Christmas Handicap 2018

Houghall, Durham, Sunday, December 16, 2018

Handicap Course

Pam Kirkup

The Christmas Handicap came within a whisker of being cancelled this year. A few days before the deadline, I had only 6 entrants and quite a few apologies from people who would normally take part but were doing other races or Christmassy things. But then there was a flurry of last-minute entries and on the morning of the race, there were 34 runners, about normal for the last few years.

The theme for fancy dress this year was ‘Movies past and present’ – lots of scope in that, I thought. George Nicholson and David Shipman had agreed to lead off the ‘scratch runners’ so that anybody new to the course would not get lost (more about that later!) and the various turning points and ‘hazards’ were well marked with arrows and tinsel.

And so we were all set to get going at 11.00 … except that the only ‘scratch’ runner hadn’t turned up. So I had to do a quick revision of the handicapping – mostly in my head.

Where’s Allan Seheult when you need him? He’d have done it in a heartbeat! So David (alias Where’s Wally and George (alias Banana Man?) set off with the 3 new scratch runners, followed by Wendy (the Riddler) Littlewood. There were some amazing costumes including Captain America, Crocodile Dundee, a nun, a busy-bee and Conrad who seemed to be a downhill racer!

It was a good day for running – not too cold, sunny and the only bit of ice was on part of the footpath and on the corner at Houghall Lane. Everyone entered into the spirit of it – the bran tub was overflowing and Santa entertained passers-by as usual.

The first across the finish line was Fiona Harrington Hughes in 47 minutes. Fastest male was Bryan Potts in 32:07, the fastest female was Fiona Brennan in 34:56. All 3 juniors got prizes – the fastest being Lewis Littlewood in 41:01. The rest of the prizes were for fancy dress. And then we come to the last across the finish line … we waited but there was no sign. And then someone said ‘Is that not him running down from Shincliffe Bank?’. Completely from the wrong direction! He had just kept going past Houghall Lane in spite of the large arrow and tinsel directing runners to turn right. Obviously ‘in the zone’! Anyway, he saw the funny side of it.

Afterwards, we went to the Court Inn for the Christmas Carvery and the prize giving. Fancy Dress prizes went to (in no particular order) Lizzy Wallace, Conrad White, Mike Bennett, Anna Mason, George Nicholson, Lesley Charman, David Shipman, Wendy Littlewood, Tim Matthews, Lesley Hamill, Karen Byng, Fiona Kinghorn Jones, Joanne Richardson, Sam Renwick, Jonathan Hamill and Fiona Brannan.

Once again it was a very enjoyable and sociable event.

More Photo’s can be found here.

Name5 mile timeHandicapFinish timeActual time
Bryan Potts29.0022.0054.0732.07
Fiona Brannan29.0022.0055.5633.56
Sam Renwick30.0021.0055.2134.21
Terry Robertson35.0016.0051.5935.49
David Holcroft35.0016.0051.5735.57
Lewis Littlewood40.0011.0047.0136.01
Conrad White37.0014.0051.2437.24
Mike Bennett34.0017.0056.4839.38
Lizzie Wallace43.008.0049.4141.41
Anna Mason42.009.0052.0643.06
Tim Matthews42.009.0053.4844.48
Oscar Littlewood40.0011.0056.0345.03
Graham Perry38.0013.0058.4145.41
Fiona Harrington Hughes51.000.0047.0047.00
Lesley Charman43.008.0055.1947.19
Wendy littlewood48.003.0051.1048.10
Joanne Mustard43.008.0059.1251.12
Fiona Kinghorn Jones45.006.0058.1652.16
Karen Byng45.006.0058.1652.16
Lesley Hamill45.006.0058.1652.16
Danielle Glassey46.005.0059.0954.09
David Shipman51.000.0056.4256.42
George Nicholson51.000.0058.0158.01
Joanne Richardson51.000.0058.0158.01
Erin51.000.0059.1259.12

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