Honiton Running Club held its Cotleigh Canter  races last Sunday. The headquarters was Cotleigh Village Hall with the 5k route
circling the lanes of Cotleigh and the 10k race being two loops. The 10k  race was won by Jason Drew of Sidmouth Running Club in a time of 36 minutes 51 seconds. Although many Honiton members were busy marshalling or helping in  other ways, the Club did have a brilliant turnout of runners. Chris Entwistle  was Honiton’s first runner home in 3rdplace overall in 39:19. He won the V35 category having had his birthday earlier in the week. The next three places  were also taken by Honiton with Graham Reeves next back in 39:31, Ian Stewart  just 1 second later and new member Roland Hall just 2 seconds after him. Tom  Bornet is running really well at themoment and came 9th in 43:27. Vernon  Gillard was surprised to win the V45 prize coming 10th in 43:42. Suzanne Spiller and Julie Payne battled it out throughout the race with Suzanne just  beating Julie by 3 seconds taking 12th and 13th place. Both ladies were justly  rewarded as they took prizes for 1st and 2nd ladies. Steve Selley was running for Honiton for the first time and had a great run coming 16th in  44:53. Local Rod Inglis didn’t have to travel too far down the hill from home and actually had to run past his house twice on route! He came 18th in 45:06  with Ceri Oak coming back from injury to come 19th in 45:35 taking her age  category prize. Mark Dallyn was next in for Honiton coming 22nd in 47:25 and  Linda Pike came 31stin 56:53. Michelle Selley also ran for Honiton for the first  time pleased to finish under the hour in 58:26 and 36th place. Carol Turnham is  training hard for the club trip to Jersey and finished 38th in 1:01:16. There
were 46 finishers.

The 5k race saw Ellie Sutcliffe o Exmouth Harriers  not only as 1st lady but also as the winner of the whole race in the great time  of 19:01. She had a great battle with Honiton’s own Iain Ross who was 1st male  in 19:10. Honiton juniors were out in force and took the next 2 places with Jack  Elson finishing in 19:34 and Henry Riddle 22 seconds later. Kyle Hartnell,
although a little nervous, took on the challenge and had a good race to finish  7th in 21:46. Taking the next 4 places were Honiton’s Harry Boswell in 22:05,  Flo Swan in 22:49, Harry Whiteley in 22:53 and Rowan Westall in 23:23. Sam Taylor finished 13th in 23:58. Thomas Lilley also didn’t have far to walk to the  start and he finished 15th in 24:53 with Findlay Fuller on his heels 16  seconds later. Nick Burton came 18th in 25:48 and Liz Corney came 20th in 27:33  delighted to win an age category prize. Rebecca Reeves started with the  beginners course at the Club this year and took on the challenge of racing to
come 21st in 28:49 followed by fellow beginner Phil Hall in 30:52. Yet  another beginner took 27th place in 36:10 in the form of Sara Trumper and  Katie Ansley completed the Honiton line-up coming 28th in 40:29. There were 30  finishers.
 
With so many Honiton  juniors running the 5k race, there were fewer taking part in the 3k Fun Run which was won by Jamie Porter of Shute in 14:45. Megan Burton was 1st Honiton  runner back winning a prize for 1st U13G finishing 17th overall in
18:33. Brothers Benjamin and Charlie Entwistle came 25thand 27th in 23:05 and  23:50 respectively. Clyst Hydon took the Alan Rowe Primary School Cup. There
were 36 finishers.

Thanks to everyone who took part as well as all the
marshals and helpers and Cotleigh Villagers for putting up with runners taking
over the roads for an hour or so and loaning a field as a car
park.

Several Honiton Running Club members took part in the Bridgwater Half Marathon on Sunday, 8th September. For some it was part of preparing for running the Jersey Marathon in October. Esme Wilson was first Honiton runner back in 74th place in 1:41:56 having had a great run. Steve Briggs followed Esme for some time and was next back achieving a great personal best time of 1:42:46 in 79th place. Mark Dallyn was going well until struck by injury which made him limp back in 99th place in 1:48:02. John Burgess was a little disappointed in his time as he had returned to tackle the run after being tripped up last year. He finished 125th in 1:52:35. Jennie Sleeman came in well under 2 hours finishing 144th in 1:55:02. Kathy Layzell was delighted that she had finished in under her target of 2:10 (2:09:17) in 181st place. She could see the time slipping away so sped up for the last 3 miles and managed to hold the pace. She said it was a lovely countryside run passing by some lovely houses! Wendy Williams is one who will be tackling her first marathon in Jersey and she had a fantastic run to knock about 15 minutes of her previous half marathon pb. She came 195th in 2:13:54. The race was won by Tim Vials in a time of 1:21:41 and there were 232 finishers.

Jennie Sleeman of Honiton Running Club spent a weekend in Gronau  Honiton's German twin town near Hanover,  with Honiton twinners recently and ran a 5K round the outskirts of the town. It was good to represent Honiton and with a time of 24 minutes 10 seconds, first in her age category and 10th woman out of 135, Jennie felt she earned the evening at the wine festival afterwards.

Last Sunday several Honiton runners who weren’t training for the Jersey Marathon decided to head for Powderham Castle for a lovely 10K run through the castle, along the Exe estuary, past lots of deer and up into the woods. It was perfect weather for running and some good times were run. Grahame Reeves was third in 39:00. Roger Saunders was far behind in 37th place at 45:09 but still not a bad time for him as he has been recovering from injury. Graham Rooms was just behind in 51st place at 46:27 which he was also well pleased with.

The Lustleigh 10k takes place on Dartmoor during the Lustleigh Show which this year was attended by BBC Radio Devon. A hot Bank Holiday Monday saw the 131 runners leave the showground at midday for the tough 10k multi terrain trek around Lustleigh Cleave and Dartmoor. Howard Bidmead was the sole Honiton runner. He was having a great run until 9k when he slipped on a boulder and badly sprained his ankle. However Howard still finished 39th overall in a time of 49m 52s. The winner was Tony Hatchard from Exeter Harriers in 38.21. 

On the same day, three Honiton runners took part in the Quarryman’s Trail based at Bampton and forming part of Bampton Village Fayre. This is a fairly tough 10k multi-terrain run which starts with a hill which goes on for the best part of two miles. This does mean that there is a fantastic road descent to the finish. Steve Davey was first in for Honiton in a time of 48:35 winning a ‘coffin dodger’ category prize! Steve’s wife, Judy was next back finishing in 53:31 and coming 2nd lady overall. John Burgess was the other Honiton runner finishing about 2 ½ minutes behind Judy and disappointingly for him, slower than last year. Usually the course has plenty of mud but this year the course was dry which should have led to faster times. This is a very low key and friendly event with just 33 runners taking part.  

Honiton Running Club’s very own Cotleigh Canters will take place on Sunday, 22nd September. The headquarters is at Cotleigh Village Hall with the first runners setting off at 10.30am. If you are fairly new to running and would like to work towards a challenge, then the 5k would be ideal. For the slightly more adventurous, there is the 10k and there is also a 3k fun run which is mainly for children aged 9 and over although younger children can run with an adult. This is an opportunity for everyone, irrespective of running ability. For further information and to download an entry form for the races, visit www.honitonrc.com. You can also enter on the day if numbers allow.