Harestock Handicap - May 2023
We keep saying perfect conditions for the Handicap but this was...the council had even upgraded the running surface ahead of the May race and folks filled their boots with 2/3 of the field meeting or beating their handicaps.
nOur winner on the night was Paul Oxley (7'33 net) well under handicap and taking the line honours for the first time since 2017. Perhaps running the RR10 at Itchen Valley the night before took the edge off Ian Parker's fabled finishing kick but he couldn't hold it to the line and was pipped to 2nd with (7'55 net). John Mills (8'04 net) was third overtaking Lou Snook (9'42 net) off the last bend. Such a spread of different pace abilities in contention to the line just illustrates the fun of handicap racing...all very inclusive fun and so far we've had a different winner in every month of 2023.
nFastest on the night was James Day (6'59) and our fastest lady was again Lynn McKeague (8'20). Special kudos here to all those (Parker, Mills, Snook, McManus, Lowy) who backed up their RR10 efforts at Itchen Valley on Wednesday night with a handicap beating performance at Harestock on Thursday night.
nAs regards the overall standings we keep saying it's still wide open because it is....with all the discards even if you haven't yet run a handicap in 2023 you could still get involved and be the overall winner. In any event each race is itself fun. That said it's worth mentioning that Paul Oxley's steady improvement mean he currently sits top of the pile.
nMore importantly with a few regulars missing (something to do with the local elections) we're now down to only 7 people in the whole world who still have a chance of winning a coveted "12 out of 12" medal in 2023.
nThe June Handicap will be, as ever, on the first Thursday of the month...the 1st of June.
nMeet at the bus-stop warmed up and ready to go at 19.30 (the run/handicap/run combo) or join us up there from 19.00 for some threshold loops as your warmup with the handicap lap as a "fast rep" to finish (the thresh/handicap combo).