What is the Mission and Goals of the CTFL?
The CTFL's goal is to improve the track and field landscape within Canada for all athletes, coaches, clubs and fans. The league has two primary goals. The first is to bring more content to fans and help build the sport of track and field in Canada. Our second goal is to help athletes financially by providing them with a platform for them to use and build their own brand.
The creation of a track and field league will allow Canadians to follow the sport in a more convenient way than ever before using a team based format. This format will help fans follow their favorite teams and athletes throughout their season and career. Within the league, every athlete's contribution is of equal importance to their team's success.
How is the CTFL structured?
The CTFL will create a league composed of four teams. Each team aimed to have two athletes per event and gender known as "Core Athletes". Due to some events not being filled, there will be between 24-25 core athletes per team. In addition, teams will be given 7-8 (depending on the amount of core athletes the team drafts) utility spots which they can use to acquire any athlete without the majority of the leagues restrictions. Thus, a full team will be composed of 32 athletes in total.
The Utility spots must be composed of three men and three women per team and can compete in any of the eight CTFL events. Utility Athletes will compete for a separate cash prize pool compared to the core athletes. They are also eligible to receive their portion of the team prize funding if they belong to the winning team. Utility athletes do not need to compete at any of the official CTFL event including the championship, but they must compete in a minimum of four provincially recognized meets in their selected discipline prior to July 20th. The purpose of the Utility Athlete is to include as many athletes from across Canada.
Athletes will be asked to enter into a pool of potential candidates from which they will be selected using an entry draft. It is important to note that the league will not be registered as a club, allowing athletes to train with their individual coaches and compete as they would normally (excluding the pre-designated prelim and championship meet).
Currently, athletes will have the opportunity to compete for their primary event of which there will be eight, including: 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 1500m, Shot Put and Long Jump. In the coming seasons, more events will be added and with it, the league will expand.
The league will present four total meets, with three preliminary meets and a championship where spectators will have the opportunity to attend. All meetings will be recorded and put on YouTube for spectators.
What is the CTFL 2022 Season Schedule?
The CTFL will have its prelims in Montreal, London and Ottawa. The tentative dates and locations are as follows:
- May 21st in Montreal, Quebec, hosted by Saint-Laurent Sélect
- May 28th or 29th in London Ontario, hosted by the London Western Track and Field Club
- June 15 in Ottawa, Ontario hosted by the Ottawa Lions.
The Championships will be held in Ottawa on July 20th
How does the CTFL points system work?
Athletes will accumulate points throughout the season based off the IAAF point system. All athletes will have four marks (or times) counted towards their cumulative individual points as well as their teams overall points. Core athletes will be required to compete at a minimum of 1 of the 3 preliminary meet and the championship in order to be eligible to win the cash prizes at the end of the season. The remaining two prelim meets that will be counted for points can either be accumulated at the designated official CTFL prelim meets or any other sanctioned meet as per their provincial athletics organization. Therefore, if a core athlete is unable to attend all designated prelim meets, they can compete at a maximum of two other meets that their provincial athletics organization recognizes (these are considered free meets and can be found anywhere in the world as long as they are recognized as official meets). As for utility athletes, their best four meet results will be counted prior to the July 20th championship. Hence, four meets will be counted towards the athlete's total points.
To incentivize athletes to attend more than one of the three designated prelim meets, all CTFL designated meets will carry an additional 30 bonus points. Furthermore, athletes that compete at a National Track and Field Tour (NTFT) meet will gain an additional 10 bonus points to their score for that meet's effort. An example would be, if an athlete attends two designated prelim meets (60 added points), one National Track and Field tour meet (10 added points) and the championship (30 added points), they will earn an additional 100 bonus points that will be applied to their individual and team's total score.
However, for the National Track and Field Tour meets as well as any additional CTFL preliminary meet above the required amount, the bonus is not automatically applied. If an athlete scores more points in another meet that is not associated with the CTFL or NTFT, then the higher score will be used for the overall standings.
EXAMPLE
An example using the previous scenario would be as follows: An athlete scores 890 (+30) points at their first CTFL prelim meet, 900 (+30) points at the second CTFL prelim meet, 905 (+10) points at the NTFT meet and 875 (+30) points at the championship meet. Their score would respectively be accumulated as 920 points, 930 points, 915 points and 905 points, totaling 3,670 points. However, if the athletes also attended a non CTFL or NTFT meet and score 930, then their score of 915 points would be replaced by the score of 930 giving them an additional 15 points to make their total 3,685 points.
This bonus system is to make sure that athletes who participate at more CTFL prelim events than required will benefit as this will help grow the league. At the end of the season, athletes that finish within the top 3 in their event will have earned a cash prize. There will also be a $1,000 dollar prize for the winning team distributed between all athletes equally.
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