Bampton to Tiverton 2011

[The presentations in 1946 - the race has been run ever since]

7 miles 125 yards
Tom Merson  -  36:41  -  1st Overall
Andy Johnson  -  46:56  -  3rd MV/45
Roger Rowe  -  50:48  -  1st MV/65
John Perratt  -  56:54  -  1st MV/70
Mick Allen  -  60:45  -  2nd MV/70
(RR)

Beginners Jogging Course

On Monday 4th April 2011 sixteen men and women met at the Withycombe Tennis Centre for the in augural session of the “beginners’ jogging course” arranged by the Harriers.  After re-assembling in Phear Park the Club Chairman, Bob Keast, welcomed the group to the first of the eight programmed Monday evenings which will culminate in a measured one mile run along Exmouth’s beach. The workout commenced with a series of stretching exercises led by Nicky Crook before the group were put through their paces, consisting of jogging and walking repetitions around the park. Four other Harriers, namely Steve Merry, Phil Bater, Dave Backway and Bob Woodall, were on hand to supervise the group. Finally Nicky Crook completed the session by taking the group through the same earlier stretching exercises to relax the muscles.

Monday 11th April saw the same sixteen "trainees” return for the second session accompanied by five extra people, including three from the Steve Merry clan. All the attendees seemed to enjoy themselves and we look forward to seeing them all again next week.

It was a good turn out from club members who assisted including Scott Jordon along with the same crew from the previous week.

The Grizzly

On 13th March the unique race known as ”The Grizzly” took place around Seaton. In fact some would say it has transcended being a mere running race and should be thought of as a challenge to the mind as much as to the body. Anyway it’s hilly, usually wet and is a very long way.

Dave Stone then would be the Grizzly equivalent of a Zen Master as he strode round in 2:46:40 for 6th overall and 2nd over 40 male veteran. Mike Musgrove covered the course in 2:51:35, good enough for 19th overall and 5th man over 40. The performances of Adam Miller (25th in 2:53;59), Jon Croome (70th in 3:07:29 & 16th man over 45) and Peter McKeown (90th in 3:11:17 & 19th man over 40) meant 5 Harriers were placed in the top 100 of nearly 1700 finishers.

Another 11 from the club would have been pleased to have finished the race, spending the sort of time on their feet that you might put aside for watching ”Gone with the Wind”, and while frankly they would not, for the most part, give a damn about their positions and times they should be recorded for posterity: Terry Oldham (267th in 3:33:57 and 29th man over 50); Hannah Bown (301st in 3:38:01 & 29th woman); Emma Dupain (308th in 3:38:21 & 32nd woman); Lorraine Croome (387th in 3:45:45 & 8th woman over 40); Ben White (396th in 3:46:25), Katie Comer (536th in 3:55:13 & 67th woman) ); Lucy Hodgson 537th in 3:55:15 & 68th woman); Scott Jordan (573rd in 3:58:53); Lyn Curtis 616th in 4:01:52 & 18th woman over 40); Lorraine Gilson (724th in 4:10:03 & 10th woman over 50) and Nicola Crook (1127th in 4:41:31 & 217th woman). Some would say that those taking 4 hours or more faced a bigger challenge than runners at the front of the event – they certainly would not have had an intermission and an ice cream.

(DE)

All the Bath Results

[Emma & Hannah after the race]

Adam Miller 1:18:32
Richard Bishop 1:24:42
Chris Dupain 1:28:32
Hannah Bown 1:33:43 (nee Dupain)
Roger Rowe 1:33:44
Emma Dupain 1:33:48
Ben White 1:40:10

Nearly 11,000 runners completed the Bath Half-Marathon on 6th March and the seven Harriers who were there all finished in front of more than 9,000 of them. Adam Miller would have been pleased to chop over 2 minutes off his personal best for the distance in finishing 110th in 78:32. Emma Dupain also notched a Personal Best when she clocked 93:48, finishing 807th overall and 92nd of over 4,000 females. Richard Bishop was 302nd overall in 84:42 and 40th of over 900 male veterans over 40. Chris Dupain was 473rd overall in a time of 88:32.

Roger Rowe broke into the Top Ten with 6th of 154 in the male veterans over 60 class, recording 93:44 which placed him 904th overall, and 1st V/65. Alongside Roger was Hannah Bown, 797th overall and 90th female in 93:43. Finally Ben White just missed out on breaking 100 minutes with 1:40:10 but that still had him comfortably inside the top 25% of the field.

Race Reports

All race reports to Dave Eveleigh at daveveleigh@blueyonder.co.uk

Sunday 6th - Races

Bath Half Marathon this morning... cold with a biting east wind. Ran reasonably, for a 1:33+ finish (not sure of the finish time). Around 3 minutes slower than anticipated. Problems with the right calf yet again for most of the race. Not exactly an injury, just very sore and very annoying. Not exactly an earth-shattering time, but well up on the UK Rankings. 80.50-odd % for those who understand these things - 1st Vet/65.
Chris Dupain finished in 1:28:32 (chip time), and Emma Dupain in 1:33:48 (chip time)... Hannah was running with Emma but is not on the Provisional results (neither am I).

