Club Handicap 10K – 22nd August 2017

Report from Nick Nealon

Another great turnout and for the fourth year running we have hit 50, this time equalling the record attendence of 51. There were some difficulties with members who haven’t raced for a while and without supporting evidence of previous events this made timings challenging. A big thanks must go to Stuart Hale for providing a comprehensive list of everyone’s race times; giving me plenty of data to work with in calculating the handicap times.

A great evening with the weather for the barbecue but the humidity made it challenging for the runners with fewer than normal getting inside their Handicap times. Albeit some good times were achieved on what is a fairly difficuly course.

The quickest male on the evening was Nathan Lawson, who takes the club Championship Title for the second time, completing the course in quick 35.12, the quickest since 2011 and nearly a minute quicker than his 2015 win. Nathan is having a tremendous season this year, let’s hope it continues.

The Men’s event saw a very close finish for the Championship placings with Stephen Snow taking 2nd in 38.25, followed very closely by newcomer Kieran Flannery taking 3rd in 38.29. Hopefully the Club can benefit from Kieran’s Gateshead experience. Carl Sommer, a previous Harrier, made a guest apperance to be second quickest on the evening with a 36.24; a couple of minutes down on his course PB of 34.17 from 2011.

The Ladies race didn’t bring the excitement of 2014, but was still fairly close with victory going to Helen Talbot, for her first Championship Title after previously finishing second in 2012. Helen was 70 secs quicker than before and is having one of her best seasons.

In 2nd place for the Ladies was 14 times winner Nicki Nealon (40.42) in a reversal of positions from that 2012 race with stalwart Kathryn Evans (45.53) in 3rd.

First across the finish line with handicaps applied was Julia Morley, a very recent recruit, who had never raced the distance before, running a respectful 58.31 and feeling very chuffed with herself!

Jason Tomkins was the nearest runner to their handicap, being 2 secs adrift to take that prestigeous Title.

During the busiest period we had 28 finishers within 1 min 38 secs! Well over half the field!

This years event saw the largest ever number of female competitors that we have ever had in the Club Championship Handicap event.

Thanks to all the helpers; I have to give special thanks to Marie for the food organisation, including ordering and collecting the chips, along with taking a video for confirmation of placings. Also specific thanks to John Heywood, Phil Watts and Tony Lay for helping time keeping and recording; it’s always challenging getting everyone away on time.

Handicap Results

      No     Name & Time       
1    652    Julia Morley    57.31
2    710    Nick Vernon (v45)    58.18
3    676    Geoff Williams    58.21
4    777    Paula Jennings    58.32
5    636    Katherine Dean    58.49
6    649    Nicki Jones    59.01
7    800    Deb Hulbert    59.09
8    665    Anthony Nicholls (v45)    59.10
9    609    Dave Robinson (v40)    59.12
10    620    Tina Tosh    59.14
11    712    Kieran Flannery    59.20
12    810    Nick Strange (v40)    59.40
13    895    Stephen Snow (v45)    59.41
14    612    Chris Unwin (v40)    59.43
15    711    Jenny Murphy    59.49
16    831    Nicki Nealon    59.50
17    713    Aaron Cox    59.52
18    878    Jason Tomkins    59.58 
                   BASE TIME    60.00
19    718    Duncan Smith (v45)    60.06
20    619    Hugh Potter (v55)    60.10
21    617    Sue Gardner    60.11
22    608    Gev Jones (v60)    60.14
23    778    Helen Talbot    60.16
24    852    David Lawson (V50)    60.18
25    728    Neil Parry (v40)    60.19
26    812    Claire Edwards    60.25
27    855    Nathan Lawson    60.30
28    623    Kathryn Evans    60.31
29    704    Andrew Spare (v45)    60.35
30    840    Liz Hill    60.36
31    618    Leonard Symeonides (v40)    60.37
32    884    Gareth Chivers    60.38
33    621    Helen Mercer    60.42
34    611    Mark Larratt (v40)    60.47
35    657    Nicki Nicholls    61.10
36    865    Carl Sommer (Guest)    61.11
37    679    Wendy Thompson    61.12
38    811    Graeme Slight (v55)    61.17
39    885    Andy Wilford (v50)    61.17
40    753    Rachel Trivett    61.40
41    766    Mark Deary (v45)    61.44
42    861    Jonathan Wells (v40)    61.57
43    771    Stephen Best (v45)    62.13
44    705    Julie Banton    62.25
45    790    Stuart Hale    62.34
46    648    Carol Maguire    62.35
47    603    Barry Hibberd (v60)    62.40
48    668    Trudi Unwin    64.16
49    635    Mike McSharry (v55)    64.17
50    763    Lucy Hodkinson    64.20
51    622    Janet Richardson    64.41

Men’s 10K Championship Results

   Name & Time       
1 Nathan Lawson 35.12
2 Carl Sommer (Guest) 36.24
3 Stephen Snow (v45) 38.25
4 Kieran Flannery 38.29
5 Jason Tomkins 39.10
6 Gareth Chivers 39.59
7 Aaron Cox 40.09
8 Nick Strange (v40) 40.22
9 Hugh Potter (v55) 43.02
10 Mark Deary (v45) 43.16
11 Dave Robinson (v40) 43.50
12 Neil Parry (v40) 44.57
13 David Lawson (V50) 45.09
14 Nick Vernon (v45) 45.25
15 Jonathan Wells (v40) 45.27
16 Graeme Slight (v55) 45.55
17 Barry Hibberd (v60) 46.10
18 Duncan Smith (v45) 46.11
19 Anthony Nicholls (v45) 46.17
20 Andy Wilford (v50) 46.26
21 Chris Unwin (v40) 46.50
22 Mark Larratt (v40) 46.52
23 Andrew Spare (v45) 46.59
24 Leonard Symeonides (v40) 47.01
25 Stephen Best (v45) 47.03
26 Mike McSharry (v55) 49.20
27 Stuart Hale 52.35
28 Geoff Williams 52.43
29 Gev Jones (v60) 53.28

Ladies 10K Championship Results

   Name & Time       
1 Helen Talbot 40.08
2 Nicki Nealon 40.42
3 Kathryn Evans 45.53
4 Tina Tosh 46.21
5 Rachel Trivett 47.20
6 Wendy Thompson 48.07
7 Helen Mercer 48.20
8 Paula Jennings 48.33
9 Sue Gardner 49.41
10 Katherine Dean 49.46
11 Julie Banton 50.05
12 Trudi Unwin 50.52
13 Lucy Hodkinson 50.56
14 Jenny Murphy 52.50
15 Claire Edwards 54.10
16 Nicki Jones 54.19
17 Liz Hill 54.58
18 Deb Hulbert 57.09
19 Julia Morley 58.31
20 Carol Maguire 59.45
21 Nicki Nicholls 61.02
22 Janet Richardson 66.41
23 Jane Benson 67.17