PBs, points and a debut half
A group of AVRs took part in the Bridgwater half marathon on Sunday, a flat, fast road 13.1 miles going inland from the town with a wicked 5k out and back to finish.
First AVR home was Ryan Snell in eighth place and an excellent second M40 in 1:18.57. Dawn Carrah was second F60, 195th overall, in 1:56.57 while Jacqui Stokes smashed her PB finishing in 1:43.07, 91st place. Lee Brooker completed his first ever half marathon coming in 302nd place in 2:13.23. A big field of 439 completed the race in good conditions.
As well as looking for PBs, AVRs were able to secure points for the club championship as a half marathon is one of the ‘open’ events.
Woodbury Common Trail 10k
Six AVRs travelled over to Woodbury Common for a trail 10k on Sunday. Eleanor Wood was second female and first F60 in 56:49. Graham Newton was a brilliant first M60. Zoe Harp was a huge 13 minutes faster than last year finishing in 1:07.59. Rob Harp (58.02), Pam Goddard (1:16.41) and Rachel Hiscock (1:21.27) completed the AVRs with Cliff Marriott injured so helping the organisers on the day.
Full results to follow.
City to Sea
James Hawker completed the very tough mostly trail marathon starting at Exeter Quayside and finishing at Babbacombe Down near Torquay. He finished in an excellent 37th in 5:22.36 with 140 completed the run organised by Winding Paths.
Ann Coston and Ragnhild Richards chose the half marathon option following Ann’s recent injury. They decided to enjoy the run and treat the event as a ’nice day out’. They finished in 47thand 48th in 3:15.43 after part running and part walking the route which goes from Dawlish Warren to Babbacombe Down.
Seaton parkrun and beyond
The sun was back out this week so there was, as expected, a big turnout at Seaton for parkrun event number 334.
AVR dominated the female first finishers and the age graded podium with Debbie Whiston first female home in 20:11 and Karen Eyre third female finisher in 21:15. On age grade Eleanor Wood was first with a massive 90% for her 23:30 followed by Karen Eyre, 82% and Debbie Whiston 79%. Mike Wadsworth was fourth on age grade with 77% for his 21:39 which was also a shiny new PB.
There were also PBs for Rob Harp in 22:27; Mark Parsons in 24:45; David Whelan in 27:38; Rebecca King in 32:14; and Shirley Goy in 32:36.
Furthest for parkrun tourism this week were Louise and Aaron Rawlins who completed Zegerplas parkrun near Amsterdam.
For all other AVR tourist parkruns from last Saturday the results are online here
Spanish (not) parkrun
Not a race but a bit of fun with AVR on tour! Anthony and Adrianne Mullins on holiday in Spain and with no parkrun there so on Saturday morning they joined a local running club, Los Bandidos (The Bandits) based in Mojacar, Costa Almería.
They all ran 5k out and back along the beautiful Paseo del Mediterraneo, starting at 8am as the sun was rising, followed by coffee and doughnuts in the local cafe.
And finally …
Congratulations to Innes Fitzgerald who was fourth in the stacked 3000m final at the World Athletics U20 Championships final in Lima, Peru on Saturday in a PB of 8:57.01.
Also, good to see Jake Smith back racing and on the podium in second place at yesterday’s Vitality Big Half in 64:07. He was using the race as preparation for the Berlin marathon at the end of the month.
