Winter Series 2023/24 Race 2

Wednesday 13th December.

A much lower turnout of only 68 runners for the second race of the 2023/24 Winter Series competition, perhaps the clash with Newcastle United’s home Champions League match had an impact? The weather was again kind, with a cold, dry and fairly calm night greeting the runners.
Richard Robinson was the runaway winner with a clock time of 32:45, almost 2 minutes in front of second placed Steven French (34:36), with Leanne Herron winning a close for battle for third (35:02), just in front of Alison French and Lindsay Wright. As in race 1 the majority of runners (56 of the 68 taking part), finished within a minute either side of the projected handicap time. The early overall leaders after the 2 races are: Brenda McPherson (12pts), Steven French (17) and Kevin King (21).
Winners in the team competition were “Bickerton’s Bounders” on a ridiculously low team slow of 38pts (finishing positions being 2nd, 4th, 14th and 18th), followed by “The Runbetweeners” and race 1 winners “Keeping Up With The Kids” with 104 and 109 pts respectively. The top three in the team competition are: “Keeping Up With The Kids” (53pts), “Bickerton’s Bounders (48) and “The Stamp Collectors” (46).
Fastest finisher for the second consecutive time was Harry Riches with 14:10 (improving by just over 20 seconds from race 1), and fastest female was Kandis Watson with 15:45.
One runner accidently started 30 seconds early, their finishing position has been adjusted to reflect the position they would have finished in if starting at the correct time. Also, one runner came down and ran on the night with a “guestimated” handicap, he is listed in the results but will not be included in the overall results.
Many thanks to Tony, the Handicapper (Stig), the timekeepers, the recorders and all the helpers on the night.
Next race Wednesday 17th January – see you all there.