On Easter Monday three Honiton Running Club members took part in the Easter Bunny 10k based at Yeovilton. This is a fast flat course with the first half going through West Camel and Podimore before the final 5k which follows the route of the summer Yeovilton 5k series circling the air base. The race attracts the novice runner as well as the personal best time hunter. The Honiton members were all of the latter group and were not disappointed as there were pbs all round. Julie Payne was first back in 103rd position in the fantastic time of 42 minutes and 1 second. This proves her good form ready for the London Marathon in a few weeks time. This was Steve Briggs first race for the club and he was pleased with the 198th position in 47:56. Clare Melbourne has been improving rapidly and confirmed that she was justly awarded the most improved runner award at the Club’s AGM recently. She came 257th in 53:28. All runners were rewarded with a very welcome Easter Egg as they crossed the line making the run worthwhile even if a pb wasn’t achieved! Kevin Heywood of Bideford AAC won the race in 30:19 and there were 373 finishers.
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The inaugural running of the Kilmington Kanter on Good Friday saw a good turnout of Honiton Running Club members. The race is a multi-terrain 7 mile race in the woods, fields and roads around Kilmington with money raised going to the primary school. The race boasts 2 hills of about a mile long each although the Honiton contingent felt they had known a lot worse. Kevin Hawker was first home for Honiton in 4th place overall in 45 minutes 38 seconds but he would have finished higher if he hadn’t taken a wrong turn. Bruce Strawbridge and Steve Davey had a battle throughout the race and ended up sprinting together at the finish only to be given exactly the same finishing time of 50:33. However, Bruce did just get in front and came 18th to Steve’s 19th place. Richard Harris was next back in 25th place in 52:29 with Howard Bidmead finishing one place behind, having had a great run, to finish in 53:31. Vernon Gillard finished 29th in 54:13. The next three were vying for positions throughout the run and swapping several times. Nick Bradley-Carter was the eventual victor coming 36th in 56:17 with Judy Davey 37th in 56:26 and Pippa Westall 38th in 56:59. John Burgess treated this as a warm up for the Easter Bunny 10k in Yeovilton and was delighted to finish just under the hour in 59:55. Olivia wasn’t far behind coming in 31 seconds and 3 places later. Tracey had her usual fantastic sprint finish to come in 64th in 72:29. Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers won the race setting the target for future years of 39:07. There were 81 runners.
There was also a 2.5 mile fun run and junior race on offer which was a challenging course through Kilmington woods. Honiton’s Rowan Westall took part coming 9th in 21:55. This was the first run for Wendy Williams after a knee operation and she was pleased with how it went coming 18th in 27:51. There were 20 runners. On Saturday three Honiton runners decided to participate in a once in lifetime experience to run through the brand new London Olympic Park and finish in the new Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Park Run was organised by the National Lottery as a tester event for the games and 5000 runners were selected to take part. As luck would have it for the runners the unseasonal heat wave came to an end and so it was cool, ideal for running. Princess Beatrice (running herself) got the 5 mile race underway and the runners then looped round most of the venues in the park though some were still in the final stages of construction. Entering the stadium in the final mile involved running in a subterranean service tunnel for half a mile before emerging into the stadium with 10,000 spectators cheering you on which was an inspiring experience. Julian Gigg finished first in 384th place with a time of 34 minutes 3 seconds for the 5 miles and closely followed by Roger Saunders in 743rd place at 36:22. Greg Axsel was taking lots of photos around the course so had a more leisurely run finishing at 42:51 as the 2352 runner to finish. Roger and Julian found themselves rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sally Gunnell and Steve Backley at the finish. The event no doubt tested out things and on arrival there was a huge queue through Westfield Shopping Centre to get through the airport style security but it moved fairly swiftly. Roll on July when the elite runners get into action there!
