5k Handicap

The 5K Handicap is held once a month throughout the year (except for a month off in August) and is open to all members of the club, both senior and junior. 

Runners start at staggered times, with the slowest athletes starting at 6:30pm and faster runners following at 1-minute intervals meaning that everyone should finish together.  Please arrive no later than 5 minutes before your scheduled start time.

The two-lap course is on the entrance road to the Rowley Mile, just off Hamilton Road.  Car parking is available.

During the winter season all runners must wear hi-vis clothing and a head or body torch. The route is not on the public highway but is still open to traffic.  In the summer season hi-vis is not necessary but bright colours are encouraged.

To sign up please add your name on the Google form using the button below.  The cut-off time for signups is 6pm on the Sunday evening prior to the race.  Start times and results will be published below.

As per England Athletics rules Under 11’s will need to be accompanied by an adult and stay within arm’s length of each other. This is the same policy adopted by organisations such as parkrun. When registering an under 11 to run you will need to email christine.shand@newmarketjoggers.co.uk and confirm how they will be accompanied. The options are:

  1. Parent or guardian of the under 11.
  2. Delegated member chosen by parent or guardian.
  3. Request 5k Handicap Team to find club member to accompany them.
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Sign-up form not working?

If you are on a mobile device you may need to install the Google Sheets app in order to edit the sign-up form.  On a desktop computer it should work in your browser without the need to install any additional software.

START TIMES FOR 7 April

April-7-Handicap
 
2 pages – use navigation arrows to view.
Or download as PDF – CLICK HERE
 
There’s a simple rule for Handicap starting times. It means no one will start in a faster group than their average time. If your current average time (for up to your last 3 runs in the Handicap) is e.g. 24 something (24:00 to 24:59), you get a 25 min start. If it is 25 something you get a 26 min start etc. There will be times when one runner is 59 seconds better off than another runner but that is inevitable whatever system we choose, as we start in one minute intervals. Count your lucky stars and have some sympathy for the other runner! Next time it could be you. N.B: From January 2024, your current average time is based on (up to) your last three Handicap runs since January 2023. It was previously based on all your Handicap runs since October 2022. If no Handicap runs since January 2023, your opening handicap time may be based on your performance in other races or runs like parkrun, or the race director Christine Shand may allocate a time slot to you. From winter 2022-2023, for reasons of sustainability, trophies have not been awarded for 1-2-3 places every month, although the kudos still remains! Junior Joggers will be welcome to take part and non-member parents may run with their children for support, though their times and positions will not count in the Handicap. Please let us know if there are any unforced errors in the calculations: chris.aylmer@newmarketjoggers.co.uk

Runner’s Responsibilities

  • After the start list is published, it’s ALL participants responsibility to note their start time and ensure they are on the start list. If you are missing from the start list, email christine.shand@newmarketjoggers.co.uk Do not wait to try and correct this on the start line.
  • Please be considerate when parking your car, especially ensure your car is not parked on the race route. It is also not safe for runners if you then drive off whilst the race is still in progress. You can always park as normal near the Racing Centre or Birdcage Walk and use this as your warm up and cool down to save space.
  • Runners are responsible for knowing when they start. Please refrain from bothering the start team.

  • Under 11’s will need to be accompanied by an adult and stay within arm’s length of each other. This is the same policy adopted by organisations such as parkrun. When registering an under 11 to run you will need to email christine.shand@newmarketjoggers.co.uk and confirm how they will be accompanied. The options are:

    1. Parent or guardian of the under 11.
    2. Delegated member chosen by parent or guardian.
    3. Request 5k Handicap Team to find club member to accompany them.

    Under option 3 members can volunteer to accompany U11’s and this will count as a volunteer credit on the 5k Handicap results.

    If an under 11 attempts to start without an accompanying adult (18 or older) they will not be allowed to run.

  • Whilst you’re waiting to run, please stand to the side of the start line if possible. It would be helpful to keep noise to a minimum to help the start team and ensure you don’t miss your name being called. The procedure is to start on the left-hand side. You then move onto the inside (right-hand side).
  • It’s advisable to wait on the start line once the group 1 minute ahead of you have left. For example, if you’re a 22 minute handicap, go to the start line once the 23 minute group has left.
  • You must stay in order when you cross the finish line until you have been given a numbered token. Once you have your token, please move quickly away from the finish line and get your finish position recorded. The new result sheet already has your name and handicap on it. If you tell the position noter your name and handicap (it’s hard to recognise people in the dark) they can locate you quickly and note your position (and watch time if you have it).

Enjoy your run!

West Suffolk Council

The 5k Handicap has been generously supported by West Suffolk Council who have provided funding for the club to purchase walkie-talkies for marshals to use to ensure the safety of all participant’s.

A thanks from all at Newmarket Joggers to West Suffolk Council.

Latest Results & Handicap Table

NJ-5k-Handicap-Finishers-Sep-1.pdf

NJ-5k-Handicap-Table-2025-26-Sep-1.pdf

REPORT for 1st September 2026: The 5k Handicap resumed after a summer break of 4 months. During that time, we should have had at least 3 Three Amigos events at Hamilton Hill, but cancellations due to the very warm weather cut it down to only one event. In the September Handicap, the winner was once again the fast-improving junior Jogger Joshua Russell, who posted his best ever 5k time of 25:34. He’s managing to stay ahead of his handicap time, which was automatically calculated from the average of his last three Handicap times; as it was for all participants. It’s good that improving athletes are encouraged to keep on improving. Junior Imogen Stephens (28:42) also did very well to come home in second position. Third home was senior Keith Williams, who is believed to have been a support runner for Imogen, having started and finished with her. In fourth position came accomplished junior Sophie Blundell (22:56), with the fastest recorded female time, with junior Rio Mcandrew (22:56) just behind in 5th. Rio has also improved very steadily this year. Junior Solomon Brokenshire-Dyke (19:57) finished in 9th with the fastest time recorded by a male runner. He is another fast improving athlete this year. Quite a dominance of junior runners in the limelight this month! Well done everyone who took part.

