Handley Boys Conquer
Woodstock Tower

August 23, 2006, Woodstock, VA - The Handley High School boys Cross Country team visited a local landmark recently, to challenge the team to run up a grueling uphill run.  Woodstock Tower is a little over two miles in length, and contains no flat or downhill sections. 

Head Coach Mark Stickley said "It's safe to say it's the hardest training run we do all year. It's a nice feeling of accomplishment to reach the top". 

This is the second year that Coach Stickley has had the Handley boys run Woodstock Tower.  "This year I wanted to do it again to compare times. But I decided to add a different twist: instead of starting everyone together, I handicapped it and started the slower runners first. That gave everyone a relatively fair chance to be the first one to the top of the mountain" Stickley said.

Coach Stickly explained that he instituted a handicap system. "I took last year's time up the mountain and subtracted that from the first runner's time. However, to allow for improvement, I adjusted their time based on the percentage improvement of a recent time trial (again, comparing it to last year)." Stickley said.

"For those running for the first time I compared their time trial to their teammates and handicapped them accordingly. It was only slightly more complicated than it sounds" Stickley said. 

Clearly Coach Stickly put a lot of time and thought into creating a well calculated system that made the run exciting for everyone. Last year's last finisher -- Garrett Jones -- had a 15:40 head start over last year's king of the mountain, Clint Schiavone. But since Garrett was much improved, he was able to hold off everyone and reach the top first.

The rest of the Handley boys reached the top in relatively quick succession although a few were much better than Stickley's prediction and a few were a little off. "Regardless, the outcome was more suspenseful and the hill run more enjoyable" Stickley said.

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