Woody's Tortoise And Hare

At registration you will give us your age, gender, height and weight.  We will then compute your handicap according to the charts and use these seconds to determine your starting time.

The runner with the largest predicted handicap starts first. For the start, the clock is set at this number of seconds and begins counting down. Other runners start when their handicap time (written on their bib number at registration) comes up on the clock.

When the clock reaches zero, all runners have started and the clock then starts counting elapsed time for the race. Since handicaps were awarded at the start, the order of finish is therefore the actual standing in the race. (In addition to handicap times, we will also compute actual running times for all runners.)

The race is like a normal 5k in reverse. The Hares start well behind the Tortoises and have to catch them. The tortoises experience the fun of being in front. This can lead to pretty fast times for everybody, not to mention a very closely contested finish! It is not a predict event, so you do not have to try and hold onto a certain pace—just race!

How fast can you run a 5K if we factor out your age, gender, height, and weight?

PPRR/SCR Members - $10 + Fees (This is applied at checkout)

Non-members - $20 + Fees

Registration will be open until 5:00 PM April 17, 2026

No Race Day Registration will be available.

Firefighters, police, active-duty military, all first responders, and members of EPCSAR, contact tortoiseandhare@pprrun.org prior to registration to receive a discount code. 

If you are a new member, you may need to claim your PPRR or SCR membership to take advantage of the discounts. 

Click here for instructions on how to claim your membership. 

There is a short amount of concrete during the beginning and ending of the race but the rest is on dirt trails and is fairly flat with very little elevation gain.

The course route can be found here:

Tortoise and Hare

The start finish location is at Fountain Creek Regional Park

2010 Duckwood Rd, Fountain, CO 80817

There is plenty of parking, but please do not park on the curbs in the park or your vehicle will be towed.

Races will be cancelled if extremely bad weather exists on race day or if race directors deem necessary. Unfortunately, there are no refunds for race cancellations.

We love babies, we love our fur children, and we most certainly love our jams! However.....

Please no strollers or jogging strollers. Our insurance guy says, “nope”.

Please no headphones or earbuds. We need “on your left” to work seamlessly.

Please no dogs, cats, bearded dragons, or any other pets.

Woody Noleen and Bob Mutu worked on the handicap charts for our local running scene. Given that we run high altitude, the two wanted to somehow factor in training at 6500 feet. They worked with charts from the National WAVA standards that are used by most races of this type, using local 5K race results to massage the data. They produced charts and a formula to measure performance and fitness levels based on four key body factors: age, gender, height and weight.

WAVA data indicated that runners aged 20-34 are in their prime. So they gave them no age handicap. All other runners get handicap seconds subtracted from their actual running time.

Local race analysis showed us that for the prime age group 20-34, this differential was 2 minutes. As runners get older, this differential widened and topped out around 4 minutes. For children, it was less than 2 minutes until they get to be about age 19.

We used a height to weight ratio based upon local race times to develop additional handicaps. Men and women are not built the same and the race results clearly showed the handicap pattern was not the same for men and women.

The formulas they ended up with seemed refined enough and very workable. Woody’s Tortoise and Hare became a true measurement of performance weighted on age, gender, height, and weight!

Following a victory at the Boston Marathon, Bill Rodgers said that his effort to run a 2:10 was not nearly as difficult as the effort of those who were “out there for 4 1/2 hours!” How would you stack up against those speedsters, the Hares, if you were able to factor out some reasons for running a 4 1/2-hour marathon? How good is your training?

Trophies are given to the 3 top finishers (with the handicap factored in).  These will be the first 3 runners that cross the finish line.