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Rob’s Remarkable (East Devon) Round
The East Devon Round, which starts at Blackberry Camp and finishes at Offwell village hall, covers an incredible 100k of glorious East Devon and Dorset including three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a tough 10,000 feet of elevation. On Saturday AVR’s Rob Collier took second place in the race finishing in 13 hours and nine minutes, about half an hour behind the winner, Justin Montague but more than an hour ahead of third place. Rob had stayed with Justin until the penultimate aid station but Justin then pushed on over the last 17k for the crown.
AVR’s Stephen Grigg also took part, coming in tenth place, completing it in just over 16 hours, having got slightly lost so did an extra two miles. An AVR team, led by Karen Eyre, staffed a vital aid station in Musbury. Just 20 of the 30 starters completed the full Round; there were half and quarter rounds also available.
Great Birmingham Run
Carol Austin and Julia Conway travelled to Birmingham to take part in the Great Birmingham 10k, part of the Great Run series. The undulating route started in Centenary Square, went into the Jewellery Quarter then out towards Edgbaston before circling back to finish in Smithfields, Digbeth.
The event was chosen as an England Masters vs Wales Masters event and Carol had qualified to compete for the England F60 team following her 10k in Brighton last year. Despite struggling with a knee injury she managed to get round, earn her England vest and enjoy the sights of the city she called home for 33 years, finishing in 52:17, 768th and 14thF60.
Julia Conway finished in 57:02, 1237th, 26th F50. The race was very well organised with 14,000 taking part in this and the half marathon.
Crediton Crunch 10k
There was a good turnout of AVRs at the Crediton Crunch on Sunday, a multi-terrain run across parkland, footpaths and country lanes with the first half of the race ran on the Devonshire Heartland Way. The race, part of the InStep Devon series, is organised by South West Road Runners. AVR’s Tim Lenton was fourth in 42:24 and first M50. Eleanor Wood was first F60 finishing in 53:52 with Dawn Carrah, third F60 in 59:20. These two along with Fiona Seward meant AVR scooped the F60 team prize as well. Ron Seward was first M70 in 56:05. A total of 180 completed the race.
Full results here
Seaton parkrun
Conditions were good at Seaton on Saturday and AVR provided a big team of pacers for the parkrun with 331 finishers. The first three finishers were AVR along with first female with Joel Seward in 17:00; Ritchie Durrant in 17:36; Andrew Snook in 18:03 and Debbie Whiston in 20:03, also first on age grade.
There were a host of AVR PBs including Jase Potter 20:09; Adrian Strawbridge 20:3: Dan Cohen 21:58; Ann-Louise Childe 29:13; Alison Hayward 29:22; Lucy Hanley 29:23; Helen Boehm 35:40; Shirley Goy 39:12; and Fran Cohen 49:44.
Out on the road, Carol Austin and Lesley Adams were at Cannon Hill parkrun in Birmingham where Carol completed her 80th run at that event; Pam Goddard visited the Eden Project parkrun; Angela Kerr took part in Fulham Palace parkrun and Simon Dimmock ran Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun.
All AVR parkrun results are available here
Marathoners Reunite at parkrun
After the excitement of the London marathon last week it was a quiet weekend on the racing front for AVR.
At Saturday’s Seaton parkrun it was an opportunity for those who had completed the London marathon last Sunday, on the streets of the capital or ‘virtually’ locally, to gather, debrief, celebrate and be congratulated by the parkrun community.
In the parkrun itself there was a great battle for first finisher with Joel Seward, even on tired London legs, just pipping Harry McMahon by three hundredths of a second, 17:16 and 17:19 respectively with Harry also nabbing a PB.
First female finisher, also fresh from the marathon, was Debbie Whiston in 20:25. First on age-grade in an incredible 91% was Eleanor Wood in 23:17.
Rob Harp in 22:40, Pam Goddard in 28:40, Ann-Louise Childe in 29:18, and Shirley Goy in 39:23 all secured new PBs.
Out on the tourist trail, Jon Day took part in Eastleigh parkrun, Claire Warner did Wilmslow parkrun, Lee Brooker completed Bideford parkrun and David Cull ran Alice Holt parkrun in Waverley, Hampshire. Kevin Feeney and Sarah Shepley completed Longrun Meadow for their ‘L”, Aileen and Peter Heal took part in Five Arches near Bath while Simon McClennan secured a new PB at Worden in Lancashire.
