19 runners gathered at the busstop for the July edition of the Harestock handicap. On a glorious evening that promised some fast times we were happy to welcome back Timo Reinholt, making his first appearance of the year, and we had 2 newbies in Harriet Quast and Stephen Clow.
Our winner on the night was Stephen Lowy, enjoying a rare opportunity to run without the responsibilities of being handicapper and running like a man set free! Stephen Clow had the unenviable pleasure of hearing those size 14’s approaching fast behind him and being unable to hold off the irresistible force of nature that is big Steve. Sarah Witt, on a fast run to third, had the pleasure of watching it all unfold.
Despite the chopping and changing of the handicapper this year we have still managed to have 7 different winners and last night contrived to have 8 runners in the sweet spot and 2 runners in a dead heat bang on the par time. Happy days.
Fastest on the night was Pete Sansome (6’11) with young Jack Sansome (6’43) and Kevin Frisby (6’52) our sub-7 speedsters. No PB’s there but amongst the ladies Sarah Witt (7’25) was our fastest on the night with a new PB on the handicap. This moves Sarah up to #25 on the ladies honours board and just ahead of Liz Marshall whose PB dating from 2019 is also (7’25). The competition is pretty fierce though as Liz ran (7’28) and is herself threatening a new PB sometime soon. Congratulations also to Harriet Quast (7’57) who joins our sub-8 ladies honours board at #37.
Good luck to those runners doing the Cotswolds Relay and/or the Lordshill 10k this weekend, hopefully no hamstrings were over-tasked in the joyful sprint to the line at the busstop!
New to this and wondering what it is all about? A monthly handicap race (on the first Thursday of the month) around an urban 1.14-mile loop in the Harestock area of Winchester. That means that the next race in the 2025 series will be on 7th August. More info here: Harestock Handicap