Frequently asked questions

Elevation Ratings measure competitive performance across selected New Zealand trail and mountain races.

Every athlete begins with the same starting point. As athletes compete, the system compares their performances against every other runner in each race. Beating highly rated athletes improves your rating more than beating lower-rated athletes. Over many races and many seasons, these thousands of head-to-head comparisons combine to produce a stable rating that reflects competitive performance across the New Zealand trail running community.

Elevation currently includes a carefully selected group of established New Zealand trail ultra and mountain races.

These races were selected because, when considered together, they provide broad coverage of New Zealand trail running across different distances, terrain and regions. The athletes who compete across these races naturally form an interconnected race network, allowing the Elevation Ratings system to compare performances across the wider New Zealand trail running community.

Elevation Ratings seeks to include races that strengthen the connectivity and representativeness of the national ratings network. Additional races may be included where they strengthen the connectivity and representativeness of the national ratings network.

The inclusion of a race in the Elevation Ratings system does not imply any endorsement, sponsorship or affiliation by the race organiser.

Elevation currently ranks athletes who normally have New Zealand as their home base, who focus mainly on New Zealand races and who have competed in one or more selected ranking races.

This means some top New Zealanders are not included, such as Dan Jones and Ruth Croft, who focus mainly on international races, and Caitlin Fielder, who lives overseas.

International visitors and athletes who have not yet competed in a ranking race are generally not included.

As the platform develops, additional athletes and races may become eligible.

Confidence reflects how reliable an athlete’s rating is based on the available race data and the strength of their connections within the ranking network.

Activity reflects how much recent race data contributes to an athlete’s current rating. Athletes who compete regularly will generally have higher activity than athletes who race only occasionally.

Ratings are updated after each selected ranking race.

As new results are added, athlete ratings and rankings may move up or down to reflect the latest performances and the changing strength of competition across the Elevation race network.