On 16th August, Ben Stone and Alasdair Moffet travelled down to the Roseland Peninsula in South Cornwall to take part in the Roseland August Trail race series. There were 4 distances of 11 miles, 20 miles, The Black Rat 32 miles, and The Plague 64 mile race.  Ben took part in the Plague which started at midnight on the Friday night and ran through the night on challenging coast paths between Porthpean and St Anthony's near Falmouth. The race then turns back and returns to Porthpean.  Ben finished in 14 hrs 11 mins and was 8th out of 100 competitors.  Alasdair took part in the Black Rat and was dropped off at St Anthony's at 8.30am and ran the 32 miles back to Porthpean.  Alasdair enjoyed the race and came in an excellent 22nd place in 6hrs 16 mins.  Both agreed that the terrain was very challenging and Ben compared it to running 3 and half Grizzlies but a bit harder!

On the evening of Wednesday, 20th August, four Honiton runners travelled to Exeter  to take part in the Exeter 10k.  The course is very flat and very fast and all 4 put in great efforts.  Steve Selley was first back for Honiton coming 93rd in 43 mins 21 secs.  Next back hot on his heels was Katy Campbell 117th in 45 mins 18 secs.  Sharon Wells was delighted to knock off 5 minutes from last year’s race coming in 207th in 51 mins18 secs.  Donna Stone in her first ever race came in 282nd in 58 mins and 45 secs, well within the hour target she had set herself. A magnificent effort for all 4. The race was won by Tom Merson in 31.12 and 358 people turned out for the event.

Having celebrated his daughter’s wedding in Midhurst, West Sussex on the Saturday Honiton runner Howard Bidmead entered the Harting 10 mile trail run on Sunday 3rd August. Harting is a small village set within the South Downs National Park on the West Sussex / Hampshire border.This is a tough run starting in the village. The first 3 miles are all uphill and comprise country lanes and tracks. At 3 miles the course evens out until 5 miles where there is a sharp right hand turn and then 2 miles uphill to the top of the Downs where the runners are met with amazing views across the Sussex and Hampshire countryside. At 8 miles the route descends back into Harting to the finish. 206 runners completed the event. Howard ran in his words a gentle pace and finished 88th with a credible time of 1 hour 22 mins. The race was run by Julian Manning from Denmead Striders in a time of 57m 46s.

Last Sunday, 56 runners or walkers took part in a social event organised by Honiton Running Club’s Howard Bidmead. Several local clubs were represented with 10 Honiton runners taking part. The base was at West Anstey and was a circular route taking in 10 Exmoor miles. The weather was much better than was originally forecast with Hurricane Bertha behaving herself. Runners were treated to a feast of homemade cakes on their return and money raised was split between Devon Air Ambulance and West Anstey Village Hall. A huge thank you to Howard and his other helpers for a very enjoyable event. 

Last Sunday, two Honiton Running Club members took part in the Indian Queens Half Marathon which is mainly road and fairly flat. Julie Payne finished in 102nd place in a time of 1 hour 36 minutes and 55 seconds which saw her win a bottle of wine for coming 1st in her age category. Stephen Boyes came 132nd in 1:40:06 and was pleased with his run which he used as part of his training for the Loch Ness Marathon next month. There were 562 finishers and the race was won by Ben Price of Cheltenham Harriers in the speedy time of 1:14:19.