Portaferry 10

Whilst on holiday in Northern Ireland, Andy Johnson took part in the Portaferry 10 Mile Road Race, which is run as part of the town’s gala week. The race was held on a very attractive rural route along the coast and the first nine miles were fairly flat, with the last mile mainly downhill. Andy came 35th in 1:06:00 out of the 281 finishers, and the race was won by Deane Fisher of Willowfield in 53:56.

Chudleigh Carnival 6

Four Exmouth Harriers took part in the Chudleigh Carnival 6 Mile road race which was won by Andrew Chambers of Exeter Harriers in 30:39. Adrian Kearns was 21st in 35:43, with Richard Selby 25th in 36:51. Andy Kennedy came 29th in 37:28 and Mark Thompson was 62nd in 41:18. 180 runners completed the race.

Race for Life - Bedford (22nd July)

Mandy Marvin writes:

"The Race for Life went well -- we've been blessed with good, brightweather today! 28:05, so I was fairly pleased withthat. Another one on Wednesday evening, actually (one that's organised by Bedford Harriers), so I shall have to see if Wednesday-me can beat Sunday-me!

(MM)

Yeovilton 5k - 11th July

Nice trip to Yeovilton for 'round 4' of the 5k series on what is probably the fastest 5k course in the country. Much to my surprise within a few minutes of my arrival Cathy Newman arrived with husband Pete; shortly followed by Lee, Darren and Jimmy from Exmouth. All professing their unfitness for the race (of course). It was rather humid, so the times were a bit slower than the previous races (judged by the V60 results).

Results:
Cathy Newman - 17:33 - 2nd lady (1st LV/45)
Darren Bradley - 18:03 [Darren and Jimmy running for
Jim Zaple - 18:08 [Cambuslang & Herne Hill respectively]
Roger Rowe - 19:06 (1st V/60)
Lee Russell - 21:05

Cathy's result equates with a WAVA percentage of over 89%

Othe Weekend Races

The Haytor Heller, a tough 6 mile cross country race, was won by Neil Holmes of Erme Valley Harriers in 42:12. The field of 158 runners included three Exmouth Harriers, with Shaun Lock the first to finish after an excellent race, in 8th place in 47:15. Duncan Linklater also ran very well to come 60th in 57:07 and Jim Wyatt continued his fine season with 1st V60 and 97th overall in 1:04:29.

Although it rained throughout the Wellington 10 Mile race on undulating country lanes, Exmouth Harrier Dave Stone had good reason to be pleased with his result, which was 3 ½ minutes quicker than the last time. The race was won by Tom Merson of South West Road Runners in 55:24 and Dave came 5th in 58:46. There were 253 finishers.

(RR)

Erme Valley Relays - Friday 6th July

Exmouth Harriers were represented by four teams in the 4 x 2.5 mile Erme Valley Road Relays at Ivybridge.

The mens V50 team, Andy Kennedy (15:42), Phillip Quick (16:37), Bob Woodall (16:57) and Steve Merry (17:02) were 3rd in their category in 66:18.

The V60’s, John Perratt (16:33), Jim Wyatt (18:14), Ray Elston (17:17) and Roger Rowe (15:51) won their category convincingly in 67:55, beating their nearest rivals, Tamar Trotters, by 6 ½ minutes.

The ladies team, Emma Dupain (17:07), Ria Taylor (21:28), Jo Darwood (17:46) and Julie Gellender (16:32) completed the race in 72:53.

Exmouth’s mixed team, Nigel Dupain (17:49), Les Turner (20:26), Sammie Merry (26:09) and Les Turner (22:18) finished in 86:42.

(LT)

Steve's perambulations (!)

A brilliant performance enabled Harrier Steve Hockings-Thomson to win the Plymouth Standard Distance Triathlon. 89 triathletes completed the race, which consisted of a 1,500m open water swim in front of the Mount Batten Centre (great for spectators!), a 40km cycle around the South Hams, then a challenging 10km run that took in the climb of "Murder Hill" and the coastal road to Bovisand and Jennycliff.

Steve, a vet 40-45, came 9th in the swim section in 24:25, 4th in the bike in 1:14:04, and 2nd in the run in 47:32, giving him an overall time of 2:26:01 which was 37 seconds quicker than the first of his younger rivals, 2nd placed Keith Elliot.

