

Team Managers: PLEASE refer to the Team Managers’ Guide provided under the Resources section of this website.

We once again ask for your support in applying these rules in order to facilitate the smooth running of the League.

Guide for Race Directors

Race Directors: PLEASE refer to the Race Directors’ Guide provided under the Resources section of this website.

Thank you very much for hosting an OXL fixture. We will do our best to support you in any aspect of the fixture organisation you may require.

Team Promotions/Relegations

As approved at the 2018 AGM team promotions/relegations for the season–end 2018–19 results onwards will operate on a straight 2 up/2 down basis (i.e. in each division the top two teams will be promoted and the bottom two relegated irrespective of points scored) at the end of each season.

League Constitution

League Constitution

• The League’s Constitution as reviewed and approved at the 2022 AGM.