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AVR dominate at the Ug

AVR’s Emilie Brock and Jack Broom were victorious on Saturday evening at the Umborne Ug, a tough multi-terrain 10k run organised by AVR and raising funds to support the village hall in Umborne.

Some 800 feet of elevation provide spectacular views but was also hot work for the runners on a glorious summer’s evening.  Emilie finished in 49:06 and took first F40 as well as first female.  Amazingly, the following morning she cycled 100 miles at the Nello bike race with husband, Warren, in aid of the Forces Cancer Charity.

First home at the Ug was Jack Broom in 38:45, just pipping Chard Road Runners’ Wayne Loveridge who took second place.  Third female was AVR’s Kerry Board in 54:30.

Other prize winners for AVR on Saturday were Matt Clist, first M40 and fourth overall in 41:32 and Rob Collier, first M50 in 44:27.

There was a huge turnout from the club amongst the 115 finishers with many more supporting organisers’ Rick and Eleanor Wood with timing, back-marking, marshalling and setting up.   The race was followed by a BBQ.  Full results are here

Summer Solstice on the Fells

The latest in the South West Fell Runners Dartmoor series took place last Wednesday, summer solstice, on Merrivale.

Tim Lenton, Rik Tumber, David and Susi Sadler started the hilly 9.5km fell run taking in a huge 1000 feet of ascent on a very warm evening which made for a challenging but beautiful run including passing some Dartmoor ponies and foals!

Tim came an impressive seventh place, second M50, in 39:41 with Rik in 17th in 44:40.  Susi was happy to finish in 1:12.29 with David sadly having to drop out due to injury.

More information on these fell races is here and it would be great to see a few more AVRs taking on the challenge:

Land and sand

Matt Frost ran the Land and Sand 5k in Exmouth on Friday evening which involved a lot of running on the sandy beach!  He was an excellent fifth out of 98 finishers in 22:10.

Clean sweep at Seaton parkrun for AVR

On another sunny Saturday, AVRs were first male finisher – Ryan Snell in a PB of 17:26; first female finisher, Debbie Whiston in 19:49 and first on age-grade Eleanor Wood 88.75% for her 23:33.  It was also a great day for AVR PBs with Max Richardson (19:12), Gareth Walker (23:09), Zoe Harp (26:50), Zoe Trewick (29:01) and Jayne Tumber (32:45).  Emma Ellynn celebrated her 50th milestone.

Further afield, Carol Austin and Carolyn Nation bagged their Z for the parkrun alphabet challenge at Zielony Jar in Krakow, Poland while Tony Smith and Sam Miller added another country to their collection taking part in the beautifully scenic Amager Strandpark parkrun in Copenhagen.

All AVR parkrun results are here.

Defib Dash raises awareness

This week’s Axe Valley Runners club night had a bit of a twist – to raise awareness of the location of all local defibrillators (AEDs).  Following a recent first aid course that many members took part in to learn the importance of and how to use AEDs, the next stage was to find out where they are all located.

On Tuesday, each group had a map with a different route to locate as many as they could. Dependent on the pace of each group this ranged from four to eight.  More than 70 members joined the fun but important evening, followed by a BBQ at Seaton Cricket Club where funds were also raised for MacMillan Cancer Support with a cake sale that raised more than £200.  Big thanks go to Heather Simmons for all her organisation and the top team of BBQ chefs on the night including Sarah and Ronnie Whelan and Claire Warner.

Here are a few pictures from the evening to enjoy:

Muggy Martock

A handful of AVRs headed up into Somerset for the Martock 10k, on a scenic and flat course promising fast times.  But the sunshine, heat and closeness of the air was very challenging.

First AVR home in fifth place, and second M40, was Duncan Staddon in 36:13.   Ron Seward was first M70, 94th in an impressive 47:06.  Second M70 was another AVR, Eric Emerson in 54:27, 181st overall.  Ann Coston finished in 52:12, second F50 and 149th  with Angela Kerr in 55:28, 197th, second F60.

Other AVRs were Katharine Moran, 58:05, 232nd, Fiona Seward, 62:56, 273rd and Shirley Salter, 68:48, 320th.   A total of 384 finished the race to be rewarded with a lovely wooden medal.

 Giant Half

Mandy Harris ran White Star Running’s Giants Head half marathon in Dorset on Sunday in 3:11.18. With just over 1500 ft of climb it was another tough half in very hot conditions that took in the Cerne Abbas Giant.

PBs galore at sunny Seaton parkrun


Ryan Snell was second finisher in a PB of 17:41 with Debbie Whiston second female finisher in 19:39, also second on age-grade in 80.8%.  Emilie Brock was third female in a PB of 19:57. On a sunny morning in perfect conditions there were also PBs for David Cull, 20:13; Jeremy Norcombe, 22:58; Zoe Trewick, 29:05; and Ann-Louise Gridley, 31:39.

Up in Teddington Kevin Feeney celebrated his 100th run at Bushy Park parkrun, the location of the first ever parkrun nearly 20 years ago.  Keen to secure the “where it all started” parkrun challenge, Carol Austin, Martin Kerr and Angela Kerr made the pilgrimage there to run their first Bushy while Sarah Shepley completed her 39th at Bushy.

Aileen and Peter Heal completed Somerville Pavilion parkrun, known for its famous “curly-wurly” finish.  All AVR parkrun results can be found here