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Down by the Riverside
The very popular Otter River and Rail 10k race meanders along the River Otter and old railway line providing beautiful views across the Otter Valley. Starting and finishing in Tipton St John it is relatively flat using public footpaths and rights of way which can be muddy especially this year! Thankfully the rain held off during most of the run with runners enjoying the sunshine on Saturday morning.
There was a huge turnout of AVRs amongst the 230 competitors. The winners were Colin Densham of South West Road Runners in 38:41 and Ellie Dominey in 42:37. First AVR home was Simon Dimmock in 44.40, especially impressive as he had already run Seaton parkrun earlier in the morning!
AVR’s Eleanor Wood won the F65 category prize finishing in 39th in 49:19.
A special mention must go to Nicky Lincoln and Becky Wills who finished their first ever 10k following their recent graduation from the club’s “Couch to 5K” programme.
Full results are here
Yeovilton 5k
On Wednesday evening, nine AVRs made the journey to the fourth in the series of six 5k races in Yeovilton looking for points for the club challenge as well as a good opportunity for a fast 5k on this flat course.
Eleanor Wood was first F65 in a brilliant 22:54 with Angela Kerr second F65 in 27:09. Dawn Carrah took third spot in F55 in 24:48. Karen Eyre and Kerry Board were fourth and fifth F45 in 21:21 and 21:30 respectively.
On the men’s side, Rich Hardy was third M40, 16th overall in 16:49. Rupert Pady finished fifth M50 in 20:06 just pipping Simon McClellan who was sixth M50 in a PB of 20:24. Other AVRs were Adrian Strawbridge in 19:47 just a second off his PB and James Ashforth finishing in 21:02.
The next event is on Wednesday 14th August.
Seaton parkrun and beyond
Conditions were perfect at Seaton on Saturday morning with 233 finishers at parkrun. Harry McMahon was second finisher in 18:38 celebrating his 100th milestone. Simon McClellan in 20:32; James Hawker in 22:32; Mark Parsons in 25:25; and Shirley Goy in 35:50 all achieved shiny new PBs. Alison Hayward, a stalwart member of the parkrun core team, also celebrated her 100th parkrun.
Further afield, Pam Goddard and Cliff Marriott completed Chippenham Playing Fields parkrun in Monmouth; Gill and Jon Day ran Sharpham Fields parkrun near Cheddar; David and Paula Cooke enjoyed the “curly wurly” course at Somerdale parkrun; and Dave Hutton and Sue Chambers did Bolberry Down parkrun near Salcombe.
Sadlers Saunders Surprise!
Susi and David Sadler took on the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon over the weekend. It’s not a marathon but a two-day self navigation event with overnight camping. Runners have to carry all their camping, wet weather and emergency gear as well as food for the full weekend.
The route is a secret until the morning of each day and then participants navigate with map and compass (no gps on watches or phones allowed!) between set points (but no set route) with an electronic control at each checkpoint.
The scenic route around Wansfell Pike, east of Ambleside, included trails and paths and everything in between them with mountainsides, rivers, ghylls and bogs to cross. Lots of bogs it turns out! But after a warning of winter conditions from the organisers the weather turned out to be dry and sunny providing incredible views across the Eastern fells of the Lake District.
David and Susi completed all 11.8 miles with 3600 feet of ascent on Saturday and more than 10 miles with around 2000 feet of elevation on Sunday to finish 69th overall and 34th mixed couple in their first attempt at this challenge.
Quantock Beast
Karen Eyre had a very successful, if tough, visit to Somerset for the Quantock Beast on Sunday. Starting in the beautiful setting of The National Trust’s Fyne Court estate the race is just under 10k with more than 250m elevation gain. Runners enjoyed the stunning Quantock Hills scenery from the route which included woodland trails, fields, track and country lanes. Karen was an excellent fifth female, 20th overall and taking the first F50 prize finishing in 53:21. There were 76 finishers.
Run Exe 5k
Four AVRs travelled over to Exmouth on Wednesday for the latest in the Run Exe 5k summer series run on fast, flat roads.
In a race that saw the first 18 finishers in sub-17, Matt Frost was first AVR home in 37th position in 17:52. Ian Kinnersley was fourth M60 in 21:57, 107th overall with Eleanor Wood third F65 in 23:17. Unfortunately Ron Seward turned his ankle so was unable to finish. The race forms part of the InStep Devon series with the next event taking place on Tuesday 6th August.
