The Boxing Day race, probably because it is the only handicap open to non-club members, provides an opportunity to meet some old faces, some new faces and some strange faces (and there are few stranger than those of runners approaching the finish line at the end of a hard race) and always attracts the biggest entry of any race in the Hastings Financial Services sponsored series. This in itself is hardly surprising, but given that the run-up to Christmas involves so much time cleaning and tidying to get the house ready for the big day, not to mention (a strange expression given that I’m just about to mention it) the inordinate amount of time spent slaving over a hot stove on Christmas morning itself, it’s a wonder that so many men were able to work up the energy to charge around Carnfunnock, all for the chance to take home one of the scarce bottles of wine on offer, a bar of chocolate or, if they’re were really lucky, a bottle of Radox shower gel. (Late news flash – your writer has just been informed that one especially lucky person actually walked away with a bottle of Fairy Liquid. If it was Fairy Platinum or Fairy Max Power it will hopefully make doing the washing up easier and less time-consuming for him.)
The above paragraph clearly has very little to do with how the race actually went, though it certainly helps pad out this report, so back to the race and how it progressed. The first, Ilaria Magee and Michaela Rodgers, and last, Jordan Heron, runners to be given the off were separated by exactly twenty-four minutes and probably close to 2.5 miles, with the rest of the field starting in between times on their allotted handicap marks, as determined by the handicapper with the help of a pin and a large sheet of paper with a selection of random times inscribed on it. I jest of course; according to Michele, Emmett literally spent minutes in deep thought before he committed his decisions to paper.
Once all the runners were on their way and out of sight of the starters the general assumption was that some of them would be running faster than others, that some would run up the steps while others walked, that more runners would be overtaken than would overtake and that there was a high probability that someone, somewhere would at some point take a wrong turning. And lo it came to pass that all these assumptions proved to be correct, or not as the case may be.
As it turned out, the only(?) runner to nether overtake anyone (difficult when you’re the first runner to start) nor be overtaken was also the first to cross the finish line. Guest runner Ilaria, in her first handicap race, ran out a comfortable winner in a time of 42:24, more than two minutes ahead of Paul Hutchinson. However, Paul’s second place in 31:42 was good enough to secure him victory in the actual club handicap. Third across the line was another guest runner, James Robinson, in a time of 34:16. Second place in the handicap meanwhile went to club stalwart, Andy Gregg, in 34:11, beating his time of last year time by nineteen seconds. Not bad for an old man!!! The top three in the handicap was completed by Matthew Johnston, whose finishing time of 35:12 was also faster than the time he posted last year, in Matthew’s case by almost a minute and a half. The top five in the handicap was completed by Sinead McAllister in 37:05 and Phil McNeil, whose time of 31:32 was not far off a full five minutes faster than his 2023 time. For the second year in a row, the fastest time of the day, 26:33, was set by Jordan Heron, while the fastest lady’s time, 35:15, was set by guest runner Hannah Gingles. Full details of all the places and times are set out in the table below.
None of the handicaps would be able to go ahead without the help of the volunteers who set the handicap, do the timing, provide the tea and refreshment, organise the prizes and marshal the courses, but this is especially true of the Boxing Day race. The course itself being, as it is, a double figure-of-eight with numerous opportunities to take a wrong turning combined with the number of runners whose names, faces and abilities were unfamiliar to the handicapper and timers makes it the most difficult race in the handicap series to both set accurate handicap times and marshal the course so a big thank you to Emmett for setting the times and to the marshals for keeping (most of) the runners on course. Thanks also to Melissa and Elaine for the much appreciated tea and refreshments, to Diane for organising the prizes, to Jackie, Iain and Emmett (again) for timing the race and to all the friends and family members who turned out to support the runners and to the runners themselves. Their collective contributions were all essential to making the race a success. Finally, thank you to Hastings Financial Services for their ongoing and very much valued sponsorship of the handicap series.
