Roland Hall of Honiton Running Club fancied a marathon to set off his Christmas so last Sunday he travelled along the coast to Portsmouth. The beginning of the run started with a torrential downpour which may have pushed the start time forward a few minutes as the runners seemed to start very suddenly. The first 2 miles were along the Promenade of Portsmouth which then led onto the beach for about half a mile. After which followed a 2 mile trail, bogged and flooded with water at times, along the coast to a pathway which led runners up to the 7 mile marker. For the next few miles they were on and off road until about 10 miles, then rough stony terrain taking them to the half way point where runners were turned around and looped back the same way home. Roland reached mile 13 at 1 hour 29 minutes and given the wind was against them on the way home, he felt he did well to maintain his pace. He thought at one point he was going to achieve under 3 hours but the wind on the last 2 miles back up the Promenade took its toll and his pace slowed down from 7 minute miling to 8:15 meaning he crossed the line in 3:02:44. A fantastic achievement giving him 14th place overall; an incredible personal best time of about half an hour on testing terrain. All in all Roland had a lovely day running with and meeting some lovely people along the way.  

On the same day, other Honiton runners stayed in Devon to take part in the 27th Wellington Monument 10k race. The race is predominantly on road starting and finishing in Hemyock. The first couple of miles are uphill before the course flattens out to take runners along a track and around the Monument before coming back along the same route. Kevin Hawker was first back for Honiton coming 10th in 37:52. He was followed a little way behind by Tom Bornet who finished 53rd in 44:52. Tim Wigram was next back coming 86th in 48:35 and Steve Briggs was 105th in 50:26. Greg Axsel came 113th in 51:25 and Tony Peek was 147th in 56:34. Helen Davy was the first of only two ladies back for Honiton coming 168th in 60:33. Wendy Williams was pretty close behind her finishing 177th in 62.46. There were 199 finishers and the race was won by Phil Burden of Taunton AC in a time of 34:13.

On Saturday 7th December Honiton Running Club members turned out for the Otterton Reindeer Run. This is a challenging 10k multi-terrain race organised by Sidmouth Running Club. Christmas cheer is abundant and many runners choose to adorn a Christmas bauble or two! Even Santa had a crack at the run! Kevin Hawker came about 7th but he was so swift his time and position were not recorded! The rest of Honiton’s representatives were all ladies with Ceri Oak first back having not raced for months. She did amazingly well to come 35th in 47:22. Julie Payne was next back coming 42nd in 48:01. Kathy Layzell enjoyed this race last year so tried it again coming 119th in 1:01:57. Carol Turnham was next back coming 145th in 1:06:10 followed not too far behind by Wendy Williams and Michelle Selley. Wendy came 150th in 1:07:08 and Michelle followed 7 places and 42 seconds later. Runners were treated to a warming mulled cider and mince pie back in the Village Hall after the race. There were 177 finishers.

If anyone is interested in trying their legs at running, Paul and Jo Lowman are starting a beginners group on Tuesday, 7th January. They will run 10 weekly sessions. Perfect for getting rid of the excesses of the festive season. For further information contact Paul or Jo on 01404 43013.

Sunday, 1st December saw 5 Honiton Running Club members travel to Ham Hill Country Park at Stoke Sub Hamden to take part in Crewkerne Running Club’s The Full Monty-cute.  This is a particularly tough 10 ½ mile off road race which boasts no less than 10 challenging hills guaranteed to test any runner. There is a positive to so many hills though as spectacular views were aplenty including Montacute House.  It is extremely popular with places selling out in October and this year was no exception.   Roland Hall has raced almost every week recently but he was running The Monty for the first time and once again he led the Honiton runners back coming 7th overall in 1 hour 20 minutes and 47 seconds. Steve Davey was next back in 39th place in 1:30:40. Howard Bidmead and Mark Dallyn have been very close in recent races but this time Howard convincingly got the better of Mark finishing  53rd in 1:36:47 with Mark a little way behind coming 69th in 1:39:24. Judy Davey was the only Honiton lady out and didn’t enjoy the run too much this year. She came 82nd in 1:41:23. The race was won by Tiverton Harriers’ Chris Gill in the excellent time of 1:13, almost 3 minutes ahead of Chris Hamilton who came 2nd. There were 238 finishers. Thanks to Crewkerne RC once again for a well organised event with plenty of supportive marshals. 

