The Langmay Trophy

 

The name comes from a Paul Langmay, who was the first person to win the trophy way back in time. Also known as the Boxing Day Handicap or the Easter Monday Handicap, the Langmay Trophy is a 5(ish) mile race that from 2021, starts at the Heath Inn in Heath & Reach and loops round up to Great Brickhill then back down Bragenham Lane, past Rushmere to finish in roughly the same spot.

The original route was used up until 2020 despite the fact that in this time, they built a great big bypass right across it! Unfortunately due to increased traffic and more impending road infrastucture improvements, it was decided a new, safer route would be used from 2021 onwards.

The race used to be held on Boxing Day, but was moved in 2010 due to low participation, to Easter Monday where it is held every year. Obviously this adds to the confusion in what, when and how the race is!

The race is a “blind handicap” which effectively means that everyone is given a predicted time before the start, but no-one knows what it is so the race is run as a normal race. However, the winner is the person who beats their predicted time by the largest amount.

Below are the full results from 1987 until the present day.

 

Date	Total Runners	No. of Club Runners	No. of Guests	Fastest Time	Handicap Winner
26th Dec 1987	21	13	8	30:21	Pat Neilan
26th Dec 1988	30	19	11	33:10	John Asker
26th Dec 1989	36	26	10	31:45	Pat Neilan
26th Dec 1990	34	20	14	33:07	John Parr
26th Dec 1991	43	21	22	30:58	Richard Inchley
26th Dec 1992	35	19	16	31:31	Keith Williams
26th Dec 1993	24	17	7	31:18	Doug Saxby
26th Dec 1994	30	17	13	32:07	Steve Goodlad
26th Dec 1995	23	14	9	34:04	Richard Inchley
26th Dec 1996	22	17	5	32:14	Martin Jellis
26th Dec 1997	23	18	5	33:03	Paul Dimmock
26th Dec 1998	17	12	5	34:02	Doug Saxby
26th Dec 1999	17	14	3	34:13	Richard Inchley
26th Dec 2000	18	17	1	31:03	Martin Jellis
26th Dec 2001	20	18	2	30:25	Rob Elmore
26th Dec 2002	23	18	5	34:53	Pete Watkins
26th Dec 2003	16	12	4	31:53	Tim Inchley
26th Dec 2004	13	6	7	30:27	Simon Coombes
26th Dec 2005	23	9	14	33:40	Liz Miller
26th Dec 2006	33	10	23	33:50	Mervyn Phillips
26th Dec 2007	38	13	25	32:35	Joe Hurley
26th Dec 2008	21	7	14	33:10	Jill Richardson
—      No Race in 2009      —
5th Apr 2010	16	15	1	32:39	Nick Clay
25th Apr 2011	17	17	0	30:42	John Adam
9th Apr 2012	16	16	0	32:15	Mandy Clay
1st Apr 2013	11	11	0	33:44	Chris Dimmock
21st Apr 2014	20	20	0	33:54	Fred Watt
5th Apr 2015	16	16	0	31:55	James Bell
28th Mar 2016	13	13	0	33:14	Billy Mead
17th Apr 2017	26	26	0	31:11	Andy Inchley
2nd Apr 2018	17	17	0	30:51	Chris Large
22nd Apr 2019	21	21	0	30:46	Katie Stanton
Sept 2020*	11	11	0	33:45	Sam Dear
	–New route established 2021–
4th Apr 2021	24	22	2	25:13	Sadie Towell
18th Apr 2022	22	22	0	25:40	Alison Bell
10th Apr 2023	15	14	1	30:09	James Lowe

 

Records:

H&R Route

Fewest Total Runners:      15 – 2023

Fewest Club Runners:       14 – 2023

Most Total Runners:         24 – 2021

Most Club Runners:          22 – 2021

 

Course Record:                25:13 – 2021

Slowest winning time:      30:09 – 2023

 

Original Route

Fewest Total Runners:      11 – 2013 & 2020*

Fewest Club Runners:       6 – 2004

Most Total Runners:         43 – 1991

Most Club Runners:          26 – 2017

 

Course Record:                30:21 – 1987

Slowest winning time:      34:53 – 2002

 

*Covid-19 affected year – Ran as a virtual race