WELCOME TO HONITON RUNNING CLUB

We are based in Honiton, East Devon, Southwest England and spend our lives running through some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK.
HRC Events

Blackdown Beast
See photos and comments

Ottery 10K 
 7th May 2023
Entries now open

​Blackdown Beauty

July 2023

Honiton Hippo

1st October 2023
Parkrun
Report of all HRC runs last Saturday here
Killerton here
Exeter here
​Seaton here
​Exmouth here
​Cranbrook here
Instep Devon Championship
2022 Results
Club Charity
​TBD
Honiton Sports Shop
offers members 10% discount upon production of HRC card. Click here 
Couch 2 5k
On the 10th of January 2023 on a cold evening in Honiton, 30 potential runners met to start their 8 week Couch to 5km beginners’ course. Head Coach Paula Ferris with her team of leaders and helpers greeted the cohort with smiles and calming encouraging words to quash the nerves.
 
The C25km app was used and runners encouraged to run 2 x per week on their own. Each Monday another week would commence. This would enable the smooth transition from week to week improving fitness, endurance and stamina through run and recover timings. Each week a different run route would be chosen and take on a few hills and flatter sections offering variety and change. Communication through a WhatsApp group aided with motivation and encouragement with small groups meeting to complete weekly runs.
 
The finale was a 5km Park Run at Seaton on the 4th of March where all the graduates would complete there final run.A second date was also added for those who could not make the 4th and the 11th was other options.
 
The success of the course is the best yet with 23 /30 completing the C25km course. 76% course retention.
 
A huge thank you to all the leaders and helpers throughout the whole course. Each and every graduate has appreciated the input, advice and support.We are very much looking forward to welcoming some new runners and member to HRC very soon with pace groups appropriate to moving forward.
 
Report written by Paula Ferris.
Honiton Running Club AGM on Wednesday 8 March at
​Honiton Golf Club 6:30pm
Grizzly, Cub & Bideford Half Marathon
​On Sunday, 5th March Honiton Running Club members were out in force taking part in Axe Valley Runners’ infamous Grizzly and Cub races. It’s a short trip to the base at Seaton so it has to be done and many were taking on the event for the first time! This is a very challenging run of 20 miles with nearly 3,500 ft of climb. It also includes bogs, several sections of beach and the infamous Stairway to Heaven at the end of the beach stretch in Branscombe. This year the weather for runners was perfect; a little chilly but dry with very little wind. It hasn’t rained much over the last few weeks so this meant less mud than usual although the bogs were still very boggy and the mud seemed to be stickier!
First back for HRC was Alasdair Moffett who stormed back to come 99th in 2 hours 58 minutes. He was followed by Tom Bornet in 153rd place and 3:09. Tim Wigram absolutely flew round knocking several minutes off his previous personal best time. He came 258th in 3:25. Anna Drake is a relatively new HRC runner and she led the ladies home for Honiton coming 531st in 3:53. Rebecca Stevens, Gareth Henwood, Louise Bennett, Johnny Bennett, Paula Ferris and Hadleigh Davies all ran the race together finishing 708th in about 4:09. Nick Couch ran quite a bit of the race with the group before pulling away to finish 612th in exactly 4 hours.
Other Honiton runners were: 326 Pete Nicholls 3:32, 360 Steve Davey 3:35, 409 Step Boyes 3:41, 456 Jake Heath 3:46, 613 Sam Phillips 3:48, 771 Pippa Westall 4:16, 772 Rachel Hennessey 4:16, 790 Lisa Briggs 4:19, 1001 Richard Harris 4:39, 1099 Simon Bates 4:54, 1284 George Oldfield 5:41 and 1289 Kathy Layzell 5:43. 
The race was won by Samuel Kelly in the amazing time of 2:14 and there were 1294 finishers.
Some HRC chose the shorter version of the Cub. This is still a very tough challenge offering everything that the Grizzly offers except the bogs and is about 9 miles in length.
HRC’s Ceri Oak was 3rd lady overall coming 30th overall in 1:23. Mark Newson ran with Clare Melbourne who had a great run both finishing 85th in 1:33. Asilah Jarrald, Luke Holway and Richard Kemp all ran together finishing 514th in 2:16.
Other HRC runners:  117 Russell Kingdon 1:35, 142 Emma Davey 1:39, 152 Roger Saunders 1:41, 157 Linda Grady 1:43, 225 Kate Harding 1:47, 311 Teresa Pollard 1:56, 425 Debbie Vinnicombe 2:06, 485 Katy Lancaster 2:12, 552 Rachel Welch 2:25, 553 Helen Williams 2:25 and 555 Vicki Henwood 2:26
The race was won by Ritchie Durrant in 1:02 and there were 621 runners.
Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation of the event, especially the committee from  Axe Valley Runners. Thanks also to the many landowners and  to the extremely supportive and vocal marshals who were out on the course for hours! The drummers and other entertainers along the route also deserve a big round of applause. All in all a great day for running this awesome race.
Meanwhile Jennie Sleeman fancied a change and took part in the Bideford Half Marathon which is a relatively flat course coming back along theTarka Trail.  Jennie came 1st in her age category in a time of 1:52 and 444th position overall. The race was won by Ronnie Richmond in 1:05 and there were 859 finishers. 
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Blackdown Beast
​A record 240 runners came from all over the country to take part Honiton Running Club’s Blackdown Beast. The base was at the SkyDive Centre on Dunkeswell Airfield which was an ideal venue with the staff being very accommodating. Refreshments were available both before and after the run from The Aviator. The weather was perfect for running; a little chilly but dry with no wind. The Beast is a very social, self-navigated run. Runners followed a picturesque cross country route of 7.6 miles on seldom used footpaths to Smeatharpe. Here they enjoyed a delicious warm pasty and steaming hot mulled cider at Smeatharpe Village Hall as a reward for their hard work. The next leg of the run is 2.8 miles on lanes and country paths which drops down to the village of Upottery and the Sidmouth Arms which provided more sustenance to the runners. The 10 mile option finished here with minibus transport provided taking the 10 milers back to Dunkeswell, The 16 milers then took the road to Rawridge where they rejoined footpaths across country, over fields and the River Otter before climbing to the top of the ridge to the viewpoint above Luppitt for a spectacular panorama of the surrounding countryside. They then ran the next leg of 3.3 miles to Luppitt Village Hall and another refreshment stop. The last 2.7 mile leg of the day took runners on muddy fields and quiet country lanes back to Dunkeswell Airport for well earned drink and food. A great day was had by all and very few reported getting lost and those who did, did not stray too far before getting back on route. Well over £3000 was raised for Macmillan Cancer Relief. 