Seaton parkrun and beyond
At Seaton parkrun on Saturday Debbie Whiston celebrated her 300th parkrun by finishing first female in 20.22. Second to finish was Ritchie Durrant in 16:53 with Eleanor Wood top on age grade with an impressive 90.4% for her 23:27. David Cooke reached 200 parkrun events and Helen Boehm and Shirley Goy achieved PBs of 32:44 and 35:52 respectively.
Out on the road, Sam Halls and Rob Collier took part in Mura di Lucca parkrun in Italy picking up their first country flag and an M for Sam’s name challenge. Tim and Amie Sibley completed Fell Foot parkrun in Cumbria; Jon Day did Plym Valley parkrun; Iain Westworth ran Penryn Campus in Cornwall while Pam Goddard and Cliff Marriott took part in Westmill parkrun in Ware. Rik Tumber and James Ashforth completed the tough but beautiful Parke and Alan Sealey ran Itchen Valley parkrun.
AVRs excel at Forde Abbey
On Wednesday evening a big group of AVRs took part in the Forde Abbey 10k, a beautifully scenic but challenging race starting and finishing at the stunning Forde Abbey estate. With woodland, open fields, rocky tracks, a river crossing and plenty of hills, it is a tough race but few races have better views.
AVR’s Debbie Whiston won the women’s race in an excellent 50:16. AVR also took the top three spots in the F45 category with Karen Eyre, first F45 and fifth female in 54:50; Kerry Board, second F45, sixth female in 55:34 and Sue Hayes in 1:00:04 completing the F45 podium.
Rich Hardy was third home in a superb 45:39. Hot on his heels was Andrew Snook in 46:28, fourth place and first M40. Matt Hewer in ninth overall was third M40 in 49:31.
Rupert Pady was first M50 in 51:02 with Simon McClennan, second M50 in 52:26. Ron Seward took M70 in 1:01:54 from Graham Newton in 1:03.10.
Jacqui Stokes took third spot in F35 for her 1:02:09 finish. Dawn Carrah was first F55 in 1:07.10 and Eleanor Wood, first F65 in 58:39.
Full results are available here
Hot for Ham to Lyme
It was incredibly hot for the annual Ham & Lyme 50k and 100k races. The 50k race started at Ham Hill Country Park and finished in Lyme Regis following the Liberty Trail through some beautiful Somerset and Dorset scenery. This is a run through history along the trail taken by a small group of folk in 1685 who went to join the Monmouth Rebellion.
There were many very impressive performances for AVR. In particular, Joel Seward who came in second in the 50k race, despite a fall and slight wrong turn, in 4:05:10 having challenged the eventual winner, Shaun Dixon who finished in 4:03:54. AVR’s Matt Clist finished in an excellent third place in 4:08:39. Louise Rawlins knocked an incredible 90 minutes off last year’s time to finish in just over seven hours. Full results here.
AVR also ran the Lambert’s Castle water and food station which was very ably organised by Vicki Wraight and Susan Wall. Many thanks to them and to the other club members who dished out copious amounts of water, bananas, melon, wine gums, custard creams etc to the runners.
Exe Estuary Half Marathon and 50k
Cath Brenton and Adele Girdwood ran the Exe Estuary half marathon. It was a lovely scenic route, organised by Winding Paths, of 13.65 miles with a 1714 ft elevation gain involving a start at Budleigh Salterton, loop along the river path to Otterton then back along the coastal path to Exmouth where the course looped back to finish at the start. The weather was kind, being overcast for the first few hours then the sun came out; it was dry underfoot despite being trail.
Adele came 36th in 2:27:53 with Cath 88th in 3:10:25. More than 100 completed the half marathon.
Results
Julia Mallon completed the 50k option, which starts with a 5 mile loop around the River Otter before following the same route as the half marathon along the coast path. She came 36th in an impressive 6:13:36.
Exeter River 10k
Cliff Marriott and Pam Goddard ran the 10k river road race together on Friday evening finishing in 1:03.33. The race, organised by the City Community Trust, followed the scenic River Exe.
Seaton parkrun and beyond
A beautiful morning for a run saw 274 walkers and runners on Seaton seafront. AVR’s Debbie Whiston was second female finisher in 20:20 and Karen Eyre third in 22:15. PBs were secured by Rupert Pady in 20:23; Mark Parsons in 26:36, and Helen Boehm in 33:11.
Further afield Rachel Hiscock completed her 50th parkrun on her 50th birthday in 30:24 at Jamaica Pond parkrun in Boston USA!
Wayne and Sam Tooze took part in Winchester parkrun; Sam Miller and Tony Smith ran Peel parkrun in Manchester before attending the UK Champs where the Seaton parkrun female record holder Innes Fitzgerald secured a PB of 15:26 for a track 5k, finishing ninth against very stiff opposition.