Autumn Handicap, 27th October 2025
It was a dry evening with, for a change, very little wind, and not too cold- so, all in all, a good evening for a handicap race along the River Tyne. Thirty runners started from outside the Copthorne Hotel and ran to the turning point just before Scotswood Road – though some said it was a bit further than usual as Mungai stood further up the hill than the normal turnaround marshal!
Peter Henderson led the pack home to claim the prize – showing that he is getting back to his best after a recent layoff. The ever-improving Lena Lou was rapidly gaining on him, but Peter had enough to hold on. There was a photo finish for 3rd place, with Ann Smith getting the nod over Paul Robinson.
Lena’s second place finish saw her retain the quarterly knockout cup, now renamed the Terry Welsh Cup in honour of the Claremont legend who came up with the idea in the first place. Lena had a fairly comfortable lead over Tara Hipwood in second, with Roberto Marzo and David Lydall the other finalists.
Despite recovering from injury and the little matter of a recent trip to Chicago to run a marathon, Mark Anderson was still the fastest runner on the night in 24:06. Roberto Marzo (24:37) and Alex Taylor (25:06) took the honours as 2nd and 3rd quickest respectively. It was a close-fought thing for the honour of being fastest female, with just 8 seconds separating the top 3. In a correction to the results as announced on the night, Nina Jensen took the crown in a time of 30:40, 7 seconds ahead of Lena, who, in turn, was 1 second quicker than Tara.
The social, awards ceremony and pizza fest took place in the familiar settings of The Carriage. Many thanks to Anna Round, who had to source a new pizza supplier, and to all the marshals and officials who helped make the night a success.
