January 04, 2013

Ginninderra Handicap 18th December 2012

Ginninderra Handicap No 352 on Tue 18/12/2012 29.9C

 
 
Ginninderra Handicap No 352 on Tue 18/12/2012 29.9C
The last handicap for 2012 saw a good turnout. The footbridge was also
 re-opened again in the days before the event
which made the hike for the judges from the
 start line to the finish line, with bottles of wine in hand,
substantially shorter.
However, there were no shortcuts for the runners
apart from Grant Arnold
who took one after feeling the effects at the half way
 mark of not doing
 much running recently.

The bookmakers were tipping one of the third time
 starters to collect the prize, and they were
 not disappointed
with Simon Yelland (34.44) and Kellie Grubb (39.18)
  both producing PBs to finish
 first and second respectively. Darren Birtwistle
  finished third for the second month
 in a row in an even 32 minutes.

Most of the rest of the field finished in times over their handicap
 possibly a ploy
to convince the handicapper to give them a Christmas present in
the form of a
  re-handicap. However, Santa is not easily fooled and
only the following runners  were given a new handicap based
on consistently running below their current
  handicap throughout the year. (Yes...this is the only place
that Santa will give you
a present for being consistently bad.)

Christmas re-handicaps Ross Gregg old 23.30 new 22.00,
Rad Leovic old 5.00 new 2.30, Michael Halling old 23.00 new 21.30,
Robert Page old 19.30 new 18.00, Mark Lound old 14.30 new 11.00

The annual awards are also announced at the end of each year.

The Ron Sidnell Improvement Award is awarded to the
winner of the
handicap that had the earliest finish time. 2012
The winner was Sam Spencer
 who greeted the judges as the clock struck 46.13.

The Julian England Consistency Award is awarded
 to the most
consistent performer in 2012.
The winner this year was Andrew
Crichton with run times of (29.53 30.34 29.51 29.47 30.49 ).
Jeff Grey
finished second with Darren Birtwistle in third.

The Armstrong Trophy is awarded to the runner who displays
the most
 consistent improvement throughout the year.
The formula is very complicated
 and open to manipulation if you are clever enough to actually understand
the formula...which explains why a disproportionate number
of statisticians have
 won this award over the years. In short, a runner must run at
least 4 times
 in a the 6 month period and show a consistent level
of improvement.

The Armstrong Trophy result for Jul to Dec 2012 are

1st Darren Birtwistle, 2nd Jeff Grey, 3rd Ian Hore

This month we welcomed Nick Strauch and Steve Paavilainen
 who
 both had their first runs.
 At the other end of the spectrum, Jim Roberts is on
the precipice of handicap greatness and will clock up
 200 laps of the lake at his
  next start...the first to do so.
 Jeff Grey's 6 month long experiment to see if
one can 'run themselves better' of a plantar fasciitis injury
(rather than taking a few weeks rest)
 is continuing.

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