September Harestock Handicap

Matt Lavers is back on the comeback trail....breezing past Gill Goodwin in the home straight to win the September handicap with Caroline Carr a fast-closing close third.

The September handicap usually marks the end of summer with the weather on the turn and dark nights gathering....maybe not last night, sweltering!

We had the usual mix of warm-up strategies with some doing threshold laps, some using the traditional SOS long run sandwich approach but all gathering at the bus-stop in time for the off. It's always a bit of an anxious time....are our 12 out of 12 candidates going to be there? They were. We also had one event newbie, Adam Cleaver, and Caroline turned up for her first handicap outing of the year, welcome both.

Our winner was Matt Lavers, his 2nd outing of the year and seemingly yet another comeback.....certainly running well again and cruising round (8'57 net) to catch Gill Goodwin (11'37) in the home straight. Caroline Carr (7'59) was third.

Results-wise a good night for the handicapper, maintaining the "new winner every month" streak for 2023 and 10 runners enjoying the thrill of that blanket finish sweetspot. Performance-wise less so....distracted at a key moment in the starting sequence (apologies to Ric and Adam) and then running round plum last.

Fastest on the night was Bracken Dawson (6'47) but special mentions here also for Colin McManus (6'57) back into the sub-7 club and our newcomer Adam Cleaver with a fine (7'03) on debut. Fastest lady was the aforementioned Caroline Carr (7'59).

Little change in the overall standings.....Paul Oxley remains our leader and keeps running well, he'll take some catching now. Ian Parker, Colin McManus, Steve Oliver, Lynn McKeague and Carrie Oliver are hot on his heels....don't look behind you Paul.

August Harestock Handicap

Exciting Racing at the August Handicap with Susy Perry a comfortable winner, Carrie Oliver 2nd and Ruben Price 3rd.....but that's only half the story

The August edition of the Harestock Handicap was something of a challenge for the handicapper so apologies if this gets a bit anorak....

Firstly it was a fine evening for running and we had a good turnout with Ethan Skipwith making a very welcome first appearance at the Handicap plus Ruben Price and Susy Perry making their first appearances of the year.

So our winner was Susy Perry (7'54) taking full advantage of the handicapper being caught up in a momentary lapse of reason to power round and be home, hosed and getting cold well ahead of the arriving pack. Carrie Oliver (9'55) was 2nd after starting as the low handicap and holding off all bar one. Ruben Price (5'41) was 3rd with a fine run through the crowd after starting as the high handicap and passing all bar two. Already something of a dream outcome for the handicapper with the podium being filled with athletes from all across our pace spectrum...in handicap racing everyone is in the race and anyone can take that podium place.

On top of that there was a large and competitive bunch of runners racing hard to the line with perhaps 10 athletes in a congested sweetspot....with racing that tight there's soon going to be a demand for sprint training! Then almost incidentally Susy was our 8th different winner this year....8 months, 8 different winners...stuff of dreams.

Excitement too with the quality on display. Ruben Price (5'41) was our fastest on the night and narrowly missed out on the course record currently held at 5'39 by Adrian Fautly. Ethan Skipwith (6'00) was next a fine performance on his first handicap run and good enough to put him straight onto the honours board at No11. The fastest lady was Susy Perry (7'54) but that's only narrowly ahead of Mikaela Price (7'55).

In the overall standings Paul Oxley remains top of the pile with Ian Parker and Colin McManus still in close attendance and tied 2nd at the moment. Plenty time yet with 4 races still to come and 2 discards still to be number crunched into the mix...probably just as well as the Ollies are currently neck and neck to be 4th and 5th overall.

The next handicap event will be the first Thursday in September, the 7th....19.30 first start. I am told that Ruben and Ethan plan to be there again so that course record could be under threat! It would be lovely to see some more of the speedy runners there too so we can have a bit of a burn up at the sharp end....the course is only 1.14 miles, just a pick-up effort for you guys.

July Harestock Handicap

Pete Curtis made a rare appearance at the July handicap...catching and passing Colin McManus in the home straight to run off with the win

The July handicap was anything but normal with many stalwarts away on holiday and a challenging mix of new faces, seldom seen old friends and a few regulars all pitching up to present the handicapper with a real challenge. Big thanks then to Stephen Lowy for stepping up as our guest handicapper for this far from standard handicap event and for maintaining the "new winner every month" streak for 2023.

Our winner on the night was Pete Curtis, running with new found freedom and giving it some welly to catch and pass Colin McManus in the home straight. Paul Oxley was third home just ahead of the main pack.

Fastest on the night was John Reed (6'27) with Pete Curtis (6'39) significantly improving his PB and moving up the honours board. Fastest ladies were Karen Hazlitt and Michaela McCullum who completed a very relaxed trip down memory lane with a sociable 9'05!

In the overall standings little change.....the scoring system ensures that the race stays open so anyone could still win but Paul Oxley keeps scoring steadily and remains our leader, now leading from Colin McManus, Steve Oliver, Ian Parker & Ric Pike.

It was also a dramatic evening in the race for those coveted 12 out of 12 medals....we're down to there being only two people in the whole world still in with a chance...good luck Ian Parker & Paul Oxley!