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AVRs make a splash at the Honiton Hippo
Eleven AVRs took on the Honiton Hippo; a tough, hilly off-road challenge of more than 7 miles with many river crossings to navigate.
Eleanor Wood was an impressive third female finishing 26th in 1:04.54.
Despite a 50k stomp across Dartmoor last weekend, James Hawker came in 43rd in 1.10.28. Louise Harrison finished very strongly in 51st in an excellent 1.14.00. A very muddy Suzi Blackett was 65th in 1.18.49 having taken a plunge in one of the rivers.
Kelly Giles was 76th in 1.21.18 with Simon and Lindsey Freathy together in 88th in 1.26.17. Helen Holmes struggled with her nutrition and had a tough final mile finishing 94th in 1.28.06 followed by Rachel Hiscock in 109th in 1.38.58, Denise Burgess in 111th in 1.39.23 and Shirley Salter with a big smile on her face in 113th in 1.40.28. A total of 138 runners took part in the race organised brilliantly by Howard Bidmead and Honiton RC. All the results:
http://www.honitonrc.com/uploads/9/8/9/3/9893707/hippo2022resultprovisional.pdf
Glorious One-two at Glastonbury for AVR
Richard Hardy took the win in a huge PB of 34:13 at the Glastonbury Levels 10k, ran on a fast, flat out-and-back course on traffic-free roads. In a brilliant AVR 1-2, Joel Seward took second place in 34:37, also a PB.
Ian Kinnersley was second M60, 22nd in an excellent 43.19. The fourth AVR, Louise Rawlins was very pleased with her 57:12 as it was a minute quicker than last year. The race, organised by Mendip AC, attracted 98 runners.
Lush Leonardslee
Rob Collier and Sam Summers took part in a pilot event for the Brighton Marathon trail series 10k held at Leonardslee Gardens, near Horsham in West Sussex. It was a hilly route of shale paths through woodland in the stunning setting of a grade 1 listed garden. Rob came in ninth and first M50 in 43:21 with Sam completing it in 1:25.19.
Seaton parkrun
At Seaton parkrun on Saturday conditions were perfect for a fast run and local youngster Innes Fitzgerald took full advantage smashing both her own female course record and the age-grade record for Seaton with her 16:17 second-place finish, just two seconds behind Wayne Loveridge who finished in a lifetime best of 16:15 as he managed to just hold on for first finisher. AVR’s Rik Tumber was seventh finisher in a PB of 19:02.
Frost smashes PB at Great North
Matt Frost competed at Sunday’s Great North Run, a half-marathon starting in Newcastle and finishing along the seafront in South Shields. Matt finished in an excellent 1:23.20, 450th, a huge personal best which bodes well for the upcoming London marathon. The ever-popular Great North Run again attracted more than 50,000 runners.
Golden Cap-tens
Andrew Snook was a brilliant second in the Cap-ten, Bridport Runners’ ten mile race over beautiful Golden Cap, Thorncombe Beacon and Stonebarrow. He finished the hilly trail run in 1:24.22, just three seconds behind the winner, Adam Kidson from Exeter Harriers. Eleanor Wood was the only other AVR in the race which included a 675m climb and she was a superb fourth woman (first F60) in an incredible 1:50.27.
Alpine success
Richard Jackson completed the Ultra Marathon Wildstrubel 50, part of the UTMB world series in Crans-Montana through the northern Alps of Switzerland.
The race runs from Adelboden at the heart of the Bern canton through to Crans-Montana in the Valais canton. It runs in the famous Via Alpina through the well-tended alpine pastures of the Bernese Oberland to Lenk, followed by a magnificent but demanding 1400m+ climb to the Rawil Pass (2,427m).
The last downhill sections are along the Lake Tzeuzier to reach the vertiginous and splendid Bisse du Ro. Richard completed the race in 8hr 33 min finishing 65th in the 45-49 age category.
Seward storms to success in the Run Exe Series
Last Tuesday Matt Frost and Ron Seward took part in the final race of the Run Exe 5km series. The six-event series of 5k races has taken place during the last six months with the fastest four counting for each runner. This week Matt was taking it steady prior to the Great North Run whilst Ron was struggling following injury. Matt clocked 18:30 on the night finishing 14th but for the series he was an excellent fourth. Ron finished the final event in 24:21 and brilliantly secured first place for the M70 category.
