Thinking aloud here ... if you had chip timing, you could hold a single race or, at most, set runners off in a couple of waves.If you wish to post results for "elite" and "fun" races, you can decide the cut-off times yourselves and allocate runners appropriately. In fact, you could have a laugh doing that. Tell people the cut-off for the elite is 20 minutes but in actual fact make it 22 - and really piss off those who thought they were pot-hunting in the fun run but are actually tailmarkers in the elite ... 

Hi AllThanks for all the responses. Just to clarify some info we already use chip timing and the reason it is two races is because it's a 3 lap race and the fast runners get stuck behind the slower fun runners. They also have Elite printed on the race number. Maybe we should consider renaming the Elite?

We really need to encourage more people to enter our Elite Race. We have the same problem every year, some runners who are close to the cut off 20 min for males and 25 for females (5K) who enter the Fun Run, because they would rather come close to the top in the Fun Run instead towards the back in the elites. If we were to include something extra in the goody bag for Elites do you think this will work? If so what could we enclose? Budgets are tight (isn't everyones) so needs to be inexpensive.  Help us pleasewww.nosgalan.co.uk

Ah well then Bernadette, easy answer. Put something on your form like___________________________ "Season's best 5k time (please estimate from another race time if you have no 5k result this year" and then call the two races "waves" and divide up the runners yourself Speaking for myself, on a good day, on the flat, on a paved surface, I could get under 25 minutes but I am a living counter-example to an earlier poster's (not all that serious) assertion that if they can run sub 20 so can anyone . If I prove her right I would be delighted !I'm pretty mellow but I would feel a little embarrassed by a) signing up to an "elite" race in the first place, as even GFA runners are faster and b) by coming last by four minutes in well over 25 minutes having discovered the race is not at all flat .I'd laugh it off but still