September Harestock Handicap

Harestock Handicap

8 Sept

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.

Steve Oliver

Steve leads the Thursday "SOS" training sessions & does a bit of Team Management.
He's a decent marathon runner and an active older bloke.

Disciplines: Endurance running

Ages: Seniors Days Tuesday & Thursday evenings

My coaching background: At a CC6 race in late 2011 we were chatting about how difficult it was for a “medium paced” runner to find the right training group once they had progressed beyond their first “beginner” experiences but still felt a bit intimidated by the “fast” groups.

Some “friends” – including my wife – suggested I might enjoy filling that medium paced gap and the rest is history. I am now qualified as a Leader in Running Fitness and take an all comers medium paced running group on a Thursday evening.

Why I enjoy coaching: It is fun. Not just the sessions themselves (I generally train alongside the athletes in my sessions) but also I get a buzz from seeing runners developing into athletes who are competing in the Black & Gold and scoring for our teams.

My sporting history: I have always enjoyed running as a way of trying to keep fit and enjoy some personal time whilst away on business and trying to combat aeroplane food and/or jetlag. I enjoyed a number of mass participation fun runs, half marathons and marathons over the years before trying club running as a mid-life novice with WADAC back in the noughties. Since then I have tried my hand (or rather my feet/legs/breathing) at most of the events that WADAC compete in and managed to enjoy most of them. The best advice I was given Rest that niggle before it becomes an injury.

September Harestock Handicap

Casper breaks age group club record

HRRL Overton 5