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An extraordinary day out!
Four AVRs tackled the East Devon Round on Saturday with Julia Mallon completing the 104k Full Round, a remarkable achievement given just 33 completed the course which included an elevation of an incredible 9665 ft. Starting at 5.30 am, with a piper to see the runners off from Offwell, the route took runners through forests of bluebells, across to Axminster and then onto Lyme where a tough section of the course followed the coast path over the Undercliffs into Seaton. Julia was supported for some 22 miles by Emma Richardson, Helen Holmes and Suzi Blackett.
After running through the Wetlands to Colyton the course went along the East Devon Way up to Sidford, Gittisham and beyond before returning to Offwell via a final loop north of Honiton. Finishing at 2.30 am the following morning in a phenomenal 21:05.33, Julia describes the event as “a brilliant day out!”.
Stephen Grigg, Dan Clist and James Hawker all completed the Half Round, following the same route as the first half of the Full and still a challenging 50k (35 miles) around 6000 feet of elevation finishing in Blackbury Camp. Stephen was a brilliant fourth finisher in an amazing 6:46.20. Dan and James ran together finishing in 8:59.37 -ultra runners and ultra brilliant.
Big thanks also to go to those providing the all-important feed stations and checkpoints on the route. In Axmouth, AVR managed the checkpoint with Sam Halls, Rob Collier and Rik Tumber working hard all day supplying essentials to the runners passing through.
North Dorset Village Marathon
At the North Dorset Village Marathon Ryan Snell was fifth in a very impressive 2:49.18 taking the first M40 prize. The 26.2m underlating run attracted 167 finishers, and began at Sturminster High School going along country lanes through a series of villages across North Dorset.
Round the Tor
Ian Kinnersley travelled to Glastonbury for the Round the Tor 10k. The course was run on country lanes around the Tor with a great atmosphere boosted by good crowds of spectators throughout the course.
He finished 38th out of 288 runners and 2nd in the MV60 category in 42:22.
1-2-3 at Seaton parkrun
AVR took the first three places at the Seaton parkrun on Saturday with Jack Broom (16.41), Joel Seward (16.46), and Ritchie Durrant (in a PB of 16.50) battling it out all the way. First female finisher was Deborah Whiston in 19.56.
The top six age-grade times were all AVR with Eleanor Wood 92% for 22.31; Ron Seward 80% for 22.34; Deborah Whiston, 79.6%; Carol Austin 78.3% for 24.46; Joel Seward 77.8% and Jack Broom 77%.
Jayne Tumber nabbed another PB in 33.16. There was a great turnout of 244 parkrunners this week.
London Calling
AVRs were out en masse at the TCS London Marathon this year. With good-for-age, charity, club and ballot places an incredible 15 took to the streets of the capital on Sunday while two others ran the challenging 26.2 miles closer to home as a virtual event.
Up in London the first AVR home was Terry Emmett who paced his race perfectly to finish a superb 500th in an excellent 2:38.34, 87th M40.
Duncan Staddon in 2:48.08 and Matt Hewer in 2:58.37 also impressed with their sub-3 hour finishes.
Despite a recent spate of injuries, Rob Collier finished in a brilliant 3:06.22.
Rupert Pady was next AVR home in 3:17.50.
Kerry Board, running her first London marathon in the city rather than virtually, finished in an excellent eight minute marathon PB of 3:37.17, while Karen Eyre completed it in 3:39.01, a London best.
Alan Hornibrook completed his 13th London marathon in 3:54.01, an impressive 81st M65.
Rob Gibson, raising money for Seaton Primary School following his success in the club ballot, finished in 4:08.05.
Club chair, Haydn Boehm and Wayne Tooze ran together raising funds for the charity, Brain Research, finishing in 4:05.04 and 4:05.05.
Angela Kerr, running an incredible 14th London marathon and her 48th in total, finished in 4:37.52 and 57th F65 to comfortably retain her good-for-age place.
Ferenc Kovacs came in in 4:50.41 for his first non-virtual marathon; Tracey Anning-Beckett finished in 5:07.16 while Kathryn Thompson, who has also had to overcome serious injury and illness, finished in 5:48.18.
More than 45,000 runners completed the marathon which was won in a new course record of 2:01.25 by Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya. The women’s race was full of drama with Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands taking the win in 2:18.33 on her marathon debut despite looking to be suffering from a hip injury during the race.
Both Mark Day and Louise Rawlins enjoyed lots of support from fellow AVRs pacing, cheering and a finish line welcome at the end of Seaton Esplanade worthy of The Mall itself. Mark finished in a PB of 4:56.52 while Louise, completed her first ever marathon, having only started running two years ago in a creditable 5:11.24.
In the Mini London Marathon on Saturday Innes FitzGerald successfully defended her title with another dominating performance finishing a full 15 seconds ahead of the second placed runner on the 2.6k course.