More to come when the results hit the net...

Barcelona Marathon

Andrew Johnson ran 3:30:44, which was bang-on his 3:30 target. He writes: "I remember now why I have not run a big city marathon for 17 years. Too many people. Way too many people. They get in your way, block your path, slow you down - you have to concentrate all the time. No time to enjoy the environment, like Tresco (Isles of Scilly) or Eden (Project). The drink stations were like a war. The 1st World War, or maybe the Charge of the Light Brigade. Lost time at every drink station trying to grab a drink.

I had hoped to run with the 3:30 pace group. They were easy to find, at the start with their red balloons. But when we were called forward just before the race started, I moved forward 5 metres and the pacemakers disappeared in front. They were at least 10 metres in front of me at the start, so got away about a minute earlier than me. I didn’t catch them up until 18km. I then did my best to stay with them in the congested field, but began to lose touch with them at 30km when I got a stitch. After a couple of kilometres, I rallied and got quite close to them, but they gradually pulled away again and eventually disappeared. I managed to maintain 8 minutes/mile (5 minutes/km) pace until we got to when we turned inland and started climbing. The last 3km were up an incline which felt like a mountain and I slowed considerably".

(RR)

Plymouth Hoe '10'

One of the largest races in Devon in the calendar... and the Devon AA 10-mile Championship too... yet I was the lone Harrier there in a field of around 600.

With the Bath Half Marathon coming up on the 6th March, I went into the race determined NOT to run too fast... to treat it as a stepping stone and therefore to run what I call 'tempo pace' (saving it on the hills, and pushing on down them). In any case NOT to damage myself!

In the end it went very well... reasonably fast (for a MV/65 - 70:02) on a difficult (as it turned out) course. The leaders went the wrong way in mile 3, and ran around three-quarters of a mile too far -- that is apart from the actual winner (Kairn Stone - 51:16) himself.

Makes me glad that I had learned the new course from the course maps (as obviously did he). The stewards and signage were at fault... but as they say, learn the course before the race! I ran (for the first time in a race) in training shoes with no watch -- as I did not wish to 'push the envelope', and was rather surprised to run just 2 seconds over 70 minutes. I'd have accepted that before the start!

1st V/65 (by nearly 13 minutes) and 2nd V/60 too. Now for a recovery week before the final Exeter Arena 3k next Monday (28th), and the trip to Bath the Sunday afterwards.

(RR)

Press Report - Fulford '5'

Over 200 athletes turned up for the Exmouth Harriers promoted Fulfords Five road race on Sunday. Fortunately the strong wind they faced running down Victoria Road gave them a helping hand along the sea front before they turned back into the relative shelter of the town. Exeter Harriers took the podium positions in the men’s race through Jack Bancroft, James Denne and Oliver Berry, Bancroft’s time being a respectable 26:04. The first three women were Lucy Commander (South West Road Runners) in 30:08, followed by Katherine Humphries (Exeter Harriers) and Helen Dyke (Torbay). Among the veterans Gerry O’Connell and Steve Goss stood out. O’Connell was first over 50 and 7th overall, in 27:55 while Goss was first over 40 and 5th overall in 27:03. Computerisation of the results allows each runner to be given a performance rating adjusted for their age. This showed 53 year-old Karen Cook (SWRR) to have had a fine run to finish 37th overall in 32:23 and be top rated at 86%.

As well as organising the event Exmouth Harriers had a number of runners taking part. Denis Gildea was the first home for the host club in 35th with a time of 32:15. Next was Roger Rowe, fast approaching his best, as a comeback from injury continues; he was 43rd overall and first over 65 - although in fact there was nobody over 52 in front of him. Ray Elston was 86th and first over 70 in 37:40 while John Perratt was 99th in 39:08, and 2nd in the over 70s category. Dave Eveleigh (over 55) was pleased to chop over 3 minutes from his 2010 time to finish 111th in 39:56. Mick Allen then completed an over 70s clean sweep for Exmouth Harriers with 122nd overall (3rd over 70) in 40:52. Thanks are due to the race marshals and for the patience of local motorists.

(Dave Eveleigh)

Fulford '5'

Nice photo of the Exe Estuary... Oh, and Ray Elston powering in after an excellent run in the wind. It seemed to me that the wind got the better of any really quick times this morning (?)

Harriers finish times:

Denis Gildea 32:15
Roger Rowe 33:09 (1st V/65)
Ray Elston 37:40 (1st V/70)
John Perratt 39:08 (2nd V/70)
Dave Eveleigh 39:56
Mick Allen 40:42 (3rd V/70)

Photo from Mary R (click on it for the full effect)!