Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be any more budding runners out there another 100 or so new runners registered last week. Combined with the usual no shows on week 2, meant a finishing number of 628, an increase of over 10% on last week. It did make for a tricky start though with most newbies starting at 0 minutes. We’ll sort all those out this week though with some hefty handicapping!

Lots of people are still coming to terms with the new handicap system, being based on 2 finishing times, 42 minutes and 50 minutes. If you’re starting at zero for example, it’s possible that in that start group there are 42 min finishers as well as 50 min finishers, so be careful not to storm off and try to keep up with someone that might actually be 8 minutes faster! Last week had the added problem of so many new people, this should level out this week and we should start to see the 2 distinct groups have an impact.

We would like to apologise to any motorists that were held up last Thursday night on the Cork Rd or Paddy Brown’s Rd. I’m sure anyone that realises what’s going on, with 600 plus runners raising money for charity has no issue with waiting a few minutes in traffic. That said it can be frustrating and we appreciate your patience. While we anticipate the delay decreasing significantly for future weeks, it might be worth planning your route such as to avoid that area if at all possible between 7.20 and 7.45 on Thursdays!

I hate to mention it in November, but do put December 11th in the diary for the Road Runners Christmas party. We’ll have our usual Santa hat run and craic at the RSC followed by a get together later that evening. Book the sitter!

Full results and handicaps are available online at www.waterfordac.com, and will also be posted up at the track on the night. Be sure to get your handicap and stick to it to avoid confusing the results, or speak to someone before the run to help get any issues you have sorted out in good time. If you notice your number but no name, please let us know, as with the crowds last week we’re missing some names! Well done to everyone and we look forward to seeing you all at the RSC again tomorrow night!