Last Sunday saw Honiton Running Club members out in force with a brilliant turnout of 18 members for The Drogo 10. The multi-terrain 10 mile race is based in the grounds at Castle Drogo and boasts spectacular views across Dartmoor. The route takes runners to Fingle Bridge before climbing the first major hill. The route undulates before following a track beside the River Teign back to Fingle Bridge. After crossing the bridge, runners ascend the energy sapping infamous Hunters’ Path before going back to Drogo. Roland Hall was first back for Honiton in 31st place in 1 hour 10 minutes. Chris Entwistle followed 5 minutes later in 66th place. Bruce Strawbridge had a great race finishing 84th in 1:18 just 35 second ahead of his race rival Steve Davey who came 92nd. Julie Payne was first lady back for Honiton winning her age category prize and coming 133rd in 1:23. Mark Dallyn and Howard Bidmead had run much of the race together with Mark taking the final sprint to the line to finish 152nd in 1:25 with Howard hot on his heels just 2 seconds later.  Judy Davey finished next in 169th place in 1:26 having knocked 7 minutes off last year’s time. Judy had overtaken Steve Selley within a mile of the finish and he mustered all the energy he had to pass her again before admitting defeat following her 2 places and just 8 seconds later. Steve Briggs was running The Drogo for the first time and listened to all the warnings. He had a great run coming 192nd in 1:28 with Rod Inglis just 4 places and 11 seconds later. Richard Harris struggled but was happy to come 227th and just missing out on 1 ½ hours coming back in 1:31. Roger Saunders felt he had not trained enough for this race and also struggled coming 253rd in 1:33. Jennie Sleeman thoroughly enjoyed the race to finish 394th in 1:48. John Burgess had taken his camera to distract him from inevitable pain but the pain won in the end and he was disappointed to finish 429th in 1:53 telling club mates he wasn’t racing next week! Jo Jo Davey looked very strong at the finish and with the encouragement of her supporters she sprinted home to finish 456th in 1:57. Wendy Le Masurier had a consistent race to finish 486th in 2:04 and Michelle Selley completed the line-up having waited at the final corner for 2 fellow runners she had built up an affinity with during the race to finish 495th in 2:06. Tom Merson won the race in an incredible time of 58 minutes and there were 507 finishers. 

Alan Rowe MBE was part of the Allied Forces Foundation Team in the US Marine Corps Marathon on 27th October. The team was 135 strong including many very special guys with varying injuries, some double and triple amputees. Alan felt privileged to make many new friends, especially those from the Danish Armed Forces who he will be keeping in contact with, maybe even running with them and a Baton in the Copenhagen Half next year.

The MCM course is by no means an easy one, with quite a few hills in it, especially the cheeky 300 metre steep incline to finish. The weather was beautiful, perfect for running, the race was brilliantly organised, the crowd fabulous with their genuine support and if all goes well Alan will be taking a team over for 2014's run.

Alan ran with a great guy and former Royal Marine Stuart Taylor, who has been badly injured in the past. As usual they stopped on their way round talking to the crowd handing out the Baton's message to them as they held the Baton. Alan also took footage from a Go Pro camera which has turned out to be quite useful, though had to stop three times to put in new batteries (a good excuse for a breather!)

Alan’s eldest daughter, who is a Baton Trustee, came with him for the trip and they were both taken to the National Guard HQ, The Pentagon and the Senate with the Baton - not the easiest thing to take something that resembles a stick of dynamite into a very security conscious place, but they managed it with a bit of friendly persuasion.

All in all Alan found it a wonderful experience!

On Sunday, 27th October four Honiton Running Club members took part in the Colyton Fiver which is a 5 mile race around Colyton in aid of BBC Children in Need organised by Axe Valley Runners. Matt Clist of AVR  won the race in 27 minutes 55. Mark Dallyn was the first Honiton runner back in 20th place in 36:17. He was soon followed by Steve Briggs who finished 2 places later in  37:55. John Burgess was next back in 29th place in 39:45 and the only female representative for the club in the form of Vanessa Glyn-Jones was 68th in 53:59. There were 70 finishers.

