Rules for National Amateur Strongman Rankings

1. Purpose for Rankings. These rankings are based on a system that attempts to predict which competitors are currently the top amateur strongman competitors. If the rankings worked perfectly, the number one ranked competitor would beat the number two competitor, who would beat the number three ranked competitor, and so on, if they were to all compete against one another in a contest of average size - 10-15 competitors. Because strongman is a sport that consists of over thirty disciplines, because some competitors have never competed against one another, and because competitors have good and bad days, this will not be the case every time. After all, otherwise why have the contests? However, generally a higher ranked competitor should beat a lower ranked competitor in most contests. The rankings self adjust over time to the extent this proves not to be the case. Note that some competitors will have a lower ranking than their placement at a contest would indicate, but they have not year done two qualifying contests. As soon as they do at least two qualifying contests their ranking will be more reflective of their ability.
   
   
2. Basis for Rankings. Points will be assigned to competitors based on placement at qualifying contests, subject to the conditions described in these rules. Competitors will be ranked based on point accumulation at the time that the rankings are updated. Updates will be done periodically, but typically twice per year.
   
   
3. Points at Nationals. To earn points at Nationals, you must place in the top thirteen. For example, at the 2004 Nationals, there were 37 competitors. The top 13 received points with the exception of the winner, who is now pro. Second place at 2004 Nationals yielded 13 points, third place yielded 12 points, et. cetera. Giving points to the top 13, causes Nationals to be weighted at 130% of the value of a large Pro-Am contest. Nationals is ranked higher because it is typically a bigger show with a deeper field. Rankings are not based exclusively on Nationals and Nationals is not weighted more substantially than it is for several reasons, including: 1) there are now numerous Pro-Ams around the country where top level competitors can go to attempt to earn a pro card--for this reason, and for financial reasons some top level competitors do not attend Nationals; and 2) Nationals is a very large show and one bad placement in one event can drastically affect placement and weighting Nationals would skew the purpose for the rankings as described above.
   
   
4. Points at Pro-Ams. To earn points at Pro-Am contests competitors must place in the top ten amateurs, or if there are less than 14 amateur competitors at the Pro-Am contest, you must place in the top 75% of the amateur field. This means that at most Pro-Am contests the winner will go pro, the second place finisher gets 10 points, the third place finisher gets 9 points, et. cetera. At any Pro-Am contest where there are less than 7 heavyweight amateur competitors, only one-half the amount of points that would otherwise be awarded will be awarded, and you must place in the top 50% of the amateur field to receive points. If there are less than 4 competitors in the heavyweight amateur field, no points will be awarded. Full points are not awarded at Pro-Ams with poor attendance because those contests are not good indicators of how one would do at a larger show that is attended by many top ranked competitors.
   
   
5. Subsequent Adjustments to Points When Competitors Earn Pro Status. More weight will be given to contests that were attended by competitors that were amateurs at the time, but are now heavyweight pros. This means that at any contest where competitors that were amateurs at that contest, but are now heavyweight pros, placed above all competitors at that contest that remain amateurs, the placement of those Pros is not considered for purposes of calculating the points earned at that contest. Note that at all qualifying contests it will be typical for at least one pro (the winner) to be dropped from the calculations because of this rule. Boston of 2004 or the May 2004 Contest-Me contest are good examples of this rule because at each of those contests, the top three finishers are now pro. This means that for purposes of point calculations, the fourth place finisher at those contests effectively finished first.
   
   
6. Expiration of Points. Earned Points will be halved one year after they are earned to keep rankings current. Points are eliminated two years after they are earned.
   
   
7. Only Top Two Placements are Counted. For purposes of establishing ranking, points are taken from a competitor's top two finishes in terms of points earned, including up to one Nationals contest. For example, if a competitor has done three qualifying contests earning him 2 points, 5 points, and 10 points, respectively, he will have 15 points for purposes of establishing his ranking. If this competitor later does another qualifying contest where he earns 10 points, then he will at that time have 20 points. This penalizes a competitor who only does one big contest per year, but does not let competitors who attend many contests to excessively increase their ranking.
   

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