Gamesmanship is always fierce in the club 4m Christmas handicap, with members down playing their recent achievements and identifying allsorts of ailments prior to the handicaps being announced in order to try and influence those all important starting times. However, predicting who will win is practically impossible as all runners have an equal chance with the faster members starting later.
This years winner in cold, windy conditions was Roy Traynor in a time of 30:26 (3:00 HC), beating his predicted time by 34sec and a 44 sec winning margin. With the spring season just around the corner, Roy is coming into form just at the right time. Second was John Hawker with a time of 31:10 (4:32 HC), closely pursued by Danny Legg 31:27 (5:20 HC). First lady home was Alison McDonald with a time of 32:27 (3:00 HC). This was also the fastest running time by a lady, with Graham Earlham posting the fastest overall time of 24:36 (+ 8:50 HC).
Club signs star of the future
The club would like to congratulate Nicky Bird and Mathew Whitfield on the birth of their first child Daniel, born on Thursday 27th December and weighing in at 8lb 12oz. While talk of potential may be slightly premature, with both parents, grandmother and uncle all being current champions in various local leagues, a future in sport, if he chooses may pay great dividends. There is currently talk in the dressing room of buying a tangerine baby grow, in the hope orange becomes his favourite colour.
