Teignbridge '10'

On the first official day of British Summer time, Sunday 28th March 2010, the lone Exmouth Harrier, Joan Mason, lined up for the start of the Teignbridge Ten. At 10.30 am prompt the race started on the playing field at Teign School before completing about 1.6 miles around the upper end of Kingsteignton, followed by 2 slightly undulating rural laps through Sandygate, Fosterville, then via Preston Manor and back to Kingsteignton. The ten mile race finished on the field at Teign School.

The first runner to cross the finishing line in a time of 52 minutes and 57 seconds was Pete Freedman of Tavistock AC.

Joan Mason, for the Exmouth Harriers, finished in overall 148th position in a time of 89-01, giving her an average speed, for the ten mile course, of 8.45minutes per mile.

(RW)

GWR Warm Up 10k & Westward League XC

At 11 am on Sunday 21st March 2010 the final round of the Great West Run Warm up 10K race started. The weather for the days event was almost perfect for racing. The conditions at the start were calm, sunny and windless and although the wind picked up slightly as the race progressed it was nothing like as strong or as cold as at the previous round on 28th February. Again the course was a fast and flat. James Denne of Exeter Harriers finished in first place in a time of 34 minutes and 10 seconds, taking the first place in the series.

Four members of Harriers competed in this race with Dave Stone taking the second position on the day in a time of 34-46.

Andy Johnson finished in 7th position in a time of 40-47.
Phil Quick finished in 12th position in a time of 43-47.
Les Turner finished in 45th position in a time of 55-31.

Later the same day three intrepid Harriers, Ray Elston, Jim Wyatt and Bob Woodall travelled to Redruth in Cornwall to compete in the final round of the Brooks Westward Cross Country series. At 1.35 pm under a bright and sometimes cloudy sky saw the start of the Senior Mens race get underway. The temperatures were mild with a gusting wind which made for difficult ascents of the short sharp slopes which connected the four separate fields which made up one lap. Five laps of the course each of 1.6 kilometers plus a run in to the finish completed the total distance of 8.1 kilometres. Conditions underfoot were good with just a few wet areas and churned up corneres on the steep corner descents ensuring the runners selected the correct line.

The first runner home in a blistering time of 26 minutes and 36 seconds was Kevin Haywood running under the colours of Bideford AC.

For the Harriers Bob Woodall finished in overall 56th place in a time of 38-51, taking 2nd place in the V60 category for the series.

Ray Elston finished in 63rd place in a time of 41-28, with Jim Wyatt completing the trio in 64th place in a time of 45-21.

(RW)

31st Murcia Half Marathon

On Sunday 14th March 2010 Exmouth Harrier, Carlos Payan, lined up with over 1700 runners to compete in the 31st Murcia Half Marathon, in Spain. This particular course was graded as flat and fast. Although the sun was shining the temperature was a lowly 8 to 10 degrees, chilly for the region, but made ideal conditions for racing.

Carlos put in a good performance finishing in overal 29th position in a time of 1 hour 17 minutes and 40 seconds. A personal best for this distance, beating his previous best by over four minutes.

The first runner completed the course in a time of 1-06-26 and last runner in 1714th place finished in a time of 2-32-12, which indicates that there were good quality athletes throughout the field."

(RW)

The Grizzly

On Sunday 7th March 2010 Axe Valley Runners hosted their famous "Grizzly" which for this year was called the Beauty and the Beach. The Grizzly is a race over 20 miles of East Devon's beautiful countryside and is complimented by "the Cub" which is just nines miles in length.

Both of the races were hilly and included rough ground, much of it steep, slippery or both, and some of it exposed to the elements. The terrain included roads, tracks (some very stony), paths, shingle beach, fields, woodland, bog and other surfaces. On previous years runners had been up to their waist in mud and water but this year the weather looked more favourably upon the athletes. The Grizzly is likely to take nearly as long as a marathon.

Nearly 1500 runners lined up at the start for this epic race and amongst the number were ten members of the Exmouth Harriers.

The first runner to complete the course was John McFarlane of Thames Hare and Hounds who finished in a time of 2 hours 29 minutes and 36 seconds.

The first Exmouth Harrier to complete the race was Dave Stone who finished in 20th place in a time of 2-46-43.