Boston Bonanza
Tim Sibley travelled to the USA to take part in one of the Marathon Majors, the famous Boston Marathon which takes place annually on Patriots Day. He completed it in 3:33.09 which was a great time on a tough course made all the more challenging with the wind and rain. Even the GOAT, Kipchoge struggled.
AVRs dominate Seaton parkrun
AVR had a great day at Seaton parkrun this week with Rich Hardy coming in as first finisher just a week after completing the Newport Marathon. His 16:58 also placed him second on age-grade. Luke Reed nabbed second spot in 17:53.
First female was Deborah Whiston in 20.05. Top on age-grade was Eleanor Wood with an amazing 91% for her 22:53 finish.
There were also PBs for Jason Potter in 20:53; Steve Lewis, again a week after running Manchester Marathon, in 24:53; Elaine Chesterman in 33:07 and Liz Curley in 34:18.
On the road, Sam Miller and Tony Smith nabbed their V for the alphabet challenge at Victoria Docks parkrun which was alive with pre-marathon fever. Dave Hutton and Sue Chambers were at Isabel Trail (grabbing their I) while Tim, Amie and James Sibley took part in Fletcher’s Cove parkrun in Washington while in the USA for the Boston Marathon.
Magnificent marathons: five PBs, 4 sub-3s
As we head into prime marathon season the first five AVRs started the ball rolling with Richard Hardy and Joel Seward taking on the 26.1 miles in Newport while Matt Frost, Jack Broom and Steve Lewis headed to Manchester to tackle the biggest UK marathon outside London. There were four personal bests, one brilliant debut and such is the standard at AVR that the four youngsters all ran sub-3 hour marathons.
Over in Wales, Richard Hardy finished a tremendous 15th in a massive PB of 2:40.52 at the ABP Newport Wales Marathon while Joel Seward also improved his PB finishing 23rd in 2:44.30. More than 1700 completed the race which was won by GB-ultra-athlete, Dan Nash in a course record of 2:19.46.
More than 18000 took part in the Adidas Manchester Marathon that started and finished near Old Trafford with the fast flat route heading out to Altrincham via Sale. Jack Broom was making his marathon debut with a very impressive 87th place in 2:38.08. Meanwhile Matt Frost also nabbed a PB in 2:56.23, 770th place. Steve Lewis completed the marathon in 4:32.37, a PB, coming in a very creditable 11th M70 and 12871st.
The event also offers a team-relay option with teams of two or four. Kevin Feeney joined with some family members running his first leg in an excellent 53:08 to set the team up for a brilliant 66th place from 238 teams with 3:57.40 overall.
Monday is the famous Boston marathon where our very own Tim Sibley will give Kipchoge a run for his money. You can follow the race on Eurosport 2 from 2.30pm (UK time).
Noa batters Yeovilton
Three intrepid AVRs braved Storm Noa on Wednesday last week and tackled Yeovil Road Running Club’s (YRRC) Spring and Summer Yeovilton 5K race series. With strong gusts of wind and driving rain, David Cull was first AVR back in 15th in 19.25. Adrian Strawbridge followed in 20th in 20.06 with James Ashforth in 38th in 22.15. This is a great event well organised by YRRC and with five more events in the series it is well worth considering to check out your speed over 5k.
Boggy Butleigh
Ian Kinnersley and Eleanor Wood headed into Somerset for the Butleigh 10k, which was actually closer to 6.5 miles of muddy off road running on tracks, bridleways and through woods all underneath the Glastonbury Tor. They both loved it with Ian storming home in 51.39, an excellent 20th, and Eleanor fourth female finisher in 53.36. About 120 completed the race in excellent Spring conditions.
A vertical Kilometre!
Rik Tumber took part in the KVK – Kernow’s Vertical Kilometre which is a 15-mile trail race across the hills and coastline of Cornwall around St Agnes with an incredible 1000m of climb. Rik finished an excellent tenth in 2:16.33 from 121 finishers.
Lightening Bolt but no Usain!
Cliff Marriott popped up to Wiltshire for the Lightening Bolt 10k in a village just outside Chippenham. It was a flat road race which Cliff finished in 54.10, 56th out of around 100 finishers.
Remembering John Mellodew at parkrun
The family and friends of John Mellodew attended Seaton parkrun on Saturday to remember John, who passed away in January. John, AVR member for many years, had been a regular participant at parkrun until the Covid break and often took part with three generations of his family. On Saturday his daughter Anita celebrated her 50th milestone finishing second female in 22:25. Her daughter, Elsie also completed Saturday’s run. Many AVRs who used to run with John also came to remember him.
The sun shone again making conditions perfect. First female finisher was new AVR member, Deborah Whiston in 20:28. Ron Seward celebrated a PB in 22:26 which also placed him second on age grade with 80.61%.
Prize for the furthest travelled for parkrun tourism this week goes to Tim and Amie Sibley who nabbed the elusive ‘J” for the parkrun alphabet challenge by running Jamaica Ponds parkrun in Boston, USA.