Mick Freeman struck a blow for the over-60s when he won the first of Kettering Town Harriers’ winter handicap races. The veteran finished nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the field as he completed the 5K course around the Leisure Village in 25:09, some 40 seconds faster than his best time of last year!
Second home was Guiseppe Giammalva (20:45), whilst third was Lizzie Whitaker (22:49) who was the fastest woman.
In less than ideal breezy conditions, 12 of the 18 entrants ran their fastest times over the course, which meant that the faster runners had a really hard task to make up their handicaps. Although he ran the quickest time (18:30), Steve Giles only picked up three places, whilst the other sub-20 minute men, Lee Coulson (19:27) and Andrew Clawson (19:43) were both in the bottom half.
Everyone will be re-handicapped for the second race in the series on 22nd December, which should make for an even closer race.