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With help from your various comments I have now finished this but seem to have an E left over from the unchecked letters - am I going mad?
My pairs are 1a and Col 12, Rows 3 & 4, 7d & 16d and Col 4 & Row 8

Could you just explain for me what connection you see between rows 3 & 4? I'm not sure I ever really followed what the others meant exactly.

I no longer have the paper, so this is from memory.

The two 'g' words (possibly rows 3 and 4) are listed, specifically, in Chambers as definitions of 'race'. I still don't see this as making them a pair - but I'm still not sure how/why St ????? and Le ???? go together.

Same here, malone! Thank you and good night!

One last word on THAT pair of words: I found them at last , separately, under "race", but conversely, under those two words, of course, you don't find "race" --- that's why I missed them for a long time. Should have known, that word-root meaning "root".....................!.

Since we all seem to have finished bar actually understanding the pairs, I hope you will all forgive my reverting to use of the actual entries now:

It occurs to me that, in pairing the four more thematically conventional "SCARES", one might consider that LE MANS is, I suppose, technically a RELAY - they do change drivers. This would leave ST LEGER and MARATHON to pair as those "on foot" - albeit not quite in the same sense.

I don't suppose it helps much, since the real mystery is how GROOVE and GINGER pair; oh well, just thinking aloud.

My, very feeble, conclusion is that those words are given in Chambers as other meanings of 'race'. This is not great, but it has allowed me to stop mulling this over!

I am starting to wonder if this is another fedora/trilby moment and everyone is barking up the wrong tree! I do hope so otherwise this is somewhat disappointing.

I agree, tomsdad - I'd have been delighted if someone had come along and said 'you've gone astray, you should have used the letters given to form the following words...'

Hello all. I'm new here, but have tapped in for help many times so thought it was time to contribute.
I believe the intention in the preamble was that some unclued entries may be paired, not all. I.e. they may or may not be in pairs, if that makes sense.