October 10: Big turnout for October Keyhole Kanter

A record turnout of thirty-five runners completed the first of the MMK winter handicap races.

Report from organiser, Stephen Coomber:

An amazing effort from everyone tonight… The first three starters finished 3rd, 4th and 5th (which is why I love handicap races). Amy Inchley’s recovery from her conker injury is clearly going well as she came 6th. Malcolm Kidby and Gabriel Muniz started together, with Gabriel putting a minute into Malc by the finish. Debra Brent and Stewart Wells started together and Debra ran a 20 second PB to win that battle. The two Martins (Brent and Pritchard) started together and, after a civil handshake, it was a Battle Royale down the opening straight – with Martin B getting the better on the day. And there will be a huge showdown next month between the three whippets, Seb Steel, James Lloyd-Knibbs and Lloyd Cross.

Tim Inchley won, followed by Rob Norman and Alison Ray.

The top three male finish times were Seb Steel (14:30), Lloyd Cross (14:33) and James Lloyd Knibbs (14:51). The top three female finish times were Alex Knowles (18:01), Debra Brent (19:05) and Hannah Lloyd-Knibbs (19:28)

Twenty PBs were recorded tonight (highlighted in bold in the table): Alex Knowles, Alison Ray, Andy Sealey, Ben Thompson, Catherine Gould, Chris Olive, Christopher Tighe, Darren Murphy, Debra Brent, Gabriel Muniz, Hannah Lloyd Knibbs, James Lloyd Knibbs, Lloyd Cross, Martin Pritchard, Mike Kerrigan, Nick Tompkins, Nik Edwards, Phil Gazard, Rob Norman and Tim Inchley (special mention – as this is his 11th Kanter – getting better with age!).

In the table, green indicates a time above handicap, red indicates a time below handicap)

Date of next Kanter: 14 November 2023

Thanks to Wendy, Carl and Jackie for volunteering to help out tonight – we really do all appreciate it!