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Blustery Bournemouth
It was a quiet week for races internationally, nationally and locally. Over in Chicago Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya narrowly missed breaking the world record but ran the second fastest marathon in history finishing in 2:14.18.
In the national road relays, Exeter Harriers came from behind to take the Girls U17 title thanks to a blistering final leg from Seaton’s upcoming star, Innes Fitzgerald.
Run Bournemouth
Closer to home, two AVRs hopped over the border into Dorset to take part in the Bournemouth half-marathon on a sunny, unseasonably hot Sunday. Diane Newton and Cliff Marriott joined nearly 2,400 runners at the start line in the city. The route follows five miles along the cliff path from Hengistbury Head before heading down to the promenade, and out and back along Bournemouth and Boscombe piers with a challenging headwind.
Cliff was pleased with his 1:50.07, 559th, and can now be seen proudly sporting a purple and orange finishers T-shirt!
Diane wasn’t in good form, but was typically determined and pleased to actually finish, in 2:56:54, 5th F70.
Dolphins join the parkrun fun
At Seaton parkrun on Saturday, Kerry Board was third female finisher in a PB of 21:50. Eleanor Wood was first on age-grade in a mega 91.62% for her 22.28. Ron Seward celebrated his 100th parkrun with third place on age-grade, 78.58% in 22:43. Those who were enjoying the sunshine after parkrun on Saturday were rewarded as a pod of dolphins swam across the Bay.
The Stopline Way junior parkrun in Axminster on Sunday took place in lovely sunshine with 18 finishers. Any AVRs with children aged 4 to 14 may be interested in taking them along or volunteering to help. Visit www.parkrun.org.uk/stoplineway-juniors to register or for more information.
Magnificent marathon weekend for AVR
England vests in Chester
Rob Collier (M50) and Angela Kerr (F65) represented England Masters in Sunday’s MBNA Chester marathon following qualifications at Manchester and Milton Keynes marathons respectively, earlier this year. Unfortunately both have suffered from injuries over the last few weeks but were determined to pull on the prestigious England vest. Sadly Rob was a DNF – always a tough one but often the best option- with his injury and a cold in the lead-up taking their toll.
Angela, too, had had a challenging build-up with injury and life events, but as usual her strength and determination saw her through to finish in 6:02.21.
Photo: Angela Kerr and Rob Collier don their England Masters vests
Capital gains for AVR
In the TCS London marathon AVR had a big presence with a mix of ‘good-for-age’, charity place runners and a few who had been lucky in the ballot. There were more than 40,000 finishers with conditions perfect for marathon running after the forecast rain held off..
Terry Emmett in 2:41.36, Richard Hardy in 2:47.07 and Matt Frost in 2:57.24 were the first three AVRs home in brilliant sub-3 hour finishes. Richard and Matt also smashed their personal bests while Terry’s was a London PB.
Pic: Matt Frost in London after completing the marathon in 2:57.24
Paul Johns in 3:32.26 was next to finish in his third London marathon with Alan Hornibrook next AVR in an excellent 3:44.38, 52nd in the M65 category. Jason Potter slipped into sub-4 with his 3:57.59 finish.
Laura Kerr, running her first London marathon for Round Table’s Children’s Wish, finished in a massive PB of 4:12.43 with Fiona Pyle breaking the 5-hour barrier in 4:59.14. Together they also raised a huge amount for this excellent cause as well as fitting in the training alongside their young families and careers.
Both Roger Bramley and Mark Day were also raising money for charities – Seaton Hospice at Home and Land Aid respectively. Roger finished in 4:38.59 with Mark in 5:08.40.
Steve Lewis decided to take on the virtual challenge running the 26.2 miles around Seaton, Axmouth and Colyford with support at various points from Carol Austin, Caroline French and Alan Morbey. Starting in heavy rain but finishing in glorious sunshine Steve kept up a very consistent pace to finish in 5:11.55.
Photo: Steve Lewis – halfway on the virtual marathon: “Tower Bridge”!
Congratulations to all. The race was in October again this year following Covid postponements but reverts back to April next year with entries already open and only a few months to wait.
Full results: https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com
Excelling by the Exe
Winding Paths introduced a hat-trick of new events starting in Budleigh Salterton with a multi-terrain half-marathon, marathon and a 50k ultra – all tough courses using the beautiful South-West Coast Path along with riverside paths alongside the Exe and the Otter.
