20th & 21st October races

The Exmoor Stagger and Exmoor Stumble, organised by Minehead Running Club, are two tough, off road races over some high, exposed hills. The 15-mile Stagger includes 3300 feet of climbing over beautiful countryside with breathtaking views, from Minehead to Dunkery Beacon and back. Although much shorter, the Stumble is no less tough, involving six miles of precipitous terrain over Grabbist Hill.

The winner of the Stagger was James Baker of Chichester Runners in 1:52:24. Exmouth Harrier Joe Pascoe produced an excellent performance for 16th place in 2:11:48 and Mark Thompson was 86th in 2:40:00, out of the field of 241 runners.

104 runners completed the Stumble, which was won by Lee Turner of Torbay A A C in 43:35. Exmouth’s John Perratt, again outstanding, was 1st V65 and 31st overall in 1:02:36.

The second of the six Brooks Westward League Cross Country races took place at Exeter Arena. The course was in perfect condition and the rain that had threatened did not materialise, making it ideal for racing.

The men’s event was completed by 139 runners including eight Exmouth Harriers. Andy Johnson ran strongly to come 74th, Bob Woodall was 104th and Duncan Linklater came 109th. Ray Elston ran superbly to come 113th, ahead of John Perratt who was 118th. Lee Russell came 129th, Jim Wyatt was 133rd with Les Turner 138th.

Last but not least, in Hertfordshire on Saturday, 20th October, Roger Rowe paced his daughter down the aisle in the most important 30 metres or so of his veteran career. Many congratulations to Roger and Mary on Sarah and Matthew’s wedding!

Dartmoor Vale Marathon

The fifth Dartmoor Vale Marathon was held in glorious autumn weather on Sunday. Although last year’s event was quite tough enough, the course was changed to make this year’s race even hillier and even tougher.

116 runners completed the race, which was won by Peter Norris of Tiverton Harriers in 2:53:46. Dave Stone, the first of the three Exmouth Harriers to finish, produced an excellent performance to take 7th place in 3:04:24. Peter McKeown was 21st in 3:18:07, and Julie Gellender, who also ran superbly, was 1st lady and 33rd overall in 3:25:56.

13 & 14th October Races

Parratt Trail Relay

Exmouth Harriers fielded two teams at the Parrett Trail Relay, a well-established six stage trail relay run on permissive and public rights of way from the mouth of the River Parrett on the North Somerset coast. It crosses Somerset to finish just over the border in Dorset close to the source of the river at Winyards Gap. The Winyards Gap Inn is the Official finish area, and the pub is open during the afternoon and evening for meals, snacks and much-needed sustenance. The route is approximately 53 miles long and is broken down into 6 stages.

The Exmouth Ladies team produced a magnificent performance to win their category, their total time of 7:39:46 beating second placed Yeovil Town Ladies ‘A’ by just 32 seconds! Although this was a brilliant team performance, special mention must go to two of its members. Jenny Timms, who not only ran two stages, but won her second stage by nearly 5 minutes. And the awesome Camilla Mathison, who started the anchor stage with a huge 19-minute deficit but came storming through to claim first place for Exmouth. The fact that the runners start each stage together at the same predetermined time, the winners being the team with the lowest total time, means that there is no runner in front to be overhauled and each runner is just competing against the clock. This makes Camilla’s performance all the more remarkable!

The victorious Exmouth Ladies team comprised Jenny Timms (stage 1 – 10.5 miles and stage 4 – 8.6 miles), Sue Wilkin (stage 2 – 7.9 miles), Lorraine Croome (stage 3 – 8.1 miles), Dawn Teed (stage 5 – 8.6 miles) and Camilla Mathison (stage 6 – 8.6 miles). Well done, the Ladies team!!

The men’s relay was won by Yeovil Town ‘A’ in 6:00:44 and the Exmouth team were 4th in 6:36:20. A superb first stage of 1:08:41 by Hugh Marsden gave Exmouth a flying start and a lead of 4 minutes. But although the whole team ran well, the opposition was too strong and the lead could not be maintained. The other Exmouth runners were Paul Champion (stage 2), John Croome (stage 3), Jim Pyne (stage 4), Dave Stone (stage 5) and Joe Pascoe (stage 6).

Honiton 12k

Two Exmouth Harriers competed in the Honiton 12K Race. Adrian Kearns produced an excellent performance to come 12th in 47:51 out of the 160 finishers. Julie Gellender was also outstanding and was 3rd lady and 38th overall in 52:16. The winner was Ian Stoneman of South West Road Runners in 43:21.

