Neil Haggertay won his third handicap in a row in the final race of the Sevenoaks AC 2017 handicap series, while Andrew Hutchinson clinched the series trophy with fourth place on the day.

Mist and slippery underfoot conditions gave way to a brighter morning as Haggertay led from the start to win by nearly two-and-a-half minutes in 66:03 from Nick Humphrey-Taylor. Haggertay was the only runner to beat his handicap, while Humphrey-Taylor was the fastest runner on the day with 44:39 as he overtook John Denyer in the closing stages. Denyer finished twenty-five seconds further back in third in 51:54.

Andrew Hutchinson was lying second in the series behind Chris Desmond when the race started, but while Desmond was recovering from injury and forbidden from pushing too hard, Hutchinson ran positively throughout, including outsprinting Andrew Mead on the track at the end to snatch fourth place by two seconds in 47:01, with Mead fifth in 50:33.

None of the other runners within range of the series minor placings managed to improve their positions in the final race, so that Andrew Hutchinson won the trophy by five points from Chris Desmond with Simon Hallpike another point behind in third. In all, sixteen runners completed the necessary four races to score in the series.

Following the conclusion of the 2017 series a new series for 2018 begins on the New Year's Eve. The first race is over the alternate five mile course. It starts from the Sevenoaks School track at 9 am on Sunday 31st December. Newcomers are very welcome to come and run.