Mike Musgrove finished in 44th place in a time of 2-52-21.

John Croome finished in 90th place in a time of 3-02-49.

Terry Oldham finished in 357th place in a time of 3-32-36.

Lorraine Croome finished in 381st place in a time of 3-35-05.

Emma Dupain finished in 384th place in the same recorded time.

Lucy Hodgeson finished in 497th place in a time of 3-41-34.

Steve Merry finished in 508th place in a time of 3-43-06.

Ben White finished in 575th place in a time of 3-47-18.

Paul Champion in his first race since suffering a foot injury over six months ago and completing very little training finished in 896th place in a time of 4-11-37.

The last runner to cross the finish line was Chris Stables in a time of 5-51-05.

(RW)

Duchy '20'

[Andy in the Duchy Marathon in 2005]

.

Andrew Johnson's time of 2:34:37 in Sunday's Duchy 20 was a new PB! Ok, so it's his first 20 mile race and it's probably slower than his 20 mile split when he ran the Duchy Marathon in 2005, but it's stilll a PB... isn't it?

Here is Andy's account of the race...

T'was cold and windy and occasionally sunny. The aim was to run around 8 minutes/mile and hope to finish in around 2:45, recognising that the hills would slow me down. I couldn't run that slowly, however, and ran the first 8 miles in an average of 7:38. This was partly because (I later discovered) we had the wind at our backs and partly because I stuck with a group of runners to avoid running on my own.

At 8 miles, we turned off the coast run and smack into a very strong wind. We kept running into the wind - and up all the hills on the course - between 8M and nearly 13M. My average pace between 8M and 12M was 8:12 minutes/mile.

I realised that 17M to the finish was going to be into the wind again, so I decided to push the pace on the sheltered (and flat) part of the second lap, between 13M and 17M, which I did (average pace was 7:28 min/mile). 17M to 19M was really hard work (8:04 and 8:08), but the final mile is mostly downhill.

I was 44th, about 15th in my age category (MV45).

Split times, for 5M, 10M, 15M and 20M - 37:59, 39:19, 38:21 and 38:58. So that's 1:17:18 for the first 19M and 1:17:19 for the second.

(RR & AJ)

Sunday & Monday

Sunday 28th February 2010 saw the latest in run series of the Great West "Warm Up" This is a fast 10 kilometre race over a traffic free course around the River Exe and its flood plan in Exeter. Eighty-one runners lined up on a bitterly cold windy morning, which fortunately was without rain. Included in the line-up were three Exmouth Harriers, namely, Dave Stone, Chris Dupain and Les Turner. The runners set off into the wind along the River Exe bank towards Exeter St David before turning and making their way back towards the start line with a following wind. Four laps confronted the runners.

The first runner to cross the finish line was James Denne of the Exeter Harriers in a time of 34 minutes and 092 seconds. For the Exmouth Harriers, Dave Stone finished in overall third place in a time of 35-38. Chris Dupain finished in 9th place in a time of 41-47 with Les Turner completing the trio in 55th place in a time of 56-55. The last runner to finish the race was Vicky Wensley in a time 75-01.

The Ironbridge Runner Puma Winter 3k Series held at the Exeter Arena Running Track was staged on Monday night 1st March 2010. The weather was ideal for racing of the final stage of the series, a cold clear night but no freezing conditions under foot. Five Exmouth Harriers competed in the last race of the series. On the night Jack Bancroft finished first in the Senior Men category in a time of 08 minutes and 55 seconds. For the Exmouth Harriers Andy Johnson finished in a time of 11-16. Andy Kennedy finished in a time of 12-11. Roger Rowe finished in a time of 12-53. Jim Wyatt finished in a time of 14-14 and Les Turner finished in a time of 15-40.

To qualify to win an award each competitior has to complete four of the five races, and for those completing all five races the four best times are used in assessing their overall positioning. The overall series winner was Jack Bancroft of Wells City who raced in the Senior Men's category.

Exmouth Harriers made a good showing in the age category awards, having members with great ability in the older age categories. Andy Johnson took the first place in the male veteran 45 category. Jim Wyatt took the first place in the male veteran 65 category with Les Turner taking the second place award in the same age group. John Perratt won first place in the male veteran over 70 category."

(RW)