In the half-marathon Matt Orsman came an outstanding second in 1:39.43 while Eleanor Wood was an equally brilliant third woman finishing in 2:00.57. Raghnild Richards came in 52nd overall in 2:38.26 with 76 runners completing the challenging 13.1m course which had nearly 1500 feet of elevation as runners ran from Budleigh to Exmouth and back after a gentle flat first 5m looping up the River Otter. Not a course for a negative split!
Solo in Cardiff
Susan Wall took part in the Cardiff half-marathon finishing in 2:34:05. Unfortunately daughter, Vicki Wraight was unable to join her as planned after picking up an injury in the Berlin marathon last Sunday.
parkwalk launches at Seaton parkrun
Joel Seward was first finisher at Seaton parkrun in 17:41 with Mike and Roberta Wadsworth both celebrating PBs in 22:04 and 29:29, respectively.
To celebrate the 18th birthday of the very first parkrun in Bushy park, the parkrun movement launched parkwalk this weekend and Seaton welcomed its first group of walkers. Anyone unable to run, perhaps through injury, may like to join in knowing there will be support of the parkrun community to ensure a great start to a Saturday.
Ibiza dreaming
Our chairman Haydn Boehm turned his hand to duathlon at the Thruxton Mass Attack event this weekend. With two runs and a cycle he finished in 50th overall and 5th out of nine in his age group. The winners from each group can qualify for the World Championships taking place in Ibiza – sadly Haydn will have to wait for another year or maybe just get the Molkky champs to move to the party island.
Berlin delight for Wraight and Kipchoge!
Despite a string of injuries hampering her preparation, Vicki Wraight was pleased to finish the BMW Berlin marathon on Sunday, one of the Marathon majors. She completed the 26.2 miles in 4:41:26 to finish 7073rdout of more than 23000 finishers. As Vicki says “It’s not every day you can say you competed in the race where a new world record was set!” Kenyan, Eliud Kipchoge took an amazing 30 seconds of his own world record to finish in an incredible 2:01:09.
Trails and trains in Wales
Carolyn Nation (Kaz) thoroughly enjoyed her run in the Trailffest half marathon in Porthmadog in Wales finishing 147th in 3:27.08 on a stunning but extremely tough course. All runners start up the mountain at 710 feet, arriving by a scenic steam train which certainly attracted Kaz, who has been waiting three years to take part after several Covid postponements. It may finish by the sea but runners face many very steep, challenging climbs along the way, described by Kaz, as “Grizzly-esque”.
Jurassic jaunt
Closer to home, Sarah Herfet also took to the hills in the Jurassic 10k, her first proper race for months.
It was a gruelling course spanning the undulating yet magnificent Jurassic coastline with the beautiful sunlight bouncing off a glistening sea. Sarah was delighted with her 1:17:37 time and ninth female to finish, especially given this included an extra half-mile loop after a wrong turn!
A hat-trick of PBs on the roads of the south-west
On Sunday Tim Sibley travelled to Barnstaple to take part in the Barnstaple Half Marathon organised by North Devon Road Runners. The fast, flat course takes runners out and back along the Tarka Trail with a loop around Fremmington.
Tim was pleased to finish in a PB in 1:34:12, 33rd from 225. He was seventh V50.
Laura Kerr and Fiona Pyle warmed up for next week’s London marathon at the Bradley’s 10k in Exmouth on Sunday morning. Laura was an excellent twelfth female coming in in a huge PB of 49:13. Fiona also secured a PB finishing in 1:00.46.
Weekend parkrun events
On another glorious Saturday for parkrun, Joel Seward was first finisher in Seaton in a PB of 16:36 with Richard Hardy coming in third, in 16:46, his first sub-17 finish.
A special mention for the inaugural junior parkrun in Axminster. The Stopline Way junior parkrun began on Sunday with 18 parkrunners, aged 4 to 14 taking part. Sarah Shepley, the new Event Director, has worked tirelessly to raise the funds to enable this to start, including a generous donation from The Grizzly. Many AVRs were amongst the volunteers this week and if any members would like to help in future weeks please email: stoplinewayjuniors@parkrun.com