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The Zero Par Adjustment Factor

After calculating an initial Zero Par (Zp), determine an adjustment factor to account for weather and course degree of difficulty (compared to Elite-class championship courses: Iron Horse at Northstar for the GS, top of Far West at Mammoth for the slalom).

For example, in good or better conditions:
A GS start from: Would dictate an
adjustment factor of:
Hair jump start to bottom of
Fascination or bottom of Terry's
.99 or .98
Chair 14 start to bottom of 14
.99 or .98
Chair 1 start to bottom of
Fascination or bottom of Terry's
.98 or .97
Fascination, new top start
(above Powder Bowl run)
.98 to .96
Fascination, old top start
.97 or .96
Fascination, 3/4 start
.96 to .94
Fascination, 1/2 start
.94 to .92
Far West, top start
.98 to .96
Far West, 3/4 start
.96 to .94
A Slalom start from: Would dictate an
adjustment factor of:
Fascination, old top start
1.00
Fascination, 3/4 start
0.98
Fascination, 1/2 start
0.96
Far West, top start
1.00
Far West, 3/4 start
0.98
Far West, 1/2 start
0.96


- Multiply the initial Zp by the course adjustment factor and calculate racer handicaps.

A simple explanation for the Zero Par Adjustment Factor:
Even the pacesetters do better on a flatter, shorter course.


- You may also want to follow these to steps:

1. Based on the percentage of strikes, adjust the adjustment factor and re-calculate handicaps. In general, you should have about 15% strikes for a GS on a good weather day with a large number of racers (200?), with more strikes in the lower classes (it's easier for them to strike than elites). Sometimes we do end up with an adjustment factor of 1.00 to make the results look "right."

2. Make a final pass through the results to see if there are any particular racers that need to be "saved" (i.e., a D women with a handicap of 89.92). We sometimes make a small "tweek" to the adjustment factor in these cases.

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