Thursday evening saw this year’s running of the Moore Cup, the seventh, and penultimate, race in the club’s Hastings Financial Services sponsored 2023/24 handicap Series. The race started outside Matties in Cairncastle but, having reverted back to its original course, the fourteen runners and John Steele who took part were obliged to turn onto the Weyburn for the run to the finishing line at Cairncastle rather than taking the easier option of continuing straight down the Croft Road to Ballygally car park as per last year. The organisers do have a collective sense of humour after all.
Michelle, accompanied by Mandy, her guide for the night, was the first runner to start, twenty-one minutes ahead of Jordan, who was happy enough to volunteer to start last. As usual, the runners being out of sight of the timekeepers and the gathered spectators once they turned onto the Ballycoose Road, this report is just going to skip the ‘who was running well, who wasn’t, who was in the lead and who was losing ground’ bits and go straight to the finish.
Some forty-seven minutes after Michelle left the starting line, the timekeepers got their first view of the race leader and, as it turned out, the eventual comfortable winner. Laura (Brennan), for it was she, had made up her two-minute handicap and opened up a gap of twenty seconds on Michelle by the time she crossed the finish line in a time of 47:05. This was a first and well deserved handicap success for Laura who has proved herself to be a club stalwart at training and handicap racing over the past few years. Michelle’s second place in 47:25 was testament to the hard work she has put in in recent weeks after months dogged by injury and illness.
Phil (McNeill), a further fifteen second back, crossed the line in third place, easily his best finish in a club handicap. His time of 33:45 was the third fastest of the night. Jordan, making light of his twenty-one minute handicap, finished in fourth place in 27:35, the fastest time of the night by almost six minutes and quite an achievement given the handicap was his third race in seven days. The top five was completed by Phil (Rennix) in 33:32, the second fastest time of the night. The fastest time by a lady was set by Julianne, her time of 39:33, being just six seconds faster than that set by Emma (39:39). The fastest ‘golden oldie’ was Billy (35:09), who wanted me to assure all those doubters in the club that despite his appearance he only qualified for his Smart Pass earlier this year.
Full details of all the times and places are set out in the table below so it only remains for me to mention all the people who helped make the race a success. Thanks to Beverley for the much appreciated tea, coffee and buns; to Jackie, Ruth and Kirsty for helping with the timing; to Diane for organising the prizes; to Paul, Iain, Sean, Rhonda, Laura (Smith); and to Ciara, Geraldine, Julie and Katy (the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse – Cooking, Cleaning, Washing and Ironing) for marshalling. Finally, a special thanks to Hastings Financial Services for their continued and much valued sponsorship of the handicap series.
| Number | Name | H’cap | Race Time | Corrected Time |
| 1 | Laura Brennan | 02:00 | 47:05 | 45:05 |
| 2 | Michelle McIntosh | 00:00 | 47:25 | 47:25 |
| 3 | Phil McNeill | 13:55 | 47:40 | 33:45 |
| 4 | Jordan Heron | 21:00 | 48:35 | 27:35 |
| 5 | Phil Rennix | 15:45 | 49:17 | 33:32 |
| 6 | Dale Smith | 14:25 | 49:27 | 35:02 |
| 7 | Emma McKeen | 10:00 | 49:39 | 39:39 |
| 8 | Ady Marcus | 09:30 | 49:45 | 40:15 |
| 9 | Billy Thompson | 15:25 | 50:16 | 34:51 |
| 10 | Mark Todd | 12:30 | 50:24 | 37:54 |
| 11 | Julianne Keane | 11:00 | 50:33 | 39:33 |
| 12 | Dom Dorris | 13:00 | 50:39 | 37:39 |
| 13 | Beverley Gaston | 08:30 | 51:14 | 42:44 |
| 14 | Paul Tilson | 14:10 | 51:25 | 37:15 |
| 15 | John Steele | 15:35 | 53:23 | 37:48 |