July handicap report

Well, there's no point sugar-coating these things. Normally, the Handicap team are mightily impressed by the performances at our race but unfortunately on this occasion we need to give the runners a stiff talking-to.

Ok, the drizzle was a bit depressing, but there were only five PBs, which must be a record low, so more effort in August please!

One runner not already thinking about his post-race coffee and bun was David Evans. Coming virtually from the back of the field, David flashed by 60 other Serpies to win by more than a minute and take 50 seconds off his PB. Well done to him...and congratulations also to Kiera Attwooll, who came second yet again, and to Phil McCubbins, who completed the podium.

There were other fine performances from Anne Bennett, Matthew Williams, Romain Benvenuto, and Encarna Rodriguez, who ran PBs; while David Smart put in the best age-graded effort. There was genuine shock among the timekeepers when we saw Sid Wills cross the line in seventh...a result which will only stand definitively once we've sent anti-doping experts to his wine cellar!

On a more serious note, we had the first accident we can remember at the Handicap when one of our runners was tripped up by a dog that scuttled between his legs. Naturally, as a battle-hardened Serpie, the victim finished the race, but do be careful out there and remember that other park-users need to be respected. That even goes for the annoying woman who feeds swans on the course!

All good things come to an end, and sadly the Handicap Team are losing Nick Tucker, who is moving to Scotland. Many thanks to him and his girlfriend Eva for all their work on the race...and a warm welcome to Norfolk Nick, aka Nick Fairclough, who will be taking over the "Bloke Called Nick" slot on our team.

In his Handicap swansong, Scottish Nick rustled up a great team of volunteers so thanks to all of them for coming. They were Bev Thomas, James Stratford, John D'Souza, David Hinds, Andrew Maynard, Elizabeth Stoppelmoor, Adam Borneleit, Gemma Phillips, Lee Morrow, Richard Wisdom, Baiju McCubbins, Lera Pakhomova and Garnet Walters.

See you in August!
Your Handicap Team

Submitted: 12 July 2014

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