CARNFUNNOCK HANDICAP – 26 DECEMBER 2024
| Place | Name | Handicap | Race Time | Corrected Time | 2023 Time |
| 1 | Ilaria Magee | 0.00 | 42.24 | 42.24 | |
| 2 | Paul Hutchinson | 13.00 | 44.42 | 31.42 | 30.10 |
| 3 | James Robinson | 11.35 | 45.51 | 34.16 | |
| 4 | Ross Beattie | 13.20 | 46.14 | 32.54 | 33.59 |
| 5 | Jack Gingles | 12.10 | 47.21 | 35.11 | |
| 6 | Hannah Gingles | 12.10 | 47.25 | 35.15 | |
| 7 | Andy Gregg | 13.20 | 47.31 | 34.11 | 34.30 |
| 8 | Bryan Magee | 10.10 | 47.38 | 37.28 | |
| 9 | Bronagh Shand | 11.35 | 48.14 | 36.39 | |
| 10 | John O’Hagan | 18.20 | 48.22 | 30.02 | |
| 11 | Matthew Johnston | 13.40 | 48.52 | 35.12 | 36.41 |
| 12 | Sinead McAllister | 12.00 | 49.05 | 37.05 | |
| 13 | Erica McAllister | 6.30 | 49.24 | 42.54 | |
| 14 | Adam Jakso | 18.20 | 49.32 | 31.12 | |
| 15 | Phil McNeill | 18.05 | 49.37 | 31.32 | 36.19 |
| 16 | Mark Todd | 13.40 | 49.46 | 36.06 | |
| 17 | Aaron Cooke | 11.35 | 49.52 | 38.17 | |
| 18 | Nat Glenn | 20.00 | 50.06 | 30.06 | 29.17 |
| 19 | Lee Stirling | 11.35 | 50.08 | 38.33 | |
| 20 | Gary Montgomery | 23.00 | 50.10 | 27.10 | |
| 21 | Ashlynn Rodgers | 12.30 | 50.17 | 37.47 | 35.52 |
| 22 | Lorraine McConnell | 5.00 | 50.21 | 45.21 | |
| 23 | Sharon Kelly | 8.00 | 50.22 | 42.22 | |
| 24 | Jordan Heron | 24.00 | 50.33 | 26.33 | 25.53 |
| 25 | Connor Sheridan | 17.30 | 50.36 | 33.06 | |
| 26 | John Steele | 15.00 | 50.40 | 35.40 | 34.34 |
| 27 | Janice Plumb | 15.00 | 50.41 | 35.41 | |
| 28 | Kirsten Montgomery | 15.00 | 50.46 | 35.46 | |
| 29 | Laura Brennan | 8.50 | 50.54 | 42.04 | 41.38 |
| 30 | Dale Smith | 18.50 | 51.15 | 32.25 | 32.47 |
| 31 | Derek Reid | 10.10 | 51.36 | 41.26 | |
| 32 | Paul Tilson | 15.35 | 51.40 | 36.05 | 37.45 |
| 33 | Beverly Gaston | 13.40 | 51.48 | 38.08 | 39.40 |
| 34 | Davy Johnston | 13.40 | 51.49 | 38.09 | 34.36 |
| 35 | Ollie Reid | 20.00 | 51.55 | 31.55 | |
| 36 | Eddie Finn | 7.10 | 51.58 | 44.48 | 43.06 |
| 37 | Diane Hawthorne | 6.00 | 52.12 | 46.12 | 45.24 |
| 38 | Brian Maltman | 17.30 | 52.36 | 35.06 | |
| 39 | Neil Darragh | 18.05 | 52.45 | 34.40 | |
| 40 | Sean McAllister | 18.50 | 53.18 | 34.28 | 33.32 |
| 41 | John Wright | 13.20 | 53.19 | 39.59 | |
| 42 | Michaela Rodgers | 0.00 | 54.07 | 54.07 | |
| 43 | Emma Campbell | 7.10 | 54.29 | 47.19 | |
| 44 | Ciara Darragh | 13.00 | 54.28 | 41.28 | |
| 45 | Nuria | 3.30 | 55.35 | 52.05 | |
| 46 | Fiona King | 10.55 | 55.51 | 44.56 |