On Sunday with the weather warming up again 6 Honiton RC members took part in the Taunton Half Marathon posting some great times. First back was Vernon Gillard in 1 hour 37 minutes followed not too far behind by Nick Bradley-Carter in 1:40. Olivia Higginson had a great run finishing in 1:47 and next back was John Burgess who was having a good run until his legs cramped up at 11 1/5 miles. His target was 1:55 but he just missed this to finish in 1:56. Nevertheless, John was pleased as this is the longest distance he has run for 18 months. John had passed Clare Melbourne within the first mile and was waiting for her to overtake him at any point. This didn’t happen but Clare was delighted with her time just 1 minute after John of 1:57. These times meant personal bests for Nick, Olivia and Clare so well done to them. Helen Davy also took part but she was running with a friend and finished in 2:13. They were treated to delicious cakes after the race, courtesy of Clare. Wayne Spiller bravely took on the two lap challenge to run the full marathon. The two races start at the same time so the second lap does get a bit lonely. Wayne should be pleased with his time of 4:18. Also on Sunday, four other Honiton runners took on the huge challenge of Sidmouth Running Club’s Exe to Axe which starts at Exmouth and follows the coastal path all the way to Seaton. The route is all but 21 miles and took runners through Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Weston beach, Branscombe and Beer. The race boasts over 4000 feet of climb (more than the Grizzly). Bruce Strawbridge came in first for Honiton getting his own back on Steve Davey who beat him in the Grizzly. Bruce finished in 26th place in 3 hours 28 with Steve coming 32nd in 3:30. Judy Davey was next back and was delighted to manage not only to find her way without deviation but she finished as 3rd lady. She finished 44th overall in 3:39. Howard Bidmead, the final runner for Honiton, took it fairly easy to finish in 90th place in 4:32. There were 101 finishers and Tom Merson won the race in an incredible 2:26. Glorious weather, unprecedented numbers, thunderous drumming from Tano Taiko and a wonderful range of costumes combined to make last Sunday the best Honiton Sport Relief day so far. The steady trickle of entries over the last few weeks gradually built to a flood on Sunday morning as mums, dads, children and grandparents poured into The Mackarness Hall to join the event. Honiton Running Club was hard pressed to keep up with taking money, issuing numbers and serving cakes. One couple had come up from Torquay to take part because they said that the Honiton Mile had been such a friendly atmosphere. Eventually over 530 participants were registered – 130 on the day. The Mile participants were put through their paces in a warm up by Tracey Strawbridge before making their way to the start. At 10:30 they were given a rousing send off by Matt Young from Radio Exe and the front of the crowd sprinted off down the High St. Spectators were treated to a great sight as Honiton Primary school runners in blue tops, dodged round Sylvester the cat, a large green hippo, Bob the Builder and a jogging banana. Fairies and princesses competed with Batman and Robin, and Mario and Toad. The sprinters were way down the High street by the time mayor Vernon Whitlock in full regalia sedately crossed the start line in company with the other walkers. One very young child hitched a lift on her dad’s shoulders but most of the children were way ahead of their parents. As they approached New St they were cheered on by a crowd of spectators and the strong rhythmic Japanese-style drumming of Tana Taiko. It was not long before the first runner, Stephen Crompton came sprinting down New St to the finish, quickly followed by Honiton Running Club junior Jordan Roe-Lavery. Then came charging children with red-faced parents puffing along behind - – “ I never knew she could run so fast and so far” said one exhausted mum about her 6 year-old daughter. Medals, bottles of water and real bananas were handed out and the runners enjoyed the sun and the stunning performance of the drummers. An hour later it was the turn of the 3 mile and 6 mile runners, to set off. They did a loop down the High St and round the top of the town via Tesco and St Michael’s church. Lots of juniors from Honiton Running Club took part with Rowan Westall coming in second, followed by Harry Whitely and Lydia Clapp. The young lad who came in first was quickly recruited to the club by leader Richard Harvey. First home in the 6 mile event was Dominic Schneider of the Axe Valley club. It was a great occasion and a fitting climax to weeks of preparation by Honiton club members, particularly Warren Oak, and also to the many Sport Relief activities by local schools and other groups. £561 pounds was raised by the street collection so with the entry fees, sponsorship and other fund-raising activities we expect to exceed the £7505 donated in 2010. Photos of the event are available to see and download from Honiton Running Club website at www.honitonrc.com. Honiton Running Club held its AGM and awards evening recently when deserving members were awarded for their efforts during 2011. The Captain’s cup for male runner of the year went to Nick Bradley-Carter and the female version went to Julie Payne. Bruce Strawbridge took home three awards which included the Members’ Member of the Year Award, the Points’ Trophy and the Cross Country Award. Olivia Higginson did almost as well winning the monthly Handicap Cup as well as the Runner Up Points’ Trophy. Brent Dicks was the runner up for the monthly Handicap and Clare Melbourne was voted by the committee as the Most Improved Runner. The Chairman’s Cup was awarded to Paul Lowman for his work on the website for many years. Flowers and chocolates were awarded to individual members who have helped with organising events or generally helping the club behind the scenes. The committee of 2011 was dissolved and new members elected. The 2011 officers were all reinstated for another year meaning that John Burgess will once again be Chairperson until the next AGM.
