Claremont Winter Handicap, 30th January 2017
It was as nice an evening for running as can be expected at this time of year for the latest club handicap – a bit chilly but dry and not too much wind. The 35 runners who took part along the Quayside course were led home by Christopher Smilie, who pipped Susannah Orr by 5 seconds. Christopher is still in the process of joining Claremont, so the honour of being the Winter Handicap champion therefore belongs to Susannah.
Susannah is a worthy winner, improving her time significantly from her last handicap outing in October in order to beat the handicapper. Jon Reast came in 3rd to complete the podium places with Catherine Young in 4th (and therefore 3rd member to finish).
Fastest runner on the night was another guest, Stephen Barker, in an impressive 23:45. The fastest Claremont runners were Paul Robinson in 25:17 and Catherine Young in 25:26. Dan Edwards (25:30) and Tom Tinsley (25:55) completed the list of 3 fastest Claremont men, while Hannah Mainprize (26:53) and Sarah Bowen (28:56) were 2nd and 3rd fastest ladies respectively.
As neither Luke Woodend nor Roberto Marzo could make it on the evening, the final of the Winter Cup was a straight shootout between Alice Vialard and Dave Kear. In an exciting finish, Dave just held off a faster-finishing Alice to win the trophy by just 1 second. Dave will have the chance to defend the title next time when he will compete for the Spring Cup with Kenny McCormick, Robyn Wynn and Sarah Bowen.
As ever, thanks to Terry and his team of marshals for standing out in the cold so that we could all run.