On the same day, other Honiton runners went to North Devon to take part in the South Molton Struggle. This is almost 8 miles of mult-terrain running through the stunning countryside of South Molton. Chris Entwistle was first back coming 14th in 53:15. Steve Davey and Bruce Strawbridge had their usual close race with Bruce leading for the first half and Steve leading for the second. Steve eventually came 28th in 57:09 with Bruce 35th 42 seconds later. Howard Bidmead completed the line-up having had a great race to come 39th in 58:30. There were 209 finishers and the race was won by Daniel O’Boyle in 44:03.

Last Saturday, AVR held another event in the form of the Yarcombe Yomp. Runners can choose to run one lap of 5 miles or take part in the full challenge by running 2 laps. Again, Matt Clist won in 1 hour 8 minutes. Chris Entwistle led Honiton home to finish 7th in 1:21 in his first running of the event which was pretty good considering he ran it in shoes suitable for road running. The Yarcombe Yomp definitely requires a grippier trainer than this as it is nearly all off road through fields and tracks which get very slippery.  Steve Davey would usually be further behind Chris but he finished just 2 minutes and 3 places later. It was also Tim Wigram’s and Steve Briggs’ first time for the race which saw Tim finish 21st in 1:35 and Steve 23rd also in 1:35. There were 48 runners. Iain Ross and John Burgess completed the one loop 5 mile race which saw Iain winning it in 39:30. John was 6th in 49:17 and there were 14 runners. As usual, runners were treated to delicious homemade soup and cakes in the Village Hall upon their return. Thanks to the ladies who did the cooking as well as the organisers and land owners for allowing runners to trudge through their land. 

On Sunday 13th October Honiton Runner Howard Bidmead ran the 7 mile Studland Stampede. Organised by the National Trust this race starts on Studland Beach in Dorset and takes competitors over the hills and tracks of Studland Heath. The last 3 miles of the race are up on the sand dunes and along the beach back to the finish. 386 runners took part in the event and Howard finished 58th overall in a time of 57m 55s. This was 4 minutes faster than Howard's time last year.

On the same day well over 2000 runners including 5 Honiton Running Club members took part in the Great West Run half marathon around the streets of Exeter. This is a brand new route which got a resounding thumbs up from participants. Graham Reeves was first back for Honiton and was pleased to come in under 1 ½ hours (1:29:37) and 86th place. Next back was Tom Bornet who much preferred the new route to come 156th in 1:34:30. Esme Wilson and Alasdair Moffett ran together to finish 422nd in 1:40:18. Alan Rowe MBE completed the Honiton line-up running with a team he had put together made up of former Royal Marines and family running with The Baton.  He really enjoyed the race although an old calf injury flared up at 6 miles making the last 7 painful. He finished in 2:31:47 in 2003 place.

Last Sunday, 4 HRC runners took part in Minehead Running Club’s Exmoor Stagger. This is a particularly tough 16 mile race crossing Exmoor and climbing  to the highest point of Dunkery Beacon involving a total climb of 3627 ft. The weather turned out to be ideal much to the relief of the Honiton group who drove through heavy rain to get to the start. Three of the runners had completed a marathon just 2 weeks previously so found the run tougher than they probably would have done otherwise. Steve Davey was first  back in 69th place in 2:42 and his wife Judy followed 4 minutes later in 73rd place. She won a prize for 1st in category and a medal for winning the O50 female UK Trail Middle Distance Championship. Mark Dallyn was next back running the route for the first time to finish 105th in 2:58. Howard Bidmead completed the line-up coming 124th in 3:09. There were 201 finishers.    

