Our Club's Annual Handicap Races, has been going for 10 years and is a favorite within the Club. Today all of our 'pro' runners are absent, they are in SA racing. The day starts with the 120m Handicap, 4 heats of 6/7 per race, a couple of the open age ladies and one or 2 of the senior men are there, the remainder are juniors. Thru to the final are Tom W (last years winner), Luke H & brother Darren (both sprinter/hurdlers), Lianne (30ish sprinter), and 3 others (names escape me). Tom W is our Club's premier sprinter and of course he is way at the back and Lianne is the front marker with 5 in between. Darren H is victorious, he holds his hand aloft on the line, which is funny because he only won by a very little bit and from my angle I couldn't tell, it always amazes me that some know exactly what is happening around them.
Twenty minutes later the 1000m guys & gals line up, the handicap is a closed system, using known 800 & 1500 times and a few guesses for others who have raced only upto 400 or the ones who race 3 & 5kms. As I can feel this morning's run I will concentrate on a steady start, the gun goes and with 30m I pull in right behind Tash (17) and follow along, at the 200m I hear 36s, so I'm very happy and hold that pace, I sit right behind Tash for the first 620m, she is dropping now and I want to catch Bec (16) or I will never hear the end of it, :-) , I move around Tash on the bend and start to try and pick up Darren H (14) & Bec, but the 10m is too much, we get into the finishing straight and Darren kicks away & passes Bec, I cannot go with him and I finish 1.1sec behind Bec. Time 3:10.1 (4 sec faster than last year), very happy with time considering I raced 5k yesterday & ran this morning. Luke S lead the entire race, finishing 2m 30 something and Cam 2 sec behind. The handicap winner is Loren (13), which is good, the trophy goes back to a distance runner and she is the first girl in more than 5 years. A good day is had!
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