(LT)

John Perratt... again!

John Perratt is the new British Masters 5k road champion in the over 70s age group. John clocked 20mins 15secs at Horwich to beat Folkestone Running Club’s Ed Simpson by 54 seconds.

(RR)

Ironbridge Runner

Ironbridge Runner has moved from its former premises further up North Street, quite close to the junction with High Street & Fore Street. The new shop is very spacious, and once again Peter is able to display all his stock in one place. Both of the previous shops are now closed… but the Startline Clinic is remaining just up from the old shop in the shadow of the Ironbridge itself.

Pop in and have a look around… and wish Peter all the best with his new venture.

Roger R.

Torbay Half Marathon - Sunday 24th June

TOBY Lambert retained his Torbay half marathon title after a tough battle with local favourite Kairn Stone. The pair, plus Carl Morris of Wells City harriers, soon pulled clear of the 1,000-strong field and at the end of the first lap had opened a good lead. By eight miles Morris had dropped off the pace leaving Stone, who is now based in Plymouth and defending champion Lambert to fight it out or top spot.

“Toby said he pushed ahead at 12 miles and opened a gap on Kairn which he held until the finish,” said race organiser David Hyde. The Winchester runner, who was visiting relatives in the area, crossed the line in virtually the same time as twelve months ago with Stone 13 seconds adrift in second and Morris a further minute back in third.

Cirencester AC international Wendy Jones easily retained her title finishing almost two minutes ahead of Bristol & West AC runner Claire Willer. Honiton Running Club’s ultra distance international Heather Foundling-Hawker was third.

"We were very pleased with the way the event went and it was a really good day,” added Hyde. “I think we had 1,050 finishers which was a little down on last year’s 1,100 so that is something we will look at.”

Harriers results:

13th 1:16:40 Dave STONE
31st 1:21:59 Shaun LOCK
74th 1:26:52 Adrian KEARNS

(RR)

SW Vets T&F Champs - 17th June

There was only one Exmouth Harrier at the South West Veterans A C Track & Field Championships at Exeter Arena this year – but what an athlete!!

John Perratt, competing in these Championships for the first time as a V70, contested three events and came away with three gold medals – you can’t do better than that! Well, actually, John thought that he could have done better, because he only broke the Championship age group records for the 5,000m (20:38.5) and the 1,500m (5:48.9). In the 800m his 2:51.8 fell just short of the record which stands at 2:51.3.

He claimed that he was feeling a bit tired by that stage, but really, it’s just not good enough!

A modest and slightly embarrassed John also claimed that “unfortunately there is not much opposition in the Over 70 age group” – not really very surprising when a 70 year old is producing performances like that.

Well done John, brilliant - you’re still a great inspiration to us!!

(LT)

Bampton 10k - Devon 10k Champs [16th June]

[Image? Hugh in the Falklands Marathon]

11 HUGH MARSDEN 36:46 MV45
29 ADRIAN KEARNS 39:45 SM
35 ANDREW JOHNSON 40:18 MV40
78 RAY ELSTON 45:09 MV60 - 2nd V/60
86 EMMA DUPAIN 46:35 SL
114 JIM WYATT 49:45 MV60
124 DAWN TEED 51:25 LV40

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A TERRIFIC three-man duel ended in victory for Exeter Harrier’s Andrew Chambers in the Bampton 10k road race. Chambers, Torbay’s Peter Monaghan and Pete Hockin were locked together as they entered the final quarter of a mile but the two veterans had no answer to the Exeter runner as he surged clear to win by six seconds. “It was a cracking race,” purred race organiser Ian Buchanan. As well as claiming first prize Chambers was also crowned Devon champion with Honiton Running Club’s Heather Foundling-Hawker the women’s champion. “It was great to have the county championships in what is a small village event and we were delighted that we had a record turn-out of 204 finishers,” added Buchanan. “We were really pleased with the way it went.”

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Foundling-Hawker dominated the women’s race to finish almost two minutes clear of Emma Hitchins, of South West Road Runners, with Vicky Skelton third.

