HRC NEWS ARCHIVE 2013

Press Report - Devon Sports Award

Honiton Running Club representatives John Burgess, Judy Davey and Roger Saunders attended the Devon Sports Awards 2013 presentation at Sandy Park, Exeter last Friday evening. HRC was nominated under the category of Amateur Club of the Year and was invited to the awards evening as a finalist. The winner of the category was Kingsley School Judo Club with HRC and Barton Cricket Club runners up. Over 200 people attended the evening which saw Olympic diver Tom Daly reach the final in the Sports Performer of the Year category. He was runner up along with Jay Thompson with the winner being Olympic swimming gold medallist Ruta Meilutyte. The evening was hosted by BBC Spotlight’s Jenny Walrond and Jimmy Frost who rode Little Polveir to victory in the Grand National in 1989 was guest speaker.

Press Report - London Marathon, Haldon Heartbeat, Plymouth Half Marathon & Arlington Court Canter

On Sunday, 21st April, three Honiton Running Club members joined the 35,000 others to stand on the start line at the London Marathon. Hadleigh Davies who was running for CLIC Sargent was delighted to finish in 3 hours 28 minutes meaning he broke the 3:30 barrier. Judy Davey  was less than 2 minutes behind and was just 14 seconds outside 3:30 having had the 3:30 pace maker overtake her on The Mall within spitting distance of the finish. Nevertheless, she was delighted with her performance coming 25th overall in her age category. Juliet Hall joined the beginners group at the Club last year and, running for The Donkey Sanctuary, she bravely took on the challenge. She had a complete mix of emotions; she laughed, she cried, she smiled and she said thank you a thousand times to the supporting crowd. She ran all the way and managed to find a spring in her step for the last mile – the very proud owner of a London Marathon finishers’ medal. She finished in 4:52 – a great result. She’s now inspired to run Amsterdam Marathon and try to beat her time!

Last Saturday, three Honiton runners headed off to Haldon Hill to do the Haldon Heartbeat. The race starts and finishes at Exeter Racecourse so the cold wind felt even chillier as it whipped over the hill but the runners soon warmed up as they set off on the 8 mile route. The first two miles of the race is a loop on top of the hill close to the racecourse followed by a long descent on forest roads and paths into woods. After a steep muddy climb that most have to walk, the route heads back towards the racecourse with several more climbs before regaining the top of the hill and the final mile to the finish. First in for Honiton was Ian Stewart with a very good 17th place in 56:57; next home was Rod Inglis 60th in 1:03:24 and finally John Burgess, 105th in 1:10:12. John was particularly pleased as he came third in his category having over-taken the 4th placed runner a few yards from the line. The race was won by Lee Turner of Torbay AC in a time of 49:15. There were 193 finishers.

On Sunday four Honiton runners rose early to brave another chilly spring morning
to run the Plymouth Half Marathon which  starts at 9am. Over 3000 runners on
Plymouth Hoe observed a 30-second silence at the start of the race to remember
those killed and injured in Boston. The race was won by Tadele Geremew from
London in 1:09. For the Honiton runners this was the first time Roger Saunders
had run this event and enjoyed the route through the grounds of Saltram House to
finish as 452 runner in a time of 1:41:16. Amazingly his ride share Mark Dallyn
came in 2 seconds immediately behind him to smash his previous PB at 1:51:51 with 1:41:18 so he was overjoyed with his time even if he didn't beat Roger. Steve Briggs also finished not far behind at 664 in 1:45:20 with a good run for him. Graham Reeves also started the race but was seen hobbling off at Saltram obviously with some kind of injury. 

Howard Bidmead travelled up to Arlington Court in North Devon for a race advertised as one of Devon's most beautiful and tough off road 10k's. Runners were not disappointed with fabulous views and serious climbs but with the sun shining it was perfect running conditions. Howard ran well for the first part of the race but suffered when an injury sustained on the Grizzly forced him to slow down considerably for the last 5k. Despite this Howard still finished in 49mins and took the award for the first male vet O55.

Easter Bunny Eskimos

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Four of us went over to Yeovilton to do The Easter Bunny - it was perishing! Steve did 47 min, John did 49 min, Clare did 54+ and Jo Jo';s ambition was to get under the hour and beat her OSM PB - she smashed the PB with a terrific 57:40!

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Kilmington Team Simon & Lesley missing

HRC Kilmington winners

Kilmington Results - Points Trophy Order

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Bideford Half-marathon Team - more photos on PHOTO page

Graham, Stephen, Jennie, John, Juliet, Sarah (Wheeler), Wendy, Sandra, Roger

HIPPO AND CALF - another great day

Some photos here. The rest will be on the photo page or on the club Facebook page.
Once again MANY THANKS to Tony Whiteley for these. (click to enlarge and scroll through)
Link to Alan Rowe's photos - here
Anthony Rowe's excellent swamp photos for sale here
Chris Grady's photos for sale here

Taunton HM - Jennie leads us home

Missing from photo - Sarah Wheeler and Wendy W

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The Honiton RC walkers decided on a spring hike in the Brecon Beacons on Sunday & having spent the previous Sunday standing supporting Grizzly runners some spring exercise was much needed.
 
We left at 06:45 (during a blizzard) and headed of for the Beacons not being sure what to expect. The weather forecast was for broken sunshine, temperatures of between -1 – 5C & scatttered wintry shower so many layers of clothing were in place ready for the walk. The intention was to take in the three nearest mountains to Llanfrynach (Cribyn, Pen Y Fan & Fan Y Big) but on our arrival the snowline was at around 300 metres so the final route was to be “decided on the hill.”
At base camp we guessed that the snow was around 50-75mm deep but as we ascended it became obvious that the snow was far deeper than expected averaging around 60cm and in places around 90cm. As a result of the conditions progress was slower than anticpated and we were forced to complete only the summit of Pen Y Fan before starting the long return to base.
 
The weather itself was remarkable and we enjoyed unbroken sunshine for the duration of the walk (6.5 hours of hill training) while most of the surrounding mountain ranges were shrouded in storm clouds rain & snow.
 
Four of our party had never experienced these conditions before and enjoyed an experience of a lifetime where everything just went right.
 
At the end of the afternoon we enjoyed the hospitality of the village pub with an excellent meal
If you would like to join us on our next outing watch out for the emails or get in touch.

Paul L

BEAST LEG 1 EXPLORED - just a bit of mud!