Sevenoaks AC Handicap - December 2006

John Denyer missed out on a fourth win in the final race of the Sevenoaks AC 2006 Handicap series but still won the series convincingly.

A cool day with little wind offered excellent running conditions for the hilly 7 mile event and David Truman, in only his second handicap race, led all the way. Truman has been sharpening his form running cross country races with the club, and the improvement in his performance showed as he was a minute and a quarter clear at the finish in 60:49.

But Denyer had the measure of the rest of the field as he quickly caught Erik Folkesson, Geoff Vine and Lyndon Collins, before passing Simon Hallpike around half way. The 58-year-old continued to work hard through the race, only relaxing in the last mile and a half, when all his rivals for the series trophy were behind him. Although never troubling Truman for the lead, the club’s endurance coach beat his handicap by over half a minute and recorded a season’s best time for the course of 47:55.

Hallpike held on for third in 49:39, with Collins fourth (48:54), Folkesson fifth (49:29) and Vine sixth (49:42).

The two fastest runners on the day were non-scorers. Both triathletes, Robin Canty (43:02) and Martin Knight (43:30) were running their first race of this series - in Knight’s case his first Sevenoaks AC handicap race.

Of Denyer’s nearest challengers for the series title, Rob Carr, who has been struggling with injury over the latter part of the series, could not improve on his position with ninth place in the final race and stays second, while Hannah Bayliss, who missed the last two races stays third. Trophies for these three will be awarded at the club’s AGM in April.

The completion of the 2006 series leads inevitably to the commencement of a new one for 2007. The first race is over the alternate 5 mile course and starts from the Sevenoaks School track at 9 am on Sunday 7 January. Newcomers are very welcome to come and run.

Detailed result:

Name Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov pos time net

David Truman xx 45:15 1 66:29 60:49

John Denyer 9 38:27 2 49:49 6 35:52 1 35:06 2 49:28 1 48:40 1 35:01 2 67:45 47:55

Simon Hallpike 12 39:04 10 39:01 12 37:15 8 52:06 12 38:05 10 53:22 5 36:30 4 50:12 3 36:34 3 67:49 49:39

Lyndon Collins 6 36:06 8 49:35 4 35:42 3 49:03 7 35:56 3 49:27 2 35:39 4 68:14 48:54

Erik Folkesson 7 37:58 7 51:22 3 36:09 3 35:06 8 37:16 7 36:00 5 69:09 49:29

Geoff Vine 4 35:22 3 48:49 8 35:25 6 35:12 9 38:04 6 69:12 49:42

Rob Johnson 12 63:39 10 41:54 4 56:29 10 43:42 7 69:24 56:34

Geoffrey Kitchener 2 34:42 7 49:44 6 35:22 5 35:14 8 69:58 49:28

Robert Carr 1 36:12 10 53:23 2 35:05 5 48:22 3 34:43 1 48:47 3 34:41 7 51:06 6 35:39 9 70:31 50:11

Peter Dillon 5 42:45 14 46:32 11 44:00 9 61:41 10 71:14 62:04

Paul Tabor 9 41:58 2 54:44 5 40:38 5 56:17 11 41:17 10 62:12 11 72:13 58:33

Andrew Rackham 10 36:04 4 47:27 4 47:32 5 33:03 3 44:14 7 32:32 3 45:11 8 47:36 8 33:34 12 72:21 48:11

Simon Lewis 11 42:49 11 57:41 7 41:12 9 59:42 13 42:26 10 59:48 6 55:50 6 57:49 13 76:00 63:30

Martin Knight xx 59:00 43:30

Suzy Claridge xx 67:09 54:09

Robin Canty xx 68:02 43:02

Jim Knight xx 71:43 58:13

Allan Lee xx 32:17 2 41:34

Scott Haggarty 6 51:56 2 36:50

Nigel Smith 11 51:10

Judith Eden 6 68:54

Tony Kelly xx 40:29

David Simpson 8 51:14 5 69:22 8 72:56 10 51:14 9 71:24 13 52:37 9 52:05 9 74:53

Richard Pitcairn-Kno xx 47:06

Jeff Tribe 3 50:24

David Lee xx 34:01

David Doe xx 61:18

Fraser Partridge xx 33:47 1 47:05 4 33:08 4 45:16 8 33:45 4 33:19

Robbie Herd xx 55:30

Chris Rowley 2 37:59 7 57:16 9 39:39 9 39:37

Nick Partridge xx 43:59 11 49:47

Carol Beadle xx 44:08 1 56:06 4 40:34 8 58:05

Robert Brophy 6 51:30 7 35:56 7 51:39 5 51:05

Chris Desmond 13 36:29 8 34:01 5 31:53 2 44:20 4 32:26

Heather Fitzmaurice 9 47:37

Pete Ashworth 6 34:35

Alexia Taylor xx 73:51

Hannah Bayliss 1 56:46 1 37:42 2 37:23 5 52:53

John Burcham 1 35:40

David Tabor xx 42:15

Frances Herd xx 56:16

Nicola Macaulay xx 60:58

Simon Rowe xx 54:22 1 36:48

David Barley xx 54:22

Malcolm Fisher xx 32:04

Final Series Positions:

1. John Denyer (below left) 5 pts; 2. Robert Carr (below middle) 7; 3. Hannah Bayliss (below right – with apologies) 9; 4. Lyndon Collins 12; 5. Fraser Partridge 13; 6. Andrew Rackham 14; 7. Simon Hallpike 15; 8. Erik Folkesson 18; 9= Chris Desmond, Geoff Vine 19; 11. Geoff Kitchener 20; 12. Paul Tabor 21; 13. Robert Brophy 25; 14. Chris Rowley 27; 15. Simon Lewis 28; 16. David Simpson 30; 17. Rob Johnson 31; 18. Peter Dillon 35.