Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The riddle was solved at the Farnham Runners annual handicap race. Harry May, dressed in his hand-made egg costume, crossed the line first, ahead of all the runners including his wife Lizzie who was dressed as a chicken.

The race attracted 31 members decked out in a dazzling array of costumes. The handicap race was begun by founder members in the winter of 1985, with a trophy presented to the winner to keep for a year. There are also prizes of boxes of chocolates for the first three back, as well as for the best three fancy dress costumes. The difference in handicaps between the first and last runner to set off was almost 27 minutes, showing the wide variety of paces of club members over the 4.25-mile route.

Harry May beat his expected time by almost three minutes for his victory. Lina Haines came second and Jess Lira third, both also quicker than their predicted times.

The fancy dress judges had a difficult job, but Ivan Chunnett came first with his outfit dressed as fellow member Gemma Whitehouse, renowned for her colourful and stylish clothes. Carolyn Wickham came second with her hand-made Shaun the Sheep costume, while Gemma Whitehouse took third.

Also of note was a swarm of bees and a sunflower, Howard Inns who brought along Mr Trump and Chris Gill who caused a gasp as he entered the room in the form of a huge dinosaur.

Chairman Justin Clarke thanked all who had helped: the judges Penny Schnabel and Shirley Perrett, Craig Tate-Grimes who had put signs up around the course, Jane Georghiou who calculated the handicaps and Linda Tyler who brought her home made mince pies and mulled wine. Richard Denby, Gemma Whitehouse, Craig Tate-Grimes and Candy Waller took the photos.

By Jane Georghiou