With the series trophy already won by Andy Evans after the previous race, the final event of the Sevenoaks AC 2012 handicap took place with only the minor placings still to be settled. Andy Rackham also looked safe in second place, leaving Chris Desmond and Andrew Mead to challenge the absent Dan Witt for bronze.

Gusty winds, a brief shower and some unexpected sunshine turned up along with a large field at the Sevenoaks School running track where the hilly seven-mile course starts and finishes. The conditions proved reasonable for some competitive performances but in the event the race was dominated by runners who were not in contention for series positions.

Five runners beat their handicaps, with Guy Martin winning, in a time of 51:44, by over two-and-a-half minutes in only his second handicap race. The relative newcomer was four minutes faster than on his previous run and no-one else could match that level of improvement on the day.

Club Secretary Erik Folkesson left it to the last race to make his first appearance of the year, but he was nearly two minutes clear in second place with 55:05 after a splendid run. Behind Folkesson, there was a close race for third as event organiser Simon Hallpike was overtaken in the last hundred metres by Joe Parsons and Allan Lee sprinting hard for the line. Although Lee is the Club's outstanding distance runner, Parsons managed to hold him off by one second to snatch third in 47:21. However Lee had the consolation of the fastest time of the day with 40:32 for fourth place. Hallpike was fifth, and the final runner to beat his handicap, another five seconds back with 52:07.

Series placings contenders Chris Desmond (47:02), Andrew Mead (44:03) and Andy Rackham (52:09) were eighth, ninth and sixteenth respectively, while Andy Evans, with the series trophy already secured, finished tenth in 52:22. This left the final series positions unchanged from the previous race, with Andy Evans three points clear in first, Andy Rackham four points clear in second and Dan Witt just one point clear in third.

Following the conclusion of the 2012 series a new series for 2013 begins in the new year. The first race is over the alternate five mile course. It starts from the Sevenoaks School track at 9 am on Sunday 13 January. Newcomers are very welcome to come and run.