Christmas Handicap Race

The Annual Christmas Handicap road race was again run in cold and icy conditions, but we still had 22 competitors taking part. This year it was Mark Domaille who looked to have been given a favourable handicap, as he quickly passed the runners in front of him and hit the front with more than a mile to go. However U17 stars Chris Price and Nathan Elliot, and a rejuvinated Nick Mannion, were all running very well and making rapid progress. Chris was leading this trio, who were slicing their way through the field, and he took the lead with half a mile to go. Although Nathan, who started from scratch, was closing fast and passed Nick and Mark in the closing stages he couldn't close the gap given by the handicapper, so Chris was the winner of the 2004 race. After these first four, who were well clear, the rest of the field finished very close together on the track.
Nathan set the fastest time of the night, with Chris second fastest and Sharon fastest lady. Mark Ridgway was the fastest vet, with 4th fastest time overall for the 4.5 mile course.