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Balmy Barcelona
David Cull took part in the Barcelona marathon on Sunday where the conditions were lovely, if a touch warm, but with some cloud cover half of the time. Despite a little cramp early on and recovering from a recent hip niggle, he kept up excellent pacing throughout, slowing only a little at the end to finish in a fantastic 3:00.51, an eight second PB and 197th M40. Nearly 16,000 runners completed the race.
David was happy with the PB and, in particular, going to the top (if only very temporarily) of the M40 club champs!
Granite Way
This City Community Trust organised event offers an excellent 10 or 20 mile flat, fast route along the Granite Way cycle path providing perfect pacing conditions as preparation for a spring marathon or half-marathon.
New AVR member, Harry McMahon stormed home third in the 10-mile option in a brilliant 1:0016. Ron Seward also ran well finishing 57th overall and first M70 in 1:20.50.
In the 20-mile race, Matt Frost was seventh in 2:08.02 with Laura Kerr, 45th in 2:49.14 and Angela Kerr, 97th and first F65 in 3:23.05 all looking very strong ahead of their marathons next month. The 10-mile race had 232 finishers with 136 completing the 20-mile option.
Bideford Half
On Sunday three AVRs, Diane Newton, Kathryn Thompson and Martyn Walker, joined nearly a thousand other keen runners, lining up for the start of the Bideford Half Marathon. The course started with a loop around the town of Bideford before an undulating six miles out to Torrington by road, returning back via the beautiful Tarka Trail.
Martyn Walker finished in 687th in 2:09.52; Kathryn Thompson, 898th in 2:32.20; and Diane Newton was very pleased to come in at 3:0:08, 945th, securing second F70 and a rather lovely trophy.
Seaton parkrun
Once again the cliff falls on West Walk meant a three-lap route with the addition of a tractor on the beach to navigate!
Appropriately for the day after International Women’s Day, the first three female finishers were all AVRs with Debbie Whiston first finisher in 20.46 and also first on age grade with 77%. Second female was Lucy Watkinson in 22.26 with Kerry Board third in 22.53.
Big thanks to Honiton Running Club who provided the majority of the volunteers on Saturday.
Out on the road, Sam Miller and Tony Smith completed Chippenham parkrun; Dave Hutton and Sue Chambers took part in the challenging but spectacular Woolacombe Dunes parkrun; Mark Spraggs ran Lymington Woodside and Cliff Marriott and Pam Goddard visited Clevedon Salthouse Fields parkrun near Bristol.
Excellence in Exmouth
Four AVRs took the short trip to Exmouth for the Bradley’s 10k on Sunday. Starting on the seafront runners headed to Orcombe Point before turning and following the beachfront back to the start point and repeating for a second lap. The flat course, run on hard surfaced footpaths and the lovely sunny spring day meant perfect conditions for the 150 competitors.
Joel Seward came in an excellent third place in 35:49 with Ritchie Durrant hot on his heels just six seconds behind finishing in 35:55 for fourth. Next up was Luke Reed in fifth, first M40, in 37:31.
Lee Brooker was 72nd in a massive lifetime best of 53:53.
There is another running of the race, organised by LM Events, in the autumn.
Mud Glorious mud!
Seaton parkrun
With the cliff falls still affecting West Walk, the three-lap course was used again this weekend. First female finisher was Debbie Whiston in 20:47 with Kerry Board second in 22:56. Eleanor Wood was first on age-grade with 89% for her 23:50 with Ron Seward second on age grade in 79% for his 23:26.
Out on the tourism trail were Dave Hutton and Sue Chambers nabbing their V for the alphabet challenge at Victoria Docks; Ian Smith and John Whittaker took part in Gunnersbury parkrun; Bec Davey ran Dolgellau in Wales; Kevin Feeney and Sarah Shepley completed Stewart parkrun in Middlesborough while Shaun Vinnicombe completed the very picturesque Llanhydrock parkrun in Cornwall.
Sea of Green at Seaton parkrun
Seaton parkrun went green on Saturday as a tribute to AVR, Phil “Evergreen” Bayliss who sadly died last year and who had been very involved in getting the event off the ground in the town. AVRs, past and present, came to run, walk, and volunteer along with members of Phil’s family. Tony Smith spoke prior to the event about Phil, saying how he has tried to ‘Be more Phil’ over the last year and presented Phil’s wife, Vikki with a volunteer hat for his contribution to the event.
It was also fitting that amongst Saturday’s volunteers were some young people doing their DofE award, something Phil had been involved with during his career. One of them, Kira Moran has written a lovely full run report from Saturday – here.
In the event itself, run on a revised route due to recent cliff falls, Matt Clist was third finisher in 17:19 and also third on age-grade in 82%. Eleanor Wood was first on age-grade with 89% for her 23:53. Congratulations to Jo Orsman on reaching her 100th milestone and Jeremy Norcombe on his 200th parkrun to coincide with a ‘big’ birthday. Well done to Lee Brooker and Lucy Hanley on PBs, 26:22 and 30:51, respectively.
Five go wild in Wokingham
Four AVRs, Ryan Snell, Matt Hewer, Terry Emmett and David Cull had an early start on Sunday travelling up to Wokingham in Surry for the half marathon where they were joined by Cliff Marriott who was up there for the weekend.
The route had a slight adjustment due to flooding but was still a fast, flat course ran on rural roads and around the town centre.
First AVR home was Ryan Snell in 1:14.40, 74th and 14th M40 from 2772 finishers. Terry Emmett was hot on his heels finishing with a shiny new PB of 1:15.19, 17th M40 and 84th overall. Also celebrating an excellent PB was Matt Hewer in 1:20.23, returning from a long period out with injury. David Cull finished in 1:23.30, also an impressive PB. Cliff Marriott finished in 1:51.24.
Exeter Trail 10k
Run around the grounds of Escot Park this was always going to be a muddy affair after the recent wet weather. It also included some challenging climbs so perfect Grizzly preparation. Julia Conway came in 53rd in 1:03.06, second F50. Ninety runners completed the race on Saturday in good conditions. In the 5k Canicross event Denise Burgess was seventh, running with her pointer, in 36:44.
Slay the Dragon 10k
Three AVRs popped over the border for this beautiful but challenging 10k which took place around Hinton St George in Somerset on Sunday. Amazingly the promised deluge of rain and wind held off until after the race with runners just having some mizzle to accompany them. Martyn Walker came in 61st in 1:05.47; Kathryn Thompson, 85th in 1:17.45 and Aileen Heal in 87th in 1:22.56.
Bath Two Tunnels HM
Georgie Ryan ran the Bath Two Tunnels Half Marathon organised by Relish Running on Sunday – a race with the longest underground section of any race in the UK! The route, known as “Return Ticket” is a two lap out and back on the Two Tunnels Greenway Path, flat and fast. Georgie finished in 2.14:11 smashing more than six minutes off her previous PB.