Honiton Running Club’s Alasdair and Esme Moffett took part in the Purbeck 10k on Friday, 20th June. This is a race based on the picturesque Isle of Purbeck in Dorset and money raised goes to the Swanage Life Boats. The race is hilly but Alasdair had a great run especially considering he had fractured his ankle just 6 weeks ago. He finished 115th in 45 minutes 3 seconds. Esme also had a good run and did well to come 174th in 47:40. The race was won by Dan Mulryan in the fantastic time of 34:09. Alasdair and Esme said it was a bit of a trek getting to the race but it was well worth it. There were 433 finishers.

Steve Davey and Howard Bidmead took part in Sidmouth Running Club’s Beat the Bus race last Wednesday. The race starts at Otterton and takes runners cross country towards Sidmouth and back whilst attempting to ‘Beat the Bus’. The bus obviously takes the road route and returns the same way! Steve and Howard both managed to beat it back to Otterton with Steve coming 22nd overall in 48:41, Howard coming 29th in 51:40 and The Bus coming 47th in 56:30. The race was won by Jason Drew in 39:01 and there were 67 finishers, including the bus! 

On what was a blisteringly hot day last Sunday, several Honiton Running Club members took the short trip to Farway to take part in Farway Primary School’s Over the Hill and Farway 10k race. This is a predominately road run incorporating a short track before the monumental climb of Warren Hill featuring over 400 ft of climb.

There is an award for the first King and Queen to the top of the Hill and the king prize this year went to Tim Lenton of Axe Valley Runners. Eleanor Wood also of AVR was the first queen to the top. The race was won by another AVR runner in the form of Matt Clist who finished with a new course record of 37minutes 10 seconds. Graham Reeves was first back for Honiton followed quickly by Ben Stone who came 6th in 42:01 after suffering with a cold all week. Ross Penwill continued his amazing form to come 14th in 46:42 and was followed by Steve Davey who finished a minute later. Vernon Gillard is back on form and had a great run to come 16th in 48:08. Ceri Oak was the first Honiton lady to finish doing well to come 2nd lady overall in 17th place in 48:22. Richard Harris was next back finishing 20th in 49:05. He was followed by Alasdair Moffett who enjoyed the run but struggled. He came 22nd in 49:30. Mark Dallyn found it hard but ran consistently to come 24th in 50:28. He was followed by Judy Davey just one place and one minute later. Tim Wigram completed an ultra marathon just 2 weeks ago so with tired legs he did well to come 29th in 52:52. Pippa Westall had a good run and was justly awarded with first local lady runner. She was 33rd in 54:21. Greg Axsel didn’t enjoy it too much but came 36th in 55:53 completing the Honiton line-up for the main race.

Honiton youngsters took part in the fun runs with considerable success. The oldest junior race of approximately 3k saw Rowan Westall coming 2nd  in 16:46, Oliver Grimshaw 4th in 17:05 and Thomas Lilley 6th in 17:13.   Jasmine Stone was first under 10 girl back in her race of approximately 2k finishing 9th overall in 9:05 with her brother Harrison not too far behind finishing 14th in 10:14. Lara Oak was next back coming 25th in 12:02. Max and Ella Spiller took part in the race for the youngest children coming 5th and 12th respectively.  

Olivia Higginson of Honiton Running Club took part in her first event since October when, together with friend Megan, they ran the Rainbow Colour Run at Exeter Racecourse on Sunday, 8th June. Money raised went to Children's Hospice South West and Olivia and Megan had great fun having paint thrown at them during the event.

Honiton Running Club was well represented at the Talaton Trotter 7 mile multi-terrain run last Sunday. On almost the hottest day of the year so far, right in the middle of the day, 71 runners set off taking in the lovely East Devon countryside running through Escot Park, along the River Otter, through woods and on roads and tracks. The race was won by Jake Waldron who stormed home in 41 minutes 42 seconds beating the second runner home by nearly 4 minutes. First back for Honiton was Ben Stone who settled for 4th place in the great time of 48:09. Chris Entwistle followed coming 8th in 50:08. Ross Penwill had yet another great run beating Rod Inglis by just one second to come 12th in 54:05. Rod wasn’t too upset though as he collected a prize for being first in his category. Steve Davey followed 2 places later in 54:35  having kept Rod and Ross in his sights throughout the race. Suzanne Spiller has been forced out of the racing scene for a while due to injury but nevertheless she did well to be first lady back for Honiton coming 17th in 55:17. Vernon Gillard is regaining his form and was pleased to come 18th in 55:45. Ceri Oak followed in 22nd place in 56:20. Howard Bidmead has recently moved to Talaton and took advantage of taking a short stroll to the start. He came 23rd in 57:10 but did miss out on being first local runner! Despite Mark Dallyn saying he didn’t feel great, he had a solid run coming 25th in 57:59. Judy Davey was next in 27th place pleased to finish under the hour in 59:20. Roger Saunders really struggled with this race eventually coming 38th in 1:02:40 looking like he was going to pass out as he crossed the line. Sharon Wells and Kathy Layzell both looked strong as they finished; Sharon 51st in 1:08:06 and Kathy 59th in 1:11:10.