Many thanks to the volunteers on September 1st: Christine Shand, Ellie Bithell, Helen Wass, Francine Dasseville, Cienna Carter,  Sianie Painter, Alan Thornhill, Andy Fryatt, Richard Defries, Alan Shand, Pete Brisbourne and Stuart Janes.

REPORT for April 7th 2026: Chris Aylmer was very pleased to get his first Handicap win for many years and his best Handicap time of 32:14 since clocking the same time in March 2023. Second home was Cerys Bithell in 21:34, which was the fastest time by any female runner in the race. Nice to see Jim Withers (30:51) doing well in third place; he’s been very consistent, month after month. Lily-Ann Cooper also did well in 4th place, with a walking time of 36:55. Tom Hemsley (18:25) came in 5th and achieved the fastest time by any male runner in the race.

Many thanks to the volunteers on April 7th: Ellie Bithell, Cienna Carter, Richard Defries, Pete Brisbourne, Jan Holmes, Brian Munns, Alan Shand, Christine Shand and Stuart Janes.

REPORT for March 3rd 2026:

An excellent performance by junior Esther Eaton to win the March Handicap in a time of 23:57. This earned her highest age grade of the year at 72.98% and her highest ever age grade achieved while a club member. Also excellent efforts by seniors Sianie Painter in second place and Andrew Sandeman in third, the latter also posting the fastest time of the race at 19:47, and his fastest 5k time of this year. Also a top run by junior Sophie Blundell in 22:39, believed to be a PB for her by 10 seconds.

REPORT for February 3rd 2026:

Apologies for the lack of recent NJ 5k Handicap reports. The February Handicap was the first one of 2026, with the January fixture being cancelled due to snow and ice on the course. Junior Jogger Joshua Russell did exceptionally well to come first in the Handicap for the third time in succession, having previously come first in the October and December fixtures. He has had a remarkable run of form since entering the first of his four Handicap races in March 2025. Up until then, he would sometimes run/walk just one lap with Stuart Janes while he was under 11 years old, starting right at the front with the walkers. For his first proper race in March 2025, he was given a reasonable Handicap time of 39 minutes and did well to come second in a time of 35:57. So his Handicap time was set at 36 minutes for his next run in October. This time he came first in 30:37 by a long way, an improvement of over 5 minutes. He was able to repeat the win again, by a narrower margin in December, still beating his Handicap (~33 min) by around 3 minutes.

Now, in February 2026, his time has improved by another ~3 minutes and he won again by a decent margin. So, it is a big success story for Joshua and thoroughly deserved. His current Handicap is now 30 minutes (automatically worked out from his last 3 times, as for everyone), so he still has a top chance of winning his next one too….stay tuned. It’s good that steady improvers get rewarded. His confidence must be sky high by now!

Looking at the other success stories this month, seniors Alex McCaffrey and Catherine Bragg did very well to finish in 2nd and 3rd place, with Michael McGarvey sneaking into 4th. Speed merchants this month were Cienna Carter (21:08), Junior Esther Eaton (25:22) and Catherine Bragg (25:51) for the women, and Shane McAndrew (20:35), Harvey Thomas (20:36) and Andrew Sandeman (20:39) for the men.

Special thanks to all the volunteers, who will be added to the main Handicap Table as soon as they can all be identified.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Amigos Race – 9th September

The 3 Amigos was back by popular demand on Tuesday the 9th September! A quick downpour just before the start couldn’t deter 42 runners taking part, making up a total of 14 teams.

Once the teams were picked, Cerys led everyone in a group warm up before the race got underway on the 2km loop around Hamilton Hills.

Team discipline was certainly better this time with teams crossing the start/finish line together in orderly fashion 😀 

As before it was a pretty close contest with not much time separating all the teams.. The winning team was Team N (for Newmarket maybe?!?) Helen Wass, Jonathan Ollington and Andrew Sandeman (pictured below)

The link to the results is below – you can see individual leg splits as well as team positions after each leg.

3 AMIGOS RESULTS – 9 SEP

A big thanks to the helpers on the evening Christine S, Rob H, Ellie B, Hannah P, Rio M and Jack I. That’ll be the last 3 Amigos this year but hopefully it should return in Spring 2026!

 

3 Amigos Race – 17th June

Replacing the handicap for June was a new chance for members to compete as a team – The 3 Amigos Race!

Each team has three members (Three Amigos) made up of different paces. On the first lap (just over 2km) the team stay together and run at the pace of the “slowest” member of the team. The idea being that the other 2 runners positively encourage the other runner to complete the lap as fast as possible. At the end of the first lap the “slowest” runner drops out. The team then continue as a team of 2 for another lap going at the pace of the middle runner. That runner finishes after the 2nd lap with the remaining runner doing the last lap as quick as they can. The winning team is the team to get all 3 runners across the line first.

A big congrats to all who took part. The winning team was Team I Brian Munns, Phil Blundell and Isabelle Talbot-Price! Enjoy your well earned Wispa Gold bars. Each runner was rewarded with an ice pop for great running in hot conditions.

The link to the results is below – you can see individual leg splits as well as team positions after each leg.

3 Amigos Results – 17th June – Excel

3 Amigos Results – 17th June – PDF

A big thanks to the helpers on the evening Christine, Rob, Nicole, Sarah and Angela. Everyone seemed to have fun (there are some photos on the NJ FB group), so hopefully we might do it again this year!