The key to an enjoyable track race...

...is to push yourself against competitors of similar ability to your own, which is the advantage of seeded races. We introduced mixed seeded racing a few years ago to help you improve your racing and provide a better competition, and it works well, most of the time!
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However, it has been noted recently that some of our athletes are being a bit coy with their predicted times. Some of you have never done a certain distance and are having to guess, and that's absolutely fine - but many others are giving times that are well outside what they consistently run. As an example, we saw many 200m estimates that were over 5 seconds longer than they should have been, whilst the 800 seemingly produced some 15 or even 20 second "PB"s?!! We know some of you will have given reasons for the slower times - you raced at the weekend, it's hot, you're tired/injured, you haven't trained...the list is long. However, you're all experienced athletes and the vast majority of you know, deep down, what you are capable of, and you can usually pull a decent performance out of the bag despite these reasons.
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The effects of an incorrect estimated time are:-

1. You're missing the competitive edge that might shave some tenths of a second (or more) off your PB, because you're just cruising along in first place with no-one at your shoulder.
2. It's disheartening for the slower athletes, particularly in a longer race where they may be lapped once or even twice. 
3. You're denying your peers the competition they deserve too, as they won't have as many similarly paced athletes in their heat as they should have, therefore less people to battle for the line with.
4. A closely run race is much more exciting for the spectators, which means you'll get a lot more shout-outs and support given, and this gives a better atmosphere to the meeting.

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We're not trying to name and shame people, we just want you all to think about your times and be as honest and accurate as you can be.  Next season, we want to see lots of tightly grouped races, and lots of PBs as a result - remember, honesty is the best policy, and there's no place for false modesty in athletics! :)