Summer Handicap - 30th June
A couple of hours before the end time of this years summer handicap there were 38 confirmed entries. An hour after the finish time of 7.30 there were nearer 60 Stubbies, supporters and families in the garden of the Seahorse PH enjoying a drink and the marvelous hot buffet.
It was a lovely summers evening for the four and a half mile run along Stokes Bay and through the byways of Clayhall and Alverstoke. There was the usual joking, jockeying and close scrutiny of precise start times as the green clad runners set off to see who could get closest to the finish time of 7.30 - without the help of a timepiece. The fact that there is a clock on St Marys church in Alverstoke did not escape the eagle eye of some runners, but it did not help most as only a very few finished within a minute either side of 7.30.
It was a close finish for two couples, Ann and John Blake finished at 7.30.35 and 7.30.37 respectively; but the winners of the cuddly toy and a conveyor belt on the night were the intrepid - soon to be down under marathon duo of - Gill Rose and Richard Snell who snatched victory by crossing the line, (ok went passed the flag), at 7.29.32 and 7.29.34. There was a slight delay in confirming the result as Jaz, the chief timekeeper, was holding three concurrent conversations, calling out the time and ordering her post race Pernod all at the same time. Having checked that she was holding the clock the right way up and there was plenty of ice in the pub the result was duly confirmed.
Paul Hammond.