Also on offer was the much shorter ‘Weener’ which was won by William Watson in 18:43. Katelyn Wells was the first Honiton runner back in 5th place in 20:48 followed by Jasmine Stone in 20:53. Abigail Davies and Dad, Hadleigh ran together finishing in 25:16 with Hadleigh winning a prize for first adult home! Ellen Layzell completed the line-up coming 10th in 31:20.  

Thanks to Robin Carter for great organisation and to other helpers and landowners for a fantastic races.                    

The Forces March 5 Marathons in 5 Days took place recently and it was the fifth time the Veterans’ Charity had organised the event. It starts in Ilfracombe and passes through glorious countryside in Exmoor, the Quantock Hills, rural Somerset and much of Salisbury Plain finishing in Bulford, Wiltshire. The three stooges; Honiton Running Club’s Stephen Boyes together with Steve Retro Reynolds and Geoff Woodward completed the 137miles over the 5 days . They were awarded a cut glass trophy to recognise the effort.

Last Saturday, several Honiton runners took part in the 10k multi-terrain Umborne Ug. The Ug is a challenging race and there was plenty of mud this year although the weather was pretty much perfect on the evening.  Axe Valley Runner’s  Tim Lenton won the race in a time of 41 minutes 37 seconds and the first Honiton runner home was Kevin Hawker who came 4th in 44:21 winning his age category. Ben Stone followed closely coming 7th in 46:12. Hadleigh Davies was next back coming 18th in 51:48. Just one place and 46 seconds later was Steve Davey who also won a category prize. Young Iain Ross had a much better run than last year coming 22nd in 53:29. Ross Penwill is running really well at the moment and stormed home to finish 24th in 53:44 ahead of Rod Inglis by just 4 seconds. Ceri Oak was the first lady back for Honiton coming 27th in 55:07 and she was followed by the next lady, Judy Davey who finished 39th in 58:05. Simon Spiller had followed Judy for most of the race but couldn’t quite catch her coming 40th in 59:06. This was the first race Greg Axsel has taken part in for about 2 ½ years so he did remarkably well to come 46th in 1:02:29. Once again John Burgess was accompanied by his camera taking photos along the way. John came 52nd in 1:02:54. Tony Peek was next back having  enjoyed the race to come 57th in 1:04:33. Brent Dicks stopped twice for cider mid route which slowed him down a little to come 61st in 1:07:37 just two places and 15 seconds ahead of Sharon Wells. Kathy Layzell put in another gutsy run to finish Honiton’s line-up coming 69th in 1:11:32. There were 84 finishers. On their return racers were welcomed back to wonderful refreshments in the form of a barbecue, cakes and the bar! Thank you to Eleanor and Rick Wood as usual for organising such a superb race and to all the other helpers, marshals and landowners.

There was also a junior fun run on offer and this was won by AVR’s Alfie Devine-Wright. Jasmine Stone was first back for Honiton coming 3rd female and 13th overall. She was directly followed by Josh Foundling-Hawker and James Oak. Lara Oak, accompanied by her Dad Warren, came 31st and completing the line-up for Honiton was Ellen Layzell in 39th place. There were 45 finishers. 

Three members of Honiton Running Club travelled to Taunton last Sunday to take part in the Taunton Triathlon based at Taunton School. The event comprised of 400 metres in the pool, followed by what was supposed to be a 20k bike ride, that at the last minute was changed to 30k! This was followed by a 5k run. Richard Harvey has plenty of experience of triathlons, whilst for Sandra and Nick Thorpe it was their second and first attempts respectively. Not surprisingly Richard led the Honiton contingency home in a combined time of 1.28.54 in 40th place (10th in his age category) Richard was a little disappointed with his swim and like many found the extreme shallowness of the pool difficult to deal with. More of a surprise was that Sandra in only her second triathlon won her age category in a time of 1.49.39 and 136th overall. The fact that she is actually 4 months shy of her next big birthday, seems to have eluded the judges! Sandra was naturally delighted to leave husband Nick in her wake as he finished just over a minute adrift in 1.50.59 in 142nd position and 5th in his age category. Nick has vowed to have revenge next time, even if it means letting her tyres down! The race was won by Aled Jones (no, not that one) in a time of 1.08.50. 173 completed the race.

On the same day two Honiton runners went to Crewkerne to take part in the 10k. This race has an undulating out and back route which includes a loop through Merriott.  Racers run on country lanes through attractive villages and hamlets. Vernon Gillard came in first for Honiton in 37th place in 45 minutes 51 seconds with Esme Moffett coming a respectable 79th place in 51:17. The race was won by Kieran Young in the fantastic time of 35:37 and there were 181 finishers.