The Series is held over various courses ranging in distance from 2.4 miles to 4.7 miles. The Handicap Series is a good way for Club members to compete against each other with the slower runners setting out first with everyone else starting at intervals behind them with the theory that everybody finishes at the same time. All courses are clearly marked by arrows so nobody should get lost!! The Series has attracted non-Club members who have run the race as a guest, but these have enjoyed the event so much they became members of the Club.
1 st race – Thursday 28 th May 2009
2 nd race – Thursday 11 th June 2009
3 rd race – Thursday 25 th June 2009
4 th race – Thursday 16 th July 2009
5 th race – Thursday 6 th August 2009
6 th race – Thursday 27 th August 2009
7 th race – Thursday 3 rd September 2009
The last of Club Chairman Pete Nadins’ 2005 Senior Handicap series was held at Ewerby on 24th August over a course officially measured at 4.02Miles
The main contenders for the overall series all battled strongly recording some goods times but after the race in the Finch Hatton Arms the winner was declared as Graham Potter with 142pts, with a superb run on the night. Alan Buckberry moved up the table to finish 2nd overall with 138pts. Matt Ballantyne and Alex Heatherington, who ran all 8 races in the series finished in joint 3d place with 136pts. In 5th equal were John Holderness and Ted Preston on 134pts. Other placings were Steve Roberts (7 th 127), Paul Freemantle (8 th 100) recovering nicely from his knee operation was second finisher on the night in 27 minutes 08 seconds, Emma Lord (9 th 99), Dave Wilcox (10 th 89), Clive Holden (11 th 84), Julie Hanks (12 th 82), Paul Maslem (13 th 76), Steve Jackson (14 th 73), Trevor Brown (15 th 67), Mandy Calladine (16 th 63), Jane James (17 th 60), Sue Hayward (18 th 51), Tom Hanks (19 th 47) winner of the race at Ewerby in 32 minutes 14 seconds, Pat Riches (20 th 41), Ian Hanks (21 st 38), Rio Hanks (21 st 38), Richard Dannatt (22 nd 23), Paul Pocklington (23 rd 22), Julie Porter (24 th 20), Nicola Malthouse (24 th 20), John Siddens (26 th 14), Angie Harvey (27 th 18), Sarah Graves (28 th 12), Ellen Doherty (29 th 11).In the ladies category Alex Heatherington won with 73pts and Emma Lord finished 2nd on 54pts. Julie Hanks finished first lady on the night and confirmed 3rd place with 52pts; Mandy Calladine was 4th with 35pts and Jane James was 5th with 30pts.
In the mens category Graham Potter finished on 118pts for 1st place with Alan Buckberry in 2nd place (116pts). The 3rd place was tied on 115pts between Ted Preston and Matt Ballantyne and 5th place went to John Holderness on (114pts).
Congratulations to all who entered and thanks go to Pete Nadin for organising this years races. 2006 will soon be here, however there are plans for some "blind handicaps" for charity during the winter months.
Last Wednesday saw the final race in this year’s Sleaford Striders handicap series. A giant thanks goes to Pete Nadin for his time and effort to arrange this competition. The 4.7 mile course around Ewerby attracted a field of 17. It was a perfect evening for running and the competitors were treated to a beautiful sunset. Denis Tindall crossed the line first and grabbed some valuable points. Matthew Ballentyne was fastest on the night in 25 minutes 35 seconds. Newcomer Trevor Brown (26:38) enjoyed the course and the handicap format. Emma Lord (28:29) was the first and quickest lady finisher. Julie Hanks had to dig deep just to hold off her son Tom (30:18), aged only 12 he is showing some excellent potential. A grand total of 25 runners competed at some stage this season with the overall winner of the series being Pat Riches with 197 points. She has improved tremendously through the year and is the deserved winner of this competition. She also started more races (11 out of 12) than anybody else with her best 7 placings counting to her impressive total. Joint second were Denis Tindall and Paul Maslem (197 points). Special mention goes to Sarah Graves for competing in 10 races. Paul Maslem won the men’s event with Matthew Ballentyne in second and Denis Tindall in third. Pat Riches also won the lady’s event with Emma Lord and Julie Hanks joint second.