Axmouth Challenge & George Pemberton receiving his Instep award
On Sunday, 8th January, several Honiton Running Club members took the short journey to Axmouth to take part in this year’s Axmouth Challenge. This multi-terrain race is actually mainly on road but the parts that are off road were particularly muddy this year following some very wet weather.  The weather wasn’t particularly kind to runners on the day with plenty of rain and even some thunder.
There are 4 distances on offer with HRC runners either deciding to tackle the 9 mile or 5 mile option. First back for HRC in the 9 mile race was Nick Couch who came 22nd overall in 1 hour 17 minutes and 12 seconds. Ceri Oak led the HRC ladies back winning a medal for coming 2nd in the ladies’ vet category. She came 24th in 1:17:14 and had Howard Bidmead hot on her heels just 6 seconds later. Steve Davey came 33rd in 1:20:16 just beating Will Davis to the line who came in 11 seconds later. Mark Dallyn followed coming 36th in 1:22:50 beating Rebecca Stevens by 13 seconds. Judy Davey and Rebecca had been together for much of the race and Judy finished 40th in 1:23:49. Paula Ferris finished 45th in 1:29:06 and Linda Grady completed the HRC line-up coming 58th in 1:34:04. There were 68 finishers and the race was won by Richard Hardy in 59:34.
Following a lengthy spell of injury, Lou Bennett decided to come back running the 5 mile option. She ran with husband, Johnny, and finished extremely well to come 2nd lady overall in 5th and 6th position in 39:20. Gareth Henwood followed coming 11th in 54:31.Kate Harding came just ahead of George Oldfield in 15th position in 1:00:43 with George coming in just 2 seconds later. Ella Churchill, Richard Kemp, Asilah Jarrald and Luke Holway all ran together coming 26th in 1:05:48. There were 33 finishers and the winner was Jake Hodgetts in 34:57.
Upon their return to the headquarters, runners were treated to delicious warming soup and delicious cake. Thanks to Axe Valley Runners and to all the organisers and marshals for putting on a fantastic event.
Meanwhile Roger Saunders chose the much flatter option of running the First Chance 10K along the river Exe. Luckily the heavy showers held off during the race which this year had over 500 runners. Roger ran it in a time of 51:53 which he was happy with being faster than last year. After the race George Pemberton was awarded the winner of the male under 20 category in the 2022 Instep Devon championship.
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Howard's New Year Breakfast Run
Huge thanks to Howard and Helen for hosting us all at their lovely new house. A great time was had by all with great food and even great weather!
Wellington Monument 10k
On Sunday, 18th December several Honiton Running Club members travelled the short distance to Hemyock to take part in Taunton AC’s Wellington Monument 10k. This is the first time the race has been hosted since 2019. The weather had been extremely cold with plenty of ice on the ground but Sunday saw a huge change with rain all day although it was a little warmer. Runners set off from Hemyock Village and, as the name suggests, they run up to the Monument, run around it and then run back down to the finish. The race is mainly road with a short section of bridle path leading to the Monument before coming back to the road. Almost all the climb is within the first 2 ½ miles which is steep on occasions.
Steve Davey was first back for HRC finishing in 48 minutes 35 seconds and 64th place. Howard Bidmead was hot on his heels finishing just 18 seconds and 2 places later. Howard won his age category prize of over 65. Judy Davey followed finishing in 53:17 coming 91st and also won her age category prize. The family effort continued with daughter, Emma , finishing in 55:21 in 102nd position. The race was won by Chard Road Runner’s Wayne Loveridge in 36:12 and there were approximately 180 runners. They were treated to a warming mulled wine and hot mince pie as well as collecting a bottle of cider for their efforts. 

This Week from

20 March 2023

Club Calendar

Mon-Wed nights meet at 6:30pm at Silver St Car Park unless ​advised below. If you need a lift just ask on FB or email.
Hi Vis/Reflectors are essential for club runs in the winter and head torches when out of town.
​Monday 20 Mar - Tony's training
Meet Silver Street, car park. 6.30pm
High vis but not torches - suitable for everyone including C25K graduates! 
Tuesday 21 Mar - Kev's speed training
Contact Kev for details.
Wednesday 22 Mar - Plymtree Pub Run
Park at the village hall. Order food before the run. W3W: wishing.booklets.builds
Different distances - suitable for everyone. HiVis & Torch essential.
Saturday: ​Parkruns
Killerton Parkrun at 9am
Exeter Parkrun at 9am
​Seaton Parkrun at 9am
Exmouth Parkrun at 9am. 
Haldon Forest Parkrun at 9am

Maps and Parking here

Club Kit Page

Order Form for kit here
Page Editors
Judy, Roger