Mike Edwards Summer Long Handicap

The Long Handicap is a 6.7 Mile approx club race.
It is an annual event once a month from April to September.
held on the second Thursday of the month
Mike Edwards (1937 –2016)
The Long Handicap is named in memory of Mike Edwards. Co-founder of the Club, James Tolson has written this tribute to him, to give some background to the person to whom this race is named in memory of:
"Mike was Victory through and through. He was a founder member of the club and an honorary life member. He served on the committee for a number of years, taking on the roles of Treasurer and Chairman during that time.
He was a fine runner on the road and country tackling all distances from 10k to the South Downs 80 (miles) and he had a marathon best of 3 hours 11. He also took part in all the relay events such as the South Downs Relay, the Emsworth to Basingstoke and the Test Way Relay.
He was a great servant of the club always ready to provide support and help wherever needed at events and social gatherings. No race was complete for Mike unless he could meet up with other members in a pub afterwards for lunch and a pint and Thursday training sessions always ended in the bar at the Leisure Centre when that was open.
Mike continued to run well into his seventies until a stroke cruelly restricted his mobility."

Long Handicap Route
The route starts at the far side of the HLC car park (where the Winter Handicap used to start), through the alley way, turning right, then left and straight along to the level crossing (please ensure that you use the bridge to cross the line!)
There you turn left onto the Billy Trail, through The Spring car park and left down the alley way (Hayling Billy Link Path) to Wade Court. Turn right at the end of the alley a short way down Wade Court and left onto the footpath (taking this - The Hayling Billy Link Path all the way to the end at Pook Lane).
Run over the A27 footbridge, turning left onto Pook Lane and right onto Church Lane and past Warblington Church.
Turn left (onto Solent Way), through the field, across a small beach area and along the shore path to Emsworth Sailing Club.
Run round the Mill Pond, coming up Bridgefoot Path (mind the swans!) and down turn Bath Road, back to the Sailing Club.
Return the same way that you came - until you get to Havant railway line at the end of the Billy Trail.
After crossing the footbridge, at the New Lane/Eastern Road crossroads, turn left and head down Eastern Road towards the leisure centre, cross carefully into Elmleigh Road and contunue round past the Job Centre and the Police Station,
as you turn into Civic Centre Road you will see the finish just at the corner of the car park.

The course is 6.7 miles.
Please familiarise yourselves with the route before the race.
This is a self navigation course and it is your responsibility to know your way!
Same rules apply as for the Short Handicap with the idea is that everyone will finish at about the same time, but if you run quicker you could finish first earning yourself plenty of points. In doing this you also change your estimated time and makes it harder for you to finish first again.

Please ensure that you turn up in plenty of time to register, especially if you haven’t run the race before.
If you have run before, you will have an estimated finish time. You will be set off at a specific times relating to your estimated time, with the slowest starting first.

There will be a monthly winner and a league table kept to establish the season winner.
Please wear a club vest or T-shirt when competing in the short and long handicap races.

Kit is available from Alexandra Sports if you need to purchase a vest or club tee-shirt.