Golden Cap 10k
The free to enter National Trust 10k is held on the fourth Sunday of each month at Golden Cap. On Sunday the weather held out with six AVRs taking part in the challenging multi-terrain run. Tony Smith, Sam Miller, David and Susi Sadler, Sarah Herfet and Jools Elsom all enjoyed the fabulous views from Golden Cap as well as the bluebells around Langdon Woods and the coast path to Stonebarrow. The Trust10 is all about enjoying the nature and surroundings rather than times and positions. More information is here
They did it ‘MyWay’
Four AVRs took part in this year’s Virtual London Marathon, MyWay, running the 26.2 miles locally using a downloaded app to measure their time and distance. Louise and Aaron Rawlins, and Mark Day all ran around the country lanes of Offwell, Southleigh, Colyton, Colyford and Axmouth before finishing on the Esplanade in Seaton welcomed by many other AVRs at the Hideaway. All three smashed their marathon PBs: Louise Rawlins, even finishing with her trademark cartwheel, in 4:19:05, Aaron Rawlins in 4:22.47 and Mark Day in 4:51.07.
Kathryn Thompson had been suffering from injuries so decided to walk it along the picturesque Exe Estuary finishing in 7:48.39.
Lording it in London
AVR had an incredible 18 runners complete the TCS London Marathon on the streets of the capital on Sunday. First AVR home and in his first London marathon was Joel Seward in 2:39.17, a PB and very impressive sub-2:40. First female AVR was Debbie Whiston, competing for the army in the services match, coming home in a brilliant 3:07.24, 44th F45.
Joining Joel in the sub-3 club were Terry Emmett in 2:39.46; Ryan Snell in 2:40.15; Matt Hewer in a new PB of 2:47.00; Duncan Staddon in 2:53.50 and Rich Hardy in 2:54.17.
Second female AVR was Kerry Board in a brilliant shiny new marathon PB of 3:30.08 followed by Karen Eyre in 3:36.17.
Rupert Pady, finished in 3:13.46. Laura Kerr carrying several injuries came in in 4:03.34 followed by Alan Hornibrook in 4:14.08, Haydn Boehm in 4:16.52, Jacqui Stokes in 4:21.36, Wayne Tooze in 4:27.58 and Emma Sampson in 5:15.12.
Angela Kerr finished in 4:33.55, 65th F65 with Diana Burn in 5:31.40, 54th F70.
Many congratulations to former AVR, Molly Smith who finished third British woman in the event in an amazing 2:36.22 running in her first marathon.
Steaming to the Coast
Five AVRs travelled to north Somerset to take part in the first edition of this event organised by Channel Events. Emma Richardson, Suzy Blackett and Helen Holmes chose the full marathon and started the day with a glorious steam train ride on the Heritage Line from Minehead to Bishops Lydeard in the West Somerset Countryside. From there they had a 26.2 mile run back again! All three ran together in the perfect sunny conditions enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Quantock Hills, the Steam Coast Trail and the South West Coast Path. The three finishing equal 100th in 6:19.51 with 128 completing the course.
Bec Davey and Carolyn Nation completed the 11-mile option which began in Williton. Running together they finished in 79th in 2:40;14 with 98 completing the race.
Wrexham 10k
Choosing to ignore the London marathon Ron and Fiona Seward decided to instead participate in the Wrexham 10k. The course was slightly undulating, with a surprising short but steep climb at kilometre eight.
Ron finished 150th in 48:05 and first M70 with Fiona 473rd and fourth F65 in a PB of 1:00:06 .
It was a very well organised event, sponsored by JCB, and attracting 782 finishers.
Seaton parkrun
On a day when many regulars were preparing elsewhere for the marathon there were still 248 finishers at Seaton parkrun. Third finisher was AVR’s David Cull in 19.44 and first on age-grade was Eleanor Wood in a tremendous 90.8% for her 23.22.
Jools Elsom celebrated her 100 milestone, many of which have been supporting other parkrunners so many congratulations. Peter Heal achieved his 100 volunteer stints at Seaton to earn the special Seaton hat, presented by Lesley Adams, volunteer coordinator for the day.
The good conditions on Saturday contributed to six AVR PBs with Richard Jackson in 21:44; Lee Brooker in 25:53; Pam Goddard in 28:48; Lucy Hanley in 29:31; Derek Blumfield 30:36 and Helen Boehm in 35:56.