Three intrepid Honiton Runners turned out on Saturday, 13th July for the Otter Rail and River 10k run. This is a flattish course but with plenty of mud which started and finished in Tipton St. John. The first runner home for Honiton was Tim Legg in a time of 45 minutes 9 seconds and 18th place. He found it tough going in the early stages due to slipping on the mud and was overtaken by Howard Bidmead. However Tim soon gained his confidence on some harder ground and using it to his advantage he was soon in front of Howard again. Howard finished in 31st position in 47.10. Graham Rooms wore his new HRC vest for the first time and came in 44th in 50.19. There were 117 finishers.

 

The Haytor Heller took place last Sunday and this is a favourite of some Honiton runners. It consists of 6 miles of breathtaking off-road running in the heart of Dartmoor. It has a tough start with the start line being half way up the hill to Haytor Rock. The course is then predictably hilly taking in Hound Tor but it has a fast downhill finale to the finish at the bottom of Haytor Rock. The stony ground makes the terrain tough going but spectacular views make up for this. Bruce Strawbridge led the Honiton runners home coming 44th in 52:33. Howard Bidmead came 63rd in 56:04 and the lady representatives Clare Melbourne and Tracey Strawbridge came 217th and 222nd respectively. Clare finished less than a minute ahead of Tracey in 1:15:42 with Tracey finishing in 1:16:16. There were 257 finishers and Arran Tockwell won the race in 42:04.

Last weekend Vernon Gillard and Olivia Higginson of Honiton Running Club completed the Wellington 10 mile race. Vernon finished in 1 hour 15 minutes 13 seconds and Olivia 1:26:55. Nick Bradley-Carter tackled the 10k version finishing in 50:39. They managed to pick one of the few very hot days of the summer and with the course being extremely hilly, they found the going tough.

 

On Wednesday, Honiton RC produced a good turnout for the inaugural running of the Colyton Rebel Run organised by Colyton Grammar School ably assisted by Axe Valley Runners. It was a dry evening but with the route doing a loop of Morganhayes Woods, there was still plenty of mud. Kevin Hawker was the first Honiton runner back in the 10k version coming 7th place in 38:42. Steve Davey had another great run coming 16th in 42:20 and first in his category. It was a bit of a rush for Gary Phillips to get to the race but he managed 21st place in 43:38. He was followed by Rod Inglis who had a brilliant run coming 23rd in 44:19 following an impressive sprint finish to the line. John Burgess was race referee and started after everyone else. He timed himself at 48:52 and was slotted into 46th position which was a little bit unconvincing as he didn’t actually start at the proper start but a little way down the road. This was Jo Davey’s first off road race and she finished impressively in 64th place in 52:06. This was a great first time effort for the race with efficient, cheerful marshals and Colyton Grammar PTA excelled with the delicious cakes on the runners’ return. All runners enjoyed themselves and promised to come back again next year.

Other Honiton results: 34th Howard Bidmead 46:20, 39th Roger Saunders 47:39, 44th Steve Briggs 48:14, 50th Judy Davey 49:43, 59th Olivia Higginson 51:02, 60th Nick Thorpe 51:11 and 111th Wendy Williams 1:02:54.  There were 126 runners.

Honiton Juniors produced another set of spectacular results taking the first 3 positions in the 5K race. This was the same route as the 10k but didn’t include the Morganhayes Woods loop. Henry Riddle was 1st in 22:57, Iain Ross 2nd in 24:07 and Jack Elsom 3rd in 25:34. The only Honiton junior girl was Anna Lamb who did very well to come 18th in 32:31. Two Honiton adults also took part. Liz Corney and Maggie Dylan are not regular racers so it was great to see them tackling the demanding race. Liz was 27th in 40:23 and Maggie was 29th in 40:54. There were 43 runners.                         

