The person in front of an athlete gets only one point better than them, regardless of the distance between them. By scoring the race based on time, the closer they can get to the runner in front of them, the better they help their team. Likewise, the further they can get ahead of the runner behind them, the better they help their team. It is interesting to note how a team may either move up or down in place in the team scoring when it is based on time rather than points. This represents how close in time the athletes were to the competitors of the other teams ahead and behind them in the scoring.
Spectators can often help here.
By encouraging the athletes to do better during the race they are helping them to get a better score. Another interesting item to note is the Diff. This is the amount of time between the first and fifth athlete on the team and represents how close the team finishes in a pack. Better teams typically finish closer together, whereas weaker teams often finish further apart. Sometimes this time can be a little deceiving however.