Honiton Running Club junior members have been taking part every month during the winter in the Exeter 3k series run on the track at Exeter Arena. The final round of the series finished with some great personal best times and the juniors collected overall category prizes in nearly all the age categories. The end of season awards are for the best 4 position finishes within their age group and our juniors proved that they have been training hard over the winter. Layla Felgate and Becky Matthews took the top awards in their age group with Katie Davey achieving a very respectable 2nd place in the u17 age group. Florence Swan and Lydia Clapp took the 2nd place in very competitive age categories and should be pushing to win them next year. Jack Elsom and Ian Ross were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the largest age group (U13 boys) with Harry Whiteley very close in 4th. The under 15 boys’ category was another hard age group with the Honiton boys producing some great results. Henry Riddle came home with the 3rd place and Reuben Heeler-Frood and Jake Harvey tying for 4th. Honiton RC is the largest participating club in the Exeter 3k series with an average of 16 juniors competing at each event and they are all a credit to the club and themselves in the way they compete and support their fellow athletes. Julie Payne was the sole Honiton runner at the Gloucester 20 mile race last Sunday and she was thrilled to finish in exactly 2 ½ hours which must be a real boost of confidence before she tackles the London Marathon. At the club AGM last night the trophies for 2011 were awarded: Julie Payne: Female runner of the year Bruce Strawbridge: Points Trophy, Cross-country trophy and Members Shield Nick Bradley-Carter: Male runner of the year Brent Dicks: Handicap Trophy - runner up Olivia Higginson: Handicap Trophy and Points Trophy runner up. Clare Melbourne: Most Improved Paul Lowman - Chairman's Good Egg Trophy - years of work managing old website Honiton Running Club managed a good turnout for Axe Valley Runners’ 25th anniversary Grizzly & Cub runs on Sunday. The Grizzly boasts it is an extremely tough race of twentyish miles taking in plenty of mud, hills, bogs and beach and runners were definitely not disappointed. Although, arguably, the course was a little kinder this year with not as much beach. The weather was unseasonably warm for the time of year and, at times, runners did find it a little hot and even managed a sun tan.
Ian Stewart was first back for Honiton in exactly 3 hours, knocking an amazing 31 minutes off his time from last year. Richard Harvey also had a cracking race coming in next in a time of 3:13 and he also managed to knock an incredible 34 minutes off last year. Steve Davey has been beaten by Bruce Strawbridge with monotonous regularity in recent races but today it was Steve’s turn to come out on top finishing in 3:26, two minutes ahead of Bruce. Steve’s wife, Judy was next back very pleased with her 3:32 finish. She had overtaken Julian Gigg and Richard Harris during the second half of the race as they were both suffering with fatigue. They finished in 3:35 and 3:40 respectively. Stephen Boyes was next back in 3:42 followed two minutes later by Vernon Gillard. There was a bit of a gap until the next Honiton runner made an appearance at the finish line in the form of Howard Bidmead in 3:53. Rod Inglis pushed himself to finish in exactly 4 hours after only obtaining a Grizzly place earlier in the week. This was Helen Davy’s first Grizzly and she found it tough finishing 2 minutes after Rod. Olivia Higginson and Nick Bradley- Carter were also running the race for the first time and ran much of it together before Nick’s wheels dropped off so Olivia pulled away to finish in 4:06 just 2 minutes ahead of Nick. Warren Oak has been training for London Marathon recently and has obviously got used to road running as he struggled with this race to finish in 4:14. Wayne Spiller also struggled to finish in 4:39 as he has just finished a cold but Tracey Strawbridge was very pleased with her finishing time of 4:44. The Cub run is a little under 9 miles and still challenging without the bogs. Runners are still treated to a fair stretch of beach right at the start which saps the energy of even the fastest runners. Pippa Westall was delighted to be first back for Honiton in 1:25 followed by Sarah Warren five minutes later. Pete Lyus enjoyed his run to finish in 1:46 and this was by far the toughest run young Becky Matthews had completed finishing in 1:49. Louise Saunders finished the line up for Honiton to finish in 1:55. Thanks to AVR for organising the race, especially Race Director Garry Perratt. Also the cheerful marshals, some of whom were out for over 6 hours, as well as the landowners for allowing thousands of feet to churn up their land. On the same day but on very different terrain, Graham Reeves completed the Bath Half Marathon. He finished in 1:35: 45 seconds: not quite another P.B. The weather was fantastic and the course was nice and fast. The race was won by Edwin Kiptoo of Kenya setting a new course record. Congratulations to Heather Foundling-Hawker who has been selected to represent Great Britain in the world 100km championships to be held in Italy later this year following her win at the 40 mile track race of the Welsh Ultra Championships last weekend. Well done Heather! On Sunday a small group from Honiton Running Club set off for Bideford in the torrential rain unaware of the astonishing performance they were about to witness. By the time they arrived in Bideford thankfully the rain had cleared and the town was taken over with well over 1000 runners from all over the South West to take part in the Bideford Half Marathon. The route is slightly undulating on the way out but the route back is on the Tarka Trail, a disused railway line, and therefore almost flat which can lead to good times. Honiton runners have a habit of doing fast times and gaining PBs on this course (e.g. Nick Bradley-Carter, Pete Ruhen to name but two) and today was no exception. First back for Honiton, after battling against the wind over the last couple of miles, was Julie Payne who managed a PB at 1:35:19 and was 3rd in her category confirming her excellent form at the moment which bodes well for the London Marathon. Second back was Roger Saunders in a time of 1:37:18 closely followed by Grahame Rooms at 1:37:24 though both were unaware of each other. For Grahame this was a new PB so he was well pleased and Roger was within a minute of his run last year. Next came the amazing performance of Brent Dicks who absolutely smashed his previous PB by 17 mins to finish in 1:42:51 thanks to all the hard London Marathon training he has been doing. Warren Oak followed in Brent’s wake in 1:49:32 also training for London. Vanessa Glyn Jones, also running the London Marathon finished in 2:15:29 which was 10th in her category so a very respectable time. So with 3 PBs Honiton runners returned with smiles on their faces glad they had braved the rain and enjoyed the Tarka Trail.