Another parkrun PB for Joel
Joel Seward improved his parkrun personal best to 16:42 at Saturday’s Seaton parkrun where he was first finisher. The event held a minute’s silence to remember Her Majesty The Queen prior to the run. Congratulations to Alan Morbey who reached the 50-milestone.
From village greens to the Matterhorn via the streets of London
During the last week, AVRs have shone high in the mountains, on the streets of London and Somerset and on the trails around Devon villages – all showing the huge variety and talent within the club.
Runshiners shine in Woodbury
Budleigh Salterton Lions Club organised a lovely scenic and undulating10k at Woodbury Common on Sunday when the wet and windy conditions surprised us runners after such a long hot and sunny period. Thursday’s RunShiners group had targeted the event, which was actually just over 10k, and were joined by a few other AVR stalwarts.
First woman and first AVR home in 16th overall was Eleanor Wood in an awesome 53.42. Pete Hallet was 29thin 58.58. John Hocking 1.03.53 and Cliff Marriott 1.04.10 finished one after the other followed by Lindsay and Simon Freathy, who ran together, crossing the line in 1.07.10. Next up was Bob Carter in 1.13.58. The holy trinity of Louise Rawlins, Sarah Whelan and Zoe Harp finished in 1.28.27 with one of them cartwheeling over the line. David (Ronnie) Whelan was next AVR in 1.31.16 with Viv Blumfield and Aileen Heal crossing the line hand in hand in 1.34.24. A total of 124 completed the event which was followed by tea and cake.
Brilliant Bridgewater PB performances
Six AVRs headed up the M5 to compete in the Bridgewater half marathon and 10k in showers and blustery conditions. More than 300 completed the half marathon which started at the Morganians Rugby Club to the east of the town then headed out to Chedzoy before moving on to the Somerset Levels. It is mostly flat with some undulations in the first half so is considered a fast course although the wind played its part! Terry Emmet was a magnificent fifth and second M40 in a PB of 1:15:36 with Richard Hardy hot on his heels in seventh in a huge four-minute PB of 1:16:51.
Kerry Board was 14th female and fourth F40 in a tremendous PB of 1:37:58.
Rob Collier came in 40th and fifth (from 42) M50s in 1:25:12 with Ian Kinnersley in 91st spot and an excellent third (from ten) in the M60 category in 1:37:24.
In the 10k, which is basically an out and back of the first 5k of the half marathon course, Kevin Feeney ran an excellent time of 52:50 to finish fourth M60 (from 13 runners) and 28th overall. More than 100 completed the shorter race.
Results: https://www.timingmonkey.co.uk/results/Bridgwater22/#1_582180
Big Half in the Big Smoke
The Big Half in London is a half marathon run on much of the London marathon route and a month before the 26 miler is the perfect warm-up. After taking the victory last year, Jake Smith had to settle for third this year in 62:08 behind Sir Mo Farah and Jack Rowe. Currently in a big training block ahead of the Valencia half-marathon in six-weeks time, Jake was happy with the tactical racing experience.
Village Fun
The Lustleigh 10k is part of the village’s bank holiday celebrations and this year Eleanor Wood and Henry Smith enjoyed the beautiful hilly route. Eleanor came in first F55 and fifth woman in 52.09 with Henry in 62.04 pleased to be back racing again.
Ultimate Tour in the Alps
High in the Italian and Swiss Alps with a backdrop of the Matterhorn, Patrick Devine-Wright took part in a four-day 170KM stage race. With a 3200m ascent he certainly experienced a ‘runners high’, running/walking at altitude much of the time providing spectacular views, sheer drops and huge climbs. His final time of 27:57.03 was enough for a very impressive fifth place.
Seaton parkrun
At Saturday’s parkrun in Seaton Simon Dimmock was first AVR to finish in 19.44. Joel Seward , followed up last week’s PB by helping out with pacing along with a number of other AVRs. Steven Lewis achieved a PB with his 25.51 time. Congratulations to Jeremy Norcombe who ran his 150th parkrun and Louise Rawlins who achieved the 25-volunteer milestone.
Results: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/seaton/results/latestresults/