Of Bath... and Exmouth (via the Falklands)

Two Exmouth Harriers competed in the Bath Half Marathon, which finally got under way an hour late after the lack of a medical tent nearly caused the cancellation of the event. The race village was a mire of mud with pretty poor facilities and the race was won by Raymond Tonui in 1:05:21. Cathy Newman ran brilliantly yet again to finish 140th out of 10,009 finishers in 1:20:01, a fantastic age graded performance of 90% (a feat rarely ever achieved at local races). Well done, Cathy!! Adrian Kearns was 216th in 1:23:20.

Despite another superb race at the Falkland Islands Marathon, Exmouth Harrier Hugh Marsden just failed to win the event for the fourth successive year. The conditions were very good with little or no wind, for a change. Hugh and the eventual winner, Simon Almond, another British runner, fronted the race and ran together until the final mile. At that point, Hugh could do nothing to prevent his rival from taking the lead and holding it to the finish line in 2:55:46, just a minute ahead of Hugh. The expected threat from the Argentinians turned out not to be a problem, however, as their first runner finished in third place, 10 ½ minutes behind Hugh.

Exmouth Harrier Ted Bloomfield came 80th in 47:45 out of the 215 runners at the Plympton Mad March Hare 10K Road Race. The winner was Peter Monaghan of Torbay A A C in 34:57.

The sixth and final event of the Brooks Westward League 2007/08 Cross Country Series was held at Bicton Arena and included five Exmouth Harriers. Bob Woodall was 3rd V50, Duncan Linklater 6th V50 and Lee Russell 12th V50. Ray Elston was 3rd V60 and Jim Wyatt 6th V60. Having completed five of the six events, Ray was also 3rd V60 over the whole series. Well done, Ray!

A few Grizzly photos....

... thanks to Axe Valley Runners.

The week's races...

On Sunday, 2nd March, Exmouth Harrier Emma Dupain had a superb race at the Llanelli Half Marathon. The event started and finished adjacent to the water park on the Festival Fields in the Millennium Coastal Park. The course was mostly on tarmac with some dirt track, along an undulating traffic free environment within the beautiful and scenic Millennium Coastal Path. The race was won by Richie Gardiner of Cardiff A C in 1:09:15. Emma came 276th in 1:41:59, out of the field of 845 runners. She was on course to beat her p.b., but the very strong head wind that she encountered in the last two miles slowed her down and left her just 18 seconds short! Commiserations, but well done, Emma!
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The fourth and final event of the Winter 3K Series took place at Exeter Arena on Wednesday, 5th March. Over the whole series, five Exmouth Harriers won places in the top three of their categories. Andy Johnson was 2nd V40, Bob Woodall was 3rd V55, Roger Rowe was 1st V60, Ray Elston was 1st V65 and John Perratt was 1st V70. Congratulations to all five of them!
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This year’s Grizzly was restored to its customary March date, but the weather was much better than it normally is, despite the stormy days surrounding it. The winner was Lee Turner of Torbay A A C in 2:24:34 and 1379 runners completed the race. Congratulations to Dave Stone, who continued his fine run of form and was the first of the eleven Exmouth Harriers to finish, in 10th place in 2:35:49, six places higher and almost nine minutes quicker than last year. Shaun Lock was 48th in 2:47:13. Joe Pascoe was 51st in 2:47:31, compared with 118th in 3:10:14 in 2007 – a massive improvement. Well done Joe, the future looks good for you! Jon Croome was 70th in 2:51:51, another excellent performance. Richard Selby had an outstanding race and came 1st V55 and 175th overall in 3:05:54. Paul Champion was 224th in 3:11:46, with Mark Thompson 225th, just two seconds later.
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Lorraine Croome was 401st in 3:27:46, Hannah Dupain came 485th in 3:34:46 and Bob Keast came 1022nd in 4:21:09. Sue Wilkin was 1047th in 4:25:41, but did really well, because on an age graded basis she was 740th, over 300 places higher. Well done, Sue!

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Ironbridge Runner Winter 3k Series

Results from Exeter Arena 3k series (final event last night):

Andy Johnson 2nd V/40
Bob Woodall 3rd V/55
Roger Rowe 1st V/60
Ray Elston 1st V/65
John Perratt 1st V/70

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Falklands, Bideford... and Exeter !

[A Falkland Scene]

Far away in the Falkland Islands, where it’s always very windy and this year’s race was no exception, Exmouth Harrier Hugh Marsden has just won the Falklands Half Marathon for the fourth consecutive year. Hugh is currently in great form and was over four minutes ahead of the runner-up. Later this month he will be attempting to win the Falklands Marathon, also for the fourth consecutive time. The field for this year’s full marathon is expected to include some international athletes, however, so Hugh will have to pull out all the stops to maintain his outstanding record in this event.

The Bideford Half Marathon was won by Steve Gallienne of Bideford A A C in 1:11:03 and the field of 826 runners included two Exmouth Harriers. Adrian Kearns had an excellent race to finish 39th in 1:24:06 and Trevor Cope was 624th in 2:02:25.

For those wanting something a little shorter and quicker, the Uni Hilly 5K Race was won by Tom Merson of South West Road Runners in 16:15. Two Exmouth Harriers were among the 73 finishers. Katie Comer was 44th in 26:32 and John Perratt was 1st V70 and 49th overall in 27:33.

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Have a look at the editor's 'Darwin Diary' Blog to see what was happening in the Falklands in 1833: http://darwinbeagle.blogspot.com/

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