Honiton’s own Blackdown Beauty took place last Saturday with a record number of runners taking part. There was also a record amount of mud varying in quantity and variety of odour! The main choice of routes was either 18 miles or 10 miles with runners able to pick which points they ran enabling them to run a different distance. The base was at Priors Park Farm, Culmhead courtesy of Jim Hill and family. The long route took in 4 pubs as well as a cream tea taking runners to Pitminster and then on to Clayhidon before a visit to Pear Tree Cottage, Stapley for the delicious cream tea, appreciated by all. Thank you to the Parry family for the use of their gorgeous garden and all the ladies for making the scones and serving welcome cups of tea. Once fed and watered, runners went on to Churchinford before running back to base. Runners were invited to dress in red, white and blue in a patriotic style and some participants went all out with some great costumes. Thanks to everyone who helped in any way as well as all the landowners. Special thanks must go to John Burgess who has given up many hours of his time organizing the event in so many ways including creating the booklet, tirelessly investigating possible routes, visiting landowners and publicans as well as coordinating everyone else involved. Also Jim Hill for giving up part of his farm for the day by providing the ideal base for the run including an undercover barbecue area for those inevitable showers

Howard Bidmead of Honiton Running Club would have taken part in the Charmouth Challenge last Saturday had it not been cancelled due to the torrential rain which caused landslides and dangerous conditions on the cliffs. Not content to relax for the weekend, he managed to find a nice little race on Sunday up in the Quantock Hills in Somerset. It started and finished at Fyne House, a National Trust estate. The Quantock Beast organised by the Quantock Harriers is 5.7 miles of tough multi terrain running. Amazingly, it was beautiful weather, fine views and with all the recent bad weather as much mud as you would ever want. The race has a downhill start and a downhill finish but other than that there are large amounts of climb through the Quantock Hills.  

There were 72 entrants and the winner was John Firth of Southville Running Club in a time of 38 minutes 24 seconds. Howard was 16th overall in 49:06.

 

Honiton Running Club’s Stephen Boyes’ plan for last weekend was to ride pillion on a motorbike with a friend from Lands End to John O’Groats stopping off en route to run the Cheltenham Challenge Marathon. The marathon proved to be the easy part. Steve managed to finish in 4 hours 43 minutes having only got lost once! However, the motorbike ride did not go as planned since the weather was worse than February. They did the Lands End leg with Steve saying they nearly died due to heavy rain and very strong winds so the John O’Groats leg was postponed. Steve was pleased he’d completed the marathon though as he enjoyed the scenic circular route.

 

Graham Reeves and Lesley Crocker took part in the Torbay Half Marathon on Sunday 24th June.  It was a good race with a strong field. The men’s winner, Tewodros Shiferaw of Birchfield Harriers, crossed the line in 01:06:14 and the female winner Annabella Granger, of Bristol and West AC completed the race in 1:21:20.  It was well supported on the streets during the two lap route from Paignton to Torquay and back with a couple of hills chucked in for good measure. As the runners entered Torquay they were even serenaded by two gentlemen belting out some classic tunes.  The rain held off during the race and thankfully it was not too warm; the only frustrating issue was a problem with 100 of the timing chips, this was finally resolved by Wednesday and Lesley was delighted to discover that she had completed the run in 01:55:42, a new personal best time. This was Graham’s fourth half marathon this year and he managed his third pb. He finished 93rd in a time of 1:32:04. Graham was very happy with the result and is looking forward to more half marathons this year.

Five Honiton runners took part in Sidmouth Running Club’s ‘Beat the Bus’ last Wednesday evening. Runners begin at Otterton at exactly the same time as the bus leaves for Sidmouth. Obviously, the bus takes the road route whilst runners take the more direct off road route to Peak Hill in Sidmouth and back again. Time is recorded for both runners and The Bus as they arrive back at the start in Otterton. Steve Davey was first back for Honiton in 45 minutes 30 seconds in 16th position with Bruce Strawbridge not too far behind in 19th place in 46:35. Howard Bidmead was next back in 27th position in 49:37. Olivia Higginson and Nick Bradley-Carter often have a battle for finish position and this time Nick was defeated because he took a wrong turn and had to be brought back on track by a marshal on a quad bike. This meant that he lost valuable time and Olivia made the most of it coming in 49th place in 55:43 with Nick 54th in 56:56. The bus took exactly 59 minutes finishing 61st meaning that Honiton could celebrate as all its runners managed to ‘Beat the Bus’. There were 87 runners altogether and The Bus!