A cold wind and heavy showers early on Boxing Day morning could not discourage a big field of local runners from turning out for the final event of the Sevenoaks AC 2009 handicap series.

Seventy-two-year-old Gerald Ashby had already made sure of the series trophy after putting in a sequence of superb performances in the spring and early summer. But there were several runners who with a good performance in the final race could challenge Richard Pitcairn-Knowles and Duncan Warwick-Champion for the minor placings and most of them lined up for the concluding race. However, there were also a number of runners who were not in contention for series honours but who were coming into excellent form after some good winter training.

In the event, it was athletes from the latter group who dominated the race with infrequent attendees Sharon McGuinness and Peter Knight and previous month's winner Jon Copping making good progress from early on. With a performance well over three minutes quicker than her previous run on the hilly seven mile course, Sharon McGuinness was too fast even for the in-form Jon Copping to cope with on the day, as she finished 18 seconds clear of the November race winner in a time of 57:11.

Copping beat his handicap by two minutes - and third-placed Peter Knight by over a minute - with 52:39, while Knight was nearly two minutes clear of fourth place with 53:10. No other runners beat their handicaps but David Lee in fourth place was close with 45:55. David's brother Allan was the fastest runner on the day with 43:45 in thirteenth place, while Pauline Dalton in twelfth was the fastest woman in 51:15.

All three series placers finished well down the field. New champion Gerald Ashby was 16th in 72:40, series runner-up Richard Pitcairn-Knowles 17th in 66:00, and third-placer Duncan Warwick-Champion 15th in 53:48. David Lee's fourth place on the day brought him up to equal fifth in the final standings, which was the only change to the top ten positions.

The final series table therefore reads: 1. Gerald Ashby, 5 pts; 2. Richard Pitcairn-Knowles, 13; 3. Duncan Warwick-Champion, 14; 4. Paul Tabor, 15; 5=. Pauline Dalton, David Lee, 17; 7. Rosemary Conquest, 18; 8. Erik Folkesson, 20; 9=. Andrew Rackham, Andrew Mead, 21; 11. Jim Fitzmaurice, 24; 12=. John Denyer, Lyndon Collins, 25; 14. David Truman, 26; 15. Geoff Vine, 31; 16. David Simpson, 35; 17. Simon Hallpike, 36; 18. Rob Johnson, 38; 19. Robin Coombs, 39; 20. Rob Carr, 48.

Following the conclusion of the 2009 series a new series for 2010 begins in the new year. The first race is over the alternate five mile course. It starts from the Sevenoaks School track at 9 am on Sunday 31 January. Newcomers are very welcome to come and run.