Spring had sprung in Dalwood last Sunday as the Dalwood 3 Hills Challenge, mini challenge and fun run saw a fantastic turnout of both Honiton Running Club adults and juniors. The 3 Hills Challenge is 10 miles of multi-terrain and very tough, mainly off road with runners taken through streams on several occasions. The weather was perfect but there was still plenty of mud to wade through. There are definitely more than 3 hills that see virtually all racers walking the steepest ascents.
Ian Stewart doesn’t do many races but he usually turns up to Dalwood and this week he stormed home to lead the Honiton runners in. Next in was Bruce Strawbridge. Richard Harvey and Steve Davey had had a battle for some of the route with Richard finally coming in first. Steve had Richard Harris almost catch him on one of the hills so Steve was kept on his toes but he did manage to hold the second Richard off. Judy Davey had a great race, managing to knock over 8 minutes off last year’s time to come 3rd lady overall and win her age category. Judy had overtaken Howard Bidmead on the last knap with Howard finishing just a few seconds after her. It was Rod Inglis’ first attempt at this race and he thoroughly enjoyed it coming in next for Honiton. Vernon Gillard was fresh back from an all inclusive holiday in Jamaica so he knew he was slightly off form but turned up anyway to come home next. Nick Bradley-Carter is getting better at those steep descents finishing next ahead of Pippa Westall who ran out of steam at some point during the race. Denis Costello treated Dalwood as a training run for London Marathon and finished next with newish Honiton runner Mark Andow hot on his heals. Olivia Higginson finished not too far behind less than a minute ahead of Wayne Spiller. Pete Lyus was next back followed by John Burgess who had stopped to admire the view and take a few photos along the way including the finishing line just before he crossed it! Linda Pike and Carol Turnham ran the whole course together and completed the Honiton line up. Honiton results: 11th Ian Stewart 1:17, 19th Bruce Strawbridge 1:22, 20th Richard Harvey 1:25, 21st Steve Davey 1:26, 24th Richard Harris 1:27, 34th Judy Davey 1:32, 38th Howard Bidmead 1:32, 46th Rod Inglis 1:35, 52nd Vernon Gillard 1:38, 59th Nick Bradley-Carter 1:39, 67th Pippa Westall 1:43, 84th Denis Costello 1:48, 87th Mark Andow 1:48, 90th Olivia Higginson 1:49, 93rd Wayne Spiller 1:50, 100th Pete Lyus 1:53, 102nd John Burgess 1:55, 113th Linda Pike 2:12 and 114th Carol Turnham 2:12. There were 122 finishers. The mini challenge is approximately 4 miles long and attracted 5 Honiton juniors. The race was won by Josh Coates of AVR in 23 minutes 58 and the next three places were all taken by Honiton members. Reuben Heeler-Frood was 2nd in 25:50, Iain Ross was 3rd in 26:02 and Findlay Fuller was 3rd in 28:44. Jake Harvey and Morgan Davy were the other Honiton runners coming 7th in 31:28 and 8th in 32:41 respectively. There were 13 runners. The fun run is open to everyone of any age and two younger Honiton members took part. Arthur Heeler-Frood and Sasha Davy had great runs taking the 1st and 3rd positions. There were 15 runners. Thanks to the Dalwood Run Committee for putting on such a great event with the help of Axe Valley Runners. Thanks also to everyone else involved with organisation including the marshals and cake makers and, of course, the land owners for the loan of their land on the day. It’s The Dalwood 3 Hills Challenge next Sunday. The main run is 10 miles but the mini-challenge is only 4. We normally have a good turnout of adults and juniors for this and the mini-challenge is a good event for those who don’t feel up to the full run. Not everyone wants to run but some of you might like to dust off the bike and ride over and some of you might fancy a walk along part of the course near the village. At the same time you can give the runners a cheer as they finish. The event starts at 11:00. Share cars from Sports Centre at 9:45 Use the Comment to this blog to say whether you are running ,walking cycling supporting or car sharing |
Club News 2012.Editors: Judy, John Archives
December 2012
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