It was a perfect night for running as the racers lined up in order of their handicaps outside St Senan’s ready for a quick 2K dash  to the new bridge and back along the prom to the finish.

With a number of people away or injured or opting to give a hand, the field was somewhat smaller than usual. Peter Ryan who was 18th starter with a handicap of 3 mins, 30 seconds was first across the finish line. The handicapping worked well with nearly everyone finishing within half a minute of each other.

The handicaps were based on each runners best finish time over the last three weeks. The slowest time was 10.45. So this runner started at 0.00. Then for example Mag’s best time was 9.24. The difference between 10.45 and 9.24 is 1min 21 seconds. So Mag went out at 1 minute 21 seconds after the first runner. The same calculation was done for everyone and that is where the handicaps and start times came from. GET IT?!!

It’s wonderful to see everyone pushing themselves in order to try and catch the runners in front and, of course, stay ahead of the chasing pack. It makes for great speed training!We will leave the handicaps the same for the fifth and final week.

We would like to continue with some form of Wednesday race in February but in a format that requires much less person power so that everyone has a chance to run. We have a few ideas but would like you to make suggestions.

Results are below in the order that runners crossed the line. The times are the actual time it took each person to run.This is calculated from the finish clock time minus the handicap for each runner. I hope I haven’t confused you all again now!