St Helier in Jersey saw about 40 Honiton Running Club members and supporters converge in the town ready to take part in the Marathon or Relay on Sunday, 5th October. The club trip had come together after months of organisation by Wendy Le Masurier with most members staying at the same hotel. After a bit of sight seeing on Saturday, runners were ready to take on the challenge. The Marathon was won by Reuben Chumba with a new course record of 2 hours 24 minutes and 23 seconds. Judy Davey was first back for Honiton in a time of 3.31 coming 7th lady, 52nd overall and managing to win a vase for being 3rd in the Masters’ category. She also won a huge engraved silver plate for coming 1st in her age category. Judy had caught up with Steve Boyes at about mile 17 and they had kept pace with each other for the rest of the race. Steve was delighted to achieve a pb for the year finishing just 16 seconds and 1 place behind Judy. Next back was Steve Davey running his 2nd ever marathon. He would have been more pleased to have beaten his wife but he was thrilled to have achieved a pb to finish 96th in 3:44. Steve Briggs was next back in 183rd place and 4:05. He was pleased to feel so well afterwards but has vowed to come back next year and finish in under 4 hours. Mark Dallyn had run with Steve for most of the distance but suffered over the last few miles. He did well to finish just 4 minutes behind Steve in 249th place. Jennie Sleeman had run with marathon first timer, Lin Pike for all but the last few miles and Jennie finished just 1 minute and 3 seconds ahead of Lin in 249th place with a time of 4:27. Lin was delighted with her achievement which kept her emotionally on a high for days. Simon Hall was pleased just to finish as he admitted his longest training run had been about 13 miles. He managed 292nd place in 4:56. Pete Lyus is an experienced runner but has always said he would never attempt a marathon. He did brilliantly to crack the 5 hour mark in 4:59 finishing in 301st place. Wendy Williams was also tackling a marathon for the first time and finished just 2 places after Pete and missing out on the 5 hour barrier by just 1 minute. As she had set a target for herself of 5 ½ hours, she was understandably elated with her achievement. There were 336 finishers (but quite a lot more starters!)

The relay covers exactly the same route as the marathon with 5 runners in the team each taking a leg varying in length from 3 to 9 miles.Honiton Hurtlers made up of Olivia Higginson (Captain), Bruce Strawbridge, Kevin Hawker, Howard Bidmead and Hadleigh Davies came an amazing 9th place overall. They were disappointed to miss out on a prize by just 7 seconds but they all felt they ran well and tried their hardest. The Hot Steppers consisting of Nick Thorpe, Carol Turnham, John Burgess, Juliet Hall and Clare Melbourne (Captain) finished 155th in 3:55. Honiton’s Jersey Girls were next back in 214th place in 4:09. Runners were Sue Jones, Sandra Thorpe, Claire Pomeroy, Vanessa Glyn-Jones and Jo Jo Davey (Captain). Five Run a Marathon completed Honiton’s teams coming 247th in 4:21 and was made up of Ian Jeeves, Tracey Strawbridge (Captain), Wendy Le Masurier, Maggie Dillon and Liz Corney. There were 270 teams altogether.

It was a beautiful late summer’s day and it was a pleasure to take part in such a well organised event on such a beautiful island. Most Honiton visitors are already planning a return visit. Thanks to Wendy for organising a fantastic trip.

Meanwhile, back in Devon, on the same day, other runners were representing the club at the Minster Challenge based at Axminster Community College. First back for Honiton was Chris Entwistle coming an excellent 2nd position in 52:49 although this was helped by the front runner Matt Clist going slightly off track and ending up coming 5th. Alasdair Moffett was next in coming 10th in 57:15 closely followed by Tom Bornet in 57:24. Jarrod Brown was putting in a rare appearance for the club and did himself proud coming 13th in 57:43. Suzanne Spiller was 1st lady back for Honiton and 2nd lady overall in a time of 59:28 and 16th place. Mark Andow was next back in 30th place in 1:03:34 followed by Simon Spiller 24 seconds later to complete Honiton’s team. There were 69 runners. Two of the older juniors, Henry Riddle and Iain Ross, took part in the Fun Run coming in together across the line in 7th place in a time of 22:18. There were 66 finishers. Thanks to all involved in organisation and marshalling of another great event. 

Sunday, 29th September saw the running of this year’s Doone Run. This was the 30th anniversary and for one year only the race was run in reverse. The race organised by North Devon Road Runners is probably the most scenic and toughest 10 mile race in Devon with over 2000 metres of climb. Starting in Lynmouth runners ran up the zig zag path underneath the Lynton to Lynmouth Cliff Railway followed by a descent of the coast path at Valley of the Rocks. The race then climbed the Cleave above Lynmouth and the runners were greeted with superb views of the North Devon coast. The race finished with a run along the path from Watersmeet back to Lynmouth. Howard Bidmead from Honiton RC had a good race finishing in 1hr. 37m and took the trophy for 1st male O55.

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.