The 2025 handicap series (it’s the 14th year we have been doing this) got off to a roaring start last night when we had 27 runners out to contest the first event event in the 2025 handicap series. In an eclectic and inclusive mix of runners of all ages from not-quite-teenagers to 70yr olds we had four very welcome newbies (Tom Savill, Ryan Gresty, Sophie Black and Sue True, where have you been Sue??) and of course 27 runners making their first appearance of the year.
First race of the year is full of chancers trying to take negotiate some sort of “too many mince pies” adjustment to their handicap, tonight was no different. Some were lucky and in lovely dry, windless but cold conditions we had no fewer than 16 runners beating their handicap. The sweet spot for the blanket finish was some 10secs below par and 11 runners were there to enjoy that particular pleasure.
Our winner was Carrie Oliver (27secs under handicap), one of only 5 athletes who have now taken part in each of the 14 handicap seasons, who held off the (very) fast finishing Jack Sansome (25 secs under) who passed Lou Snook (23 secs under) to take second place in the sprint to the line.
Fastest on the night overall was the aforementioned Tom Savill (6’10 and straight onto the all-time honours board at #18). Ryan Gresty (6’29, in at #49), Jack Sansome (6’42, in at #77) and Tom Hansen (6’45) were our other sub-7 speedsters. Amber Price (7’20) was our fastest female with Liz Marshall (7’54) and Sarah Witt (7’58) the other sub-8 females.
The overall standings are a more than a little meaningless but nice to record that Carrie Oliver is currently in the lead! More importantly the scoring system includes 4 discards so missing the first event is no barrier to winning the overall series, do come along and get yourself into the mix next month.
One thing that missing the first event does mean is that you now have no chance of winning a coveted and specially engraved 12 out of 12 medal…..there are nearly 8.2 billion people in this world but only 27 of them still have a chance of getting one of those in 2025.
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 second race of the 2025 series will be on 6th February. More info here: Harestock Handicap