Glenarm Forest was the location for the third race, and the first to be held in 2023, in the Club’s 2022/23 handicap series. Weather condition in the morning were ideal, with the trees providing shelter from whatever breeze there was, though the underfoot conditions were somewhat on the damp side, especially for the timekeepers.
The fifteen club members who had thrown caution to the wind and entered the race set off from the start line near the entrance to the forest, which was handy as that was where they had all previously gathered, with the first and last runners to start being, respectively, Laura Brennan and Phelim McAllister. The course then took them somewhere else in the forest before bringing them back to the start line which, following some quick thinking by the ever alert timekeepers, had been fortuitously renamed the finish line in the interim.
While the runners were out tootling round the course and getting their shoes slightly muddy, the timekeepers stood around chatting and generally putting the world’s wrongs to right, although there was also some discussion about Rhonda’s current choice of hair colour and even one suggestion from Jackie about the possibility of opening a book on what colour it will be next week. I think he might have been hoping to put a couple of pounds on grey.
Eventually, actually just over twenty-six minutes after Phelim set off, the first of the returning runners heaved into view. Laura, having managed to hold on to her lead over Diane Hawthorn right from the start, was now just a fast diminishing few seconds ahead of her but, unfortunately from Laura perspective, Diane managed to summon up a sprint in the final two hundred metres which was good enough to see her cross the finish line just four seconds to the good. Michelle McIntosh, completing a clean sweep of the podium places for the ladies, finished eighteen seconds behind Laura in third place. As if to reinforce the dominance of the club’s women, Kerri Anne Craig and Mandy Johnston finished in fourth and fifth places respectively.
Full details of all the times and places are set out in the table below, but to avoid accusations of favouritism it’s worth noting that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the three fastest times of the day – 30:32, 34:02 and 34:10 – were put up by Phelim, Lee Clements and Sean McAllister respectively. I have included last year’s times for those runners who took part in this handicap in 2022. The distance of this year’s race may have been approximately 500 metres shorter than last year’s, but this is not enough to account for the improvement in the times recorded by some of these runners who should be justifiably proud of the progress they have achieved in the past twelve months.
As always, thanks to all the runners who took part in the race; to Sharon, Jeff, Eddie and Billy for marshalling; to Diane for organising the prizes; to Jackie and Kirsty for their help with the timekeeping and to Rhonda and Jackie for the refreshments. Finally, thanks to the all the friends and family members who turned out to offer support and for their much appreciated words of encouragement.
| Time | Name | Handicap | Time | Corrected Time | Corrected 2022 Time |
| 1 | Diane Hawthorne | 01:00 | 47:32 | 46:32 | 54:44 |
| 2 | Laura Brennan | 00:00 | 47:36 | 37:36 | |
| 3 | Michelle McIntosh | 04:30 | 47:54 | 43:24 | |
| 4 | Kerri Anne Craig | 06:00 | 49:09 | 43:09 | 47:31 |
| 5 | Mandy Johnston | 09:05 | 49:35 | 40:30 | 44:52 |
| 6 | David Johnston | 15:00 | 49:40 | 34:40 | 40:16 |
| 7 | Beverley Gaston | 10:10 | 50:00 | 39:50 | |
| 8 | Tommy Linton | 09:45 | 50:59 | 41:14 | |
| 9 | Mark Todd | 15:30 | 51:23 | 35:53 | 41:24 |
| 10 | Sinead Marie McAllister | 11:25 | 51:31 | 40:06 | |
| 11 | Phelim McAllister | 21:30 | 51:52 | 30:22 | |
| 12 | Sean McAllister | 18:35 | 52:45 | 34:10 | |
| 13 | Andy Gregg | 18:15 | 53:15 | 35:00 | 36:30 |
| 14 | Lee Clements | 19:20 | 53:22 | 34:02 | |
| 15 | Paul Tilson | 17:00 | 54:50 | 37:50 |