With all the other events going on at the weekend, there were only two Exmouth Harriers, both V60’s, in Redruth at the first of the new season’s six Brooks Westward League Cross Country races. Ray Elston maintained his current good form with another solid performance, coming 3rd V60 and 88th overall. Les Turner did not finish.

(LT)

SW Vets 10k Championship

... or Harriers supervets to the fore again.

Portland - 14th October 2007

"Come on Jim, it's only 12 minutes to the start". The 'isle' of Portland is a most interesting place for a race. Portland has two claims to fame, first the large prison, and second the number of quarries mining the famous Portland Stone. Apart from that nothing much really. There are cliffs all around, so once up on the plateau the views are stupendous. Warming up and being able to see 'down' in every direction makes one wonder 'just how hilly is this race going to be'? And yes, Jim arrived with a few minutes to go so any thought of a warm up -- on, it must be admitted one of the lovely June days we did not experience this year -- was out for him.

So a quick line up and off on-time at 11am, running towards the aformentioned prison. Roger found himself in a very unaccustomed postion after the first kilometer of 2nd on the road, with Ian Barnes from Poole (now just 60) tracking him. John has already broken clear of the V70 field, and Jim was vainly trying to warm up whilst looking around for the other V65s in the field.

Basically the first 5k is downhill, and some pretty fast 3k and 5ks must have been run by quite a number of the field. But in all our minds was the climb back to the top. The turn at around 5.5k saw a quick right, and a couple of hundred metres 'up'. It proved pretty tough on everyone. It was here that Roger finally lost Ian, and John and Jim started to exert themselves in their categories.

From the 6k to the 9k marker it was basically a long drag up the hill, followed by a quick blast down toward the finish, and then an uphill last 400 metres.

The winner, Mark Pittaway (V/45) from the Portland Club ran a creditable 35:20, with Ian B nearly three minutes behind in 2nd (1st V/60) in 38:12. A quite breathtaking time for a V/60 on that course. Roger came in a further minute-and-a-half down, 3rd on the road but only 2nd V/60 in 39:55 [and felt that was a minor triumph]!

After his disappointing time in the Brixahm 10k last weekend (45:34), John P stormed home on a much more difficult course in 43:41 and 1st Vet/70 -- 6th overall in the field. Jim, by now having warmed through, and proving too hot for the rest of the V65 field came in in 50:18 and 1st Vet/65.

So three Exmouth athletes, and two golds and a silver to show for it; an excellent return.

(RR)

PS... not only was it hilly, but the temperature got up to 22.5 by the finish... it did feel like June!

Last Weekend's Races

The Frank Elford (Mizuno) Autumn Trail Run , an 8 mile off-road race set in Newnham Country Park, just outside Plymouth, was won by Kairn Stone of Newham & Essex Beagles, in 44:12. Exmouth Harrier Shaun Lock came 20th in 52:31 out of the field of 516 runners.

Two of the more mature Exmouth Harriers, V65’s Ray Elston and Jim Wyatt, produced excellent performances at the North Devon 10k. Ray came 53rd in 44:30, a personal best and 1 minute faster than last year, and Jim was 107th in 49:38. 255 runners completed the race which was won by Wayne Stephens of Bideford AAC in 34:25.

Exmouth Harrier Stephen Tancock ran strongly to come 57th in 39:50 in the Newquay 10k, out of the field of 429 runners. The winner was Dave Buzza of Cornwall AC in 32:57.

John Perratt produced another excellent performance for 1st V65 and 67th overall in 45:34 in the Brixham 10k, which was won by Peter Monaghan of Torbay AC in 34:50. 167 runners completed the race.

A superb run in 60:21 earned Harrier Dave Stone 2nd place in the 10 mile Teign Valley Toddle, but was not quite enough to beat the winner, Tom Merson of South West Road Runners, in 57:25. Joe Pascoe also ran extremely well for 4th place in 64:33, out of the 91 finishers.

Finally, Bob Keast, the chairman of Exmouth Harriers, will be presenting a cheque for £250.00, as a donation from the proceeds of the Manor Hotel 10k to the Exmouth Lifeboat Appeal, at 10.00 am on Friday (12th) morning. The presentation will be made on the site of the new lifeboat station (Maer Rocks), with the inshore lifeboat in attendance.