Spring Handicap, 25th April 2016
The weather did its best to make this seem more like a winter handicap than a spring one, but luckily the sleet and hail had passed over the Town Moor before the start of the race. It was still a very cold and windy evening for the 34 runners, and must have felt colder still for the marshals.
We were joined by 3 guests from an Active Newcastle ladies group and another lady guest, and Nina agreed to act as guide. So a group of 5 went off together as the “scratch” runners, 3 minutes ahead of the first Claremont runner to start.
This proved to be too much of an advantage for two of the Active Newcastle group, as Cath Robson and Penny Hunter romped home well clear of the field. Cath was officially declared the winner with Penny second.
Alice Vialard demonstrated once again how she is improving week by week to be a clear winner of the trophy as first Claremonter to finish. Alice was well ahead of another guest, Laura Florez, who held off a strong finish from Dean O’Brien. Chris Jones just pipped Luke Woodend to take the final place on the Claremont podium.
In the final of the Spring Cup, Julie Dumpleton was a clear winner from perennial finalist Sarah Kerr, with Sarah Bowen and Leanne Salem the other competitors.
Whilst the final of the Spring Cup was an all ladies affair, the finalists for the Summer Cup will be all men – David Devennie, Jamie Harding, Dave Kear and Matthew Kingston will wear the light blue armbands in July’s run.
Jonny Evans was fastest on the night with a very impressive time of 17:27 with Fraser Easton finishing in 17:48 to give two sub-18 minute runs for the first time since I have been recording the results. Matthew Kingston and Roberto Marzo were the other 2 runners who recorded sub-20 minutes.
Mandy Herworth was fastest lady in 22:37, followed by Sarah Kerr (23:26) and Lucy Dunbar (23:31).
