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Resounding success for AVR at Exe Relays

AVRs had a great evening in Exeter on Friday with 11 teams taking part in the Run Exe 4 x 4k relay event.  With a total of 94 teams competing on a glorious sunny evening there was a wonderful atmosphere alongside the river for the event, well organised by City Runs.

AVR’s men’s 40 (Ryan Snell, Matt Hewer, Terry Emmett, Duncan Staddon) and women’s 40 (Karen Eyre, Kerry Board, Sue Hayes, Debbie Whiston) both took first in category and the men’s 60 (Ian Kinnersley, Ron Seward, Andy Charrington, Alan Hornibrook) also came first, retaining their crown from last year.

The F60 (Janet Cullum, Carol Austin, Angela Kerr, Eleanor Wood) came in second in category.  On a night of very fast times, Jack Broom was fastest AVR, ninth overall in 12:21.  Ron Seward, Janet Cullum and Eleanor Wood were all first in age category.

Lost on Langston Fell

Rik Tumber and Tim Lenton travelled to Dartmoor for the Langston 10k Fell Race on Sunday. Starting from Peter Tavy village hall, it was straight into a big climb for nearly 3km with around 900ft elevation up to Cox Tor.

Rik and Tim both managed to take a wrong turn so finished the race having covered more like 12k!   Despite this Tim was sixth in 59:00 and Rik was eighth in 59:22.

 Taunton Trail

 Three AVRs popped up to Taunton where Prosper Events organised a half-marathon and a 10k along the canal and the river Tone.  On a very hot, sunny morning and in her first ever half-marathon, Georgie Ryan finished in 2:52.11 127th.  Georgie is a new member joining AVR after following the Couch to 5k programme which the club offer for those new to running.

In the 10k Cliff Marriott finished in 56:48, 36th from 132 who completed the race with Bob Carter coming in 58thin 1:02.32.  Bob was raising money for Cats Protection Honiton branch where he is the coordinator.

Sunny Seaton parkrun

It was another glorious day for parkrun with 285 enjoying the perfect conditions.  AVR’s Luke Reed was first to finish in 17:31 with Debbie Whiston first female in 19:34, a great time the morning after running the relays. This also placed her second on age grade in an excellent 81%.  There were five AVR PBs:  Simon Freathy 21:03, Jeremy Norcombe 23:01, David Hutton 24:24, Craig Tiley 24:40 and Sue Chambers 28:39.

Prize for the furthest parkrun this week goes to Bec and Simon Davey who visited Lovstien parkrun in Bergen, Norway, where Bec ran the beautiful, hilly course and Simon volunteered.

 

AVRs contribute to an England victory

Carol Austin and Angela Kerr travelled to Chester for the half-marathon where they represented England Masters F60 and F65 respectively.  Representation follows a selection process involving achieving a qualification standard and position on a nominated race during the previous 12 months.

The course started at Chester racecourse before a short tour around the beautiful city centre then out into the Cheshire countryside before returning to finish with a steep hill up to the cathedral.   In her first England appearance and in perfect conditions, Carol finished in 1:49.08, 11th F60 out of 42, 994th so within the first quartile of the 4000+ finishers.

Angela, making her third England Masters appearance, finished in 2:03.13, 16th F65 from 24.  Overall England took the victory over Wales Masters.

AVRs excel in Exeter

On a hot and sunny morning conditions were excellent for the big contingent of AVRs at the Great West Half-Marathon held in our closest city.  Laura Kerr was first female AVR home in a huge PB 1.44.34 knocking a massive seven minutes off last year’s time.   Matt Frost was first male AVR in 1:23.41, 31st out of more than 1700 finishers improving on last year’s time.  Katharine Moran was delighted with her PB of 2:01.33.  Haydn Boehm finished in 1:35.27, 18th M45 with Jason Potter in 1:39.21.  Wayne Tooze in 1:46.13 and Kathryn Thompson in 2:32.37 both secured PBs for the Great West.  Mark Spraggs continued his current fine form finishing in 1:46.31; Cory Schultze came in in 1:53.11;  Lindsey and Simon Freathy ran together coming in 1:57.26 with Jules Conway finishing in 2:04.31.   Lucyann Ashdown ran for Hospicecare completing the race in 2:06.31 and raising money for a great cause.

Full results are here:

Binfield 10k

Cliff Marriott headed to old haunts and despite a night of curry and karaoke he completed the Binfield 10k in Berkshire in 54.05. It was surprisingly undulating, very warm and a well-supported race.

Loughborough International for Innes

Innes Fitzgerald made her British U20 track debut on Sunday at the Loughborough International where she took third place in the 3000m with a time of 9:09.45 competing against seniors from England, Scotland and the rest of the world.

 

parkrun PBs

At Saturday’s Seaton parkrun third place was secured by Ritchie Durrant in 17:01 and first woman finisher was Deborah Whiston in 20:32. Axe Valley Runners managed an impressive four PBs – Luke Reed 17:31, Max Richardson 19:24, Jeremey Norcombe 23:17, and Zoe Trewick 29:14. The third-place age grade of 79.49% was achieved by Ron Seward in 22:45. There were 222 finishers.  Massive congratulations to core team member, David Sadler who reached 200 appearances at Seaton (including volunteering and running).

