Christmas Handicap - frosty fun

A frosty start to the day did not deter Harriers young and old and a large crowd of supporters from this morning's annual Calderglen Harriers Christmas Handicap Fun Run. The 0.8 mile lap of the country park drive and Strathaven Road pavement was mainly thawed or at worst a thin layer of crunchy snow giving everyone the chance to run freely (or at least as freely as the fancy dress costumes would allow). The youngest junior Harriers (under 11's and under 13's) had completed their 0.8 mile run earlier in the morning whilst the older juniors (under 15's and under 17's) joined the seniors for the 5 lap, 4 mile race. 

As always, the form book was closely inspected beforehand to determine (guess) the predicted finishing times and hence the starting handicaps. Interestingly, the juniors, despite their relative lack of experience ran much closer to form than many of the seniors, although the seniors had the extra handicap of inappropriate to highly inappropriate costumes for running to further handicap them. With only a lone Santa (Gordon), there was a chance for the superheroes and cartoon characters to shine this year (except for Frances, who forgot to unbox herself before running). 

With each lap the handicaps started to unwind and the field became closer and closer. However, with two laps to go, it was clear that one of our very strong field of juniors was likely to win for the second year in a row. But which one? Despite a very strong run by last year's winner, Francis Santangeli, the first to cross the line was Teagan Giroux, who really picked up the pace on the final lap, finishing in a scratch time of 32:24. Hot on her heels was another junior, Kieran Rooney, who was third fastest of all on the last lap to finish in 28:35 and second fastest junior. Last year's winner, Francis Santangeli, was third across the line and set the fastest time of the day with a very impressive 24:28. Francis overtook the first (very definitely) non-junior of the day, Eddie Reid, who really did have a tiger in his tank and ran very well despite the costume to finish in 29:11.

The fastest woman of the day was the yellow streak, aka Karen Allen, finishing third fastest overall in 28:15. Second fastest girl was the first junior, Rachel McPhillips, in 29:39.

All the finishing times and (approximate) lap splits are available here:

https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=300147

Thanks to all who assisted and supported on the day, particularly Kenny Leinster who helped me identify the runners as they passed the timing point on each lap and the finish line.

Finally, a festive caption competition:

Alan