Dursley Running Club Handicap Series

FINAL RESULTS 

Tuesday the 13^th was lucky for some as the last in the Dursley Running Club’s Handicap series took place. After a slightly delayed start, John Hensman led off the field.

The participating runners keyed themselves up as their start time approached. Some cursing their efforts at the previous event that had relegated them down to starting order, but that is the beauty of the format the handicaps working to try and get everyone finishing together, although this creates a nightmare for the timekeepers. Despite heavy thunderstorms during the day humidity levels were still high, runners having to “chew the air” as Neil Parry accurately put it. As the light started to fade the first runner passed Hamfield lane with a round a quarter of a mile to go. Nicki Cowle had passed the 17 runners in front of her, and reprising her parkrun form continued on to victory stopping her clock at 43:03. Behind her John Hensman manfully held on to second place. Emma Keating was ninth in at 46:06 and over the next three minutes 50 of the 71 runners taking part finished, with a number of intense efforts made to catch  the runners in front. Mike Crompton was fastest on the night in 20:34 with Margaret Johnson fastest woman in 26:27.

The Overall Winner with 20 points was a surprised Nathalie Langley. who walked away with a bottle of bubbly and the Women's plate.

The top three in the categories were

Women                        Points              Men                             Points

1^st        Nathalie Langley             20                    Steve Peers                 36

2^nd        Jadie Cotterell                22                    Simon Jones                43

3^rd        Carolien Jones                30                    Mike Brown                  45

Of course it does to help to run like a girl because the top three runners were Caroline Jones, Jadie 'doesn't touch the sides" Cottrell and  the overall winner as you will have seen was Nathalie Langley.

As I said last night great to see new members up there in the prizes, and also good to see Steve flying the flag for the "old stool", taking away the mens's plate. AGM will see more handicap related prizes once we have had a chance to peruse the spreadsheet in more detail.

Race 4 Results

RACE 3 

A mere 57 athletes were at the August handicap with the holidays taking their toll of starters, but this was still an impressive number. Emma Keating crossed the line first around half a minute a of Pete Brown, with Susannah Gwilliam 22 second behind Pete but then the runners started coming in thick and fast. Brad Johsnon was fastest on the night but had Tom Smith in close attendance with Nigel just eight seconds in arrears of Dursley new talent. Keenly Smith was fast sets woman with a time of 25:30 and the constantly improving Sam Martin posting time of 26:56. 

RACE 2 

An eventful night, runners without numbers, runners missing start, and shenneanigans in the funnel meaning not all numbers recorded , and one time too many! The joys! So results are provisional! Anyway apart from those who were throwing up or not finishing everyone else seemed to enjoy it! and most putting in considerable effort. Emily Harding was first home, Luci Lai second and Karen Eadon third, first man home Steve Peers, Andrew Kilby hot on his heels and Mike Brownthird. 

Joe Browning fastest man in 21:37 and Keeley Smith fastest woman in 24:36 just in front of Kimberley Bird. We had two guests one planned Rob Hale who was sadly crocked so a DNS and a surprise guest from Canada MJ Monpetit who finished in 33:10.

Well done everyone, thank you to Ray Williams, Rob Woodward, Dave Lane, Annette Heylings, Kelly Gabb, Cara Zoglowek, Deborah Helen McFarland and John Hieron for help. 

RACE 1

The first club Handicap race saw a record breaking 81 athletes starting at Hamfield Leisure. As ever the fastest last format causes a few nerves as runners are called to the start line to await their turn.Julie King was first off in ideal weather conditions; cool with intermittent drizzle. A steady stream of runners were marshalled to the start line to be put under starters orders by Rob Woodward. The women were at the forefront on this first event , Lisa Gillooly, three and a half minutes faster than her predicted time, coming in first, just two seconds in front of Erica Fuller with Nicki Cowle and Charlotte Palmer in close attendance. All significantly faster than their estimated times. Chris Sweet was first man home, with Simon Jones and Kevin Higgins next in.

There were few sprints to the line, as requested, but many runners finished with a traditional endurance runners gimace to show they had left nearly everything out on the course. Some were unsure they liked the format, the loneliness of the long distance runner coming to the fore, plus the temptation to chase down the runner in front leading to some over cooking  the early part of the race. Tony Ball said that he likes shorter races such as the hundred metres where he can see the start and finish line from where he is standing. It was pointed out that you can do this at the handicap, and so we expect great things of Tony now we know it's one of his favourite type of races!

Mike Crompton was fastest on the night in 20:43, with Brad Johnson and Tim Ennis over a minute behind him. Molly Willcox was fastest woman on the night almost 30 seconds faster than Margaret Johnson. A number of runners have got some low scores in, but things can change rapidly over the course of the series, especially as the handicapping changes.

Again as ever a huge thanks to Ray Williams for setting up the course and getting all the equipment to site, Rob Woodward, Dave Lane, Annette Heylings, Tara Truman, John Rogers, Kate Browning, Julia Newman, Sue Jones, Kelly Gabb, Rich Shirley Charlotte Pitts and John Hensman, with all your help it ran like clockwork.

If you did not run in the first race and HAVE NOT submitted an entry on the google form please either e-mail Dave Durden or pm him with your latest an accurate 5K time or equivalent. Please do so ASAP

Results Race 1

Please note:

1. If you can car share that would be fantastic
2. Get there 6PM for 6:15 so that you can sign in so we know who is running. The clock  time of starts  is based on Emily starting at 18:30 If she or any of the early starters cannot make it then we will start the clock earlier so the first runner goes off as close to 6.30 as possible.
3. When you sign in you need to highlight (highlighter pen provided) your name on the start list so we know you have made it
4. Warm ups are good but we will have whips gathering starters so they are close to the start line, as we get going the times between starters will get quite small.

We may have in the region of 100 plus runners so RUNNING SAFELY IS PARAMOUNT

PLEASE STAY TO THE LEFT

LOOK OUT FOR TRAFFIC AT ANY JUNCTIONS IN PARTICULAR THE FIRST CROSSING AT HAMFIELD LANE

LEAVE IT ON THE COURSE, WITH THE NUMBERS RUNNING AND PLANNED CLOSE FINISHES BIG SPRINTS ARE LIKELY TO CASUE MAYHEM - KICK WITH @ HAMFIELD LANE A 1/4 MILE TO GO!

WHEN YOU FINISH MOVE DOWN THE FUNNEL WITHOUT NIPPING IN FRONT OF ANYONE SO IT WILL BE A VERY LONG FUNNEL AND YOU HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY TO THE END SO THAT WE CAN GET YOU NUMBER