Tony Smith and Sam Miller travelled to Jersey Farm parkrun in St Alban’s to nab their “J” for the parkrun challenge while Bec and Simon Davey took part in just the third Thames Path parkrun in Woolwich, a lovely riverside run with an interesting ‘curly-wurly’ finish.  Carolyn Nation was in Wales and took part in the challenging Hafan Pwllheli parkrun which takes place on sand and on Saturday involved an incoming tide!  There is never a dull moment at parkrun!  You can see all the events attended by AVR members this week: here

 ColyTEN Recce

 Rob Collier and Karen Eyre organised a recce for a new local race to be known as the ColyTEN, a 10-mile multi-terrain race on Sunday 15 October. Starting and finishing in Colyton it is a challenging trail race with some 1400 feet of elevation but with spectacular views across the Coly valley.  Look out for this new race that takes place on Sunday 16 October, 2023.

Ultimate ultras

Vicki Wraight and Jeremy Slade decided one marathon wasn’t enough and completed the West Country Flat 50 which is actually 52 miles and definitely not all flat! The race started in Taunton with runners heading out of town alongside the canal for the first 15 miles to Bridgwater.  The muddy banks of the River Perratt takes runners up to the Somerset coast to Hinckley Point Power Station where, after 30 miles, the hills kick in.  The final 20 miles follows the coast to East Quantoxhead, before turning inland through undulating terrain and re-joining the coast at Watchet.  A long, hilly stretch then takes runners into the final mile in Minehead.

The two AVRs ran together until around mile 29 when Vicki pushed on as Jeremy struggled with stomach cramps.  Vicki ran on to complete the final 23 miles in an incredible solo effort even managing a sprint finish in a hugely impressive time of 13 hours 11.25.  Jeremy used all his physical and mental strength to get going again and did so to finish not far behind Vicki in 13 hours 45.05. A mammoth and memorable run by both.

Down in Dorset, Tom Parsons also took on a huge distance completing the Jurassic Coast Challenge, a 100k race from Corfe Castle to Bridport.  Using the spectacular but tough South West Coast Path, Tom ran with friends and together they were raising money for two excellent causes: Alzheimer’s Society and Great Ormand Street Hospital. They completed the 100k with a mix of running, walking, shuffling and crawling, in a superb 17 hours, 11 minutes.

Brock victory at Blazer

There was a big turn-out of AVRs at the Beer Blazer with a 5-mile and 10-mile option available and AVRs also helping with back-marking and much of the marshalling and organisation.  The Blazer, which uses much of the infamous Grizzly route, is organised by and raises funds for Beer Primary School PTFA.

In the 10-mile event,  AVR’s Emilie Brock and Joshua Carr from Thames Hare & Hounds took the victories.  Emilie finished in a brilliant 1:30.16, 13th overall and first F40.

Carr finished in 1:11.44 followed by a host of AVRs.  Andrew Snook was second in 1:16.34 and, also, first M40 with Matt Clist in 1:19.04 third and second M40.  Richard Hardy, fourth was third M40 (1:19.20) and Rik Tumber, fifth (1:19.52).  Tim Lenton was first M45 (1:24.27); Ian Kinnersley was first M60 (1:41.21) with Eleanor Wood, fifth female and first F65 (1:42.53); Ron Seward first M70 (1:53.23) and Margaret Pearce first F50 (2:07.32).

Simon Dimmock of AVR took first prize for the 5-mile event finishing in 42.50 with Tavistock’s Sarah Holland first female in 50.11.

Full results are available here

Lumpy Leeds

Mandy Harris travelled up to Leeds to take part in the Jane Tomlinson’s Run for All Half Marathon.  It was a hilly route and a very warm day so Mandy was pleased to finish in 2:20.20. This year was also the inaugural Rob Burrow Marathon so both events finished in Headingly Stadium, home of the Leeds Rhinos, and raised funds for MND.

Out in Ocean City

Kelly Nickels and Chris Polley both ran the Ocean City Plymouth Half-Marathon with Kelly finishing in 2:15.11.  Chris ran with his daughter who completed her first ever Half-marathon.

Runaway Train

Over in Somerset, Emma Richardson, Julia Conway and Sam Tooze took part in an 8.5 mile trail race, the Runaway Train, using some disused railway lines and through some spectacular countryside around Shepton Mallet.  Bec Davey and Helen Boehm enjoyed the shorter 3 mile version.

Although there were no official times, they were rewarded for their efforts with beautiful views, bluebells, a viaduct plus a wooden memento and a whole lot of fun!

Sunny Seaton parkrun

 It was a glorious day for parkrun on Saturday with more than 200 happy parkrunners enjoying the pebbles in Seaton including many visitors.  Matt Frost was third finisher in a PB of 18.20 with Kerry Board third female home in 22.28.

With the great conditions there were also PBs for Jason Potter in 20.51; Paul Johns 21.44 and Craig Tiley, who is on a roll of PBs, in 24.54.

Wayne Tooze celebrated reaching his 50 parkrun milestone sporting his recent London marathon finishers’ Tee.