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Results - men: 1 Andrew Chambers Exe) 33:58; 2 Peter Monaghan (Torbay, M40) 34:04; 3 Pete Hockin (Bide, M45) 34:27; 4 Pete Belcher (Royal Marines) 35:7; 5 Zac Warwick (SDAC, U20) 35:45; 6 Kerry Roberts (Tiv, M45) 35:55; 7 Ross Shaddick (Tavi) 36:14; 8 Tony Symons (Tavi, M45) 36:37; 9 Simon Edney Bide, M45) 36:39; 10 Dave Severn (unatt) 36:40.

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Results - Women: 1 Heather Foundling-Hawker (Honiton, W40) 39:16; 2 Emma Hitchins (SWRR, W35) 41:12; 3 Vicky Skelton (NDRR, W35) 41:29; 4 Kathleen Sincock (SWRR, W40) 41:39

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(RR)

Of Talaton & Dawlish

[Talaton from the air]

Five Exmouth Harriers competed in the Talaton Trotter, a 6 ½ mile multi terrain race which was won by Gary Perratt of Axe Valley Runners in 41:47. The first Exmouth Harrier to finish was Jon Croome, who came 9th in 45:32, after an excellent race. Andy Johnson was 12th in 48:36, with Tim Gent 25th in 52:25. Lorraine Croome came 40th in 55:58, with Nigel Dupain 45th in 56:37. 109 runners completed the race.

Finally, an outstanding performance at the 4 mile Dawlish Coastal Dash saw Harrier Shaun Lock achieve 5th place out of 132 runners in 23:20.

(LT)

Tuesday, 5th June

FORMER British international Dave Buzza led a Cornwall AC clean sweep in the Cubert 5 miles road race, near Newquay, last night. With Danny Simons away on a school camp the way was left clear for Buzza, his coach, to dominate the race as he finished over a minute clear of Ronnie James to win in a time of 25mins 51secs, one of the fastest times by a veteran this year. Chris Harry, an over 45 veteran, was third.

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Just two days after winning the Exmouth 10k Cathy Newman made the trip down from East Devon to claim another victory. The Exmouth Harrier proved too strong for Cornwall AC’s Jo Friday as she raced to victory in a time of 29:15, again one of the fastest veteran times of the year so far over what is a fast course.

(RR)

Manor Hotel 10k - 3rd June

On Sunday, Exmouth Harriers hosted their second road race this year, the Manor Hotel 10K. There were 200 runners and the race was won by Andrew Chambers of Exeter Harriers in 33:38. Several Harriers were involved in the administration of the race and eleven competed.

The first Exmouth athlete to finish was Cathy Newman, fresh from her triumphs in the European Championships in Regensberg, Germany. Cathy was 13th overall, 1st senior lady and 1st FV45 in 37:27 after another brilliant run, but her age graded performance of 86.91% was the best in the race.

Adrian Kearns was 20th in 38:47, and Andy Kennedy 26th in 39:11. Roger Rowe was 1st V60 and 29th overall in 39:18 and his age graded performance of 85% was the second best performance of the day.

Duncan Parkes came 60th in 43:45. Ray Elston was 62nd overall and 1st V65 after another superb run in 43:50, followed by Mark Thompson, 64th in 44:29. Neil Ferreday was 73rd in 45:40.

Jon Bamsey thought he would never be able to race again, but 17 months after what he thought was definitely his last race, he came 77th in 46:17. Well done Jon, Exmouth’s athlete of the day!

Jim Wyatt was 91st overall and 2nd V60 with another excellent performance in 48:06. Denise Kennedy was 155th in 55:38.

Altogether there were 47 prize winners in 17 individual categories ranging from Junior (15 to 17 years) to 70 plus. On top of this were the eight team awards.

Congratulations to race director Bob Keast for another successful, well run event. Bob would like to thank his team of helpers, including the marshalling, etc. by Exmouth Sea Cadets, Exmouth Air Cadets, Exmouth St John Ambulance and the Police, assisted by several Harriers not running on the day. Also, Harriers Roland Young for setting up the course, Hugh Marsden and Dave Stone who set up the start and finish, Dawn Teed and her timekeeping team, Steve Merry and the results team, and Nigel Dupain who drove the lead car. Thanks to Exmouth Lifeboat Station for manning the drink station, to the Manor Hotel for the use of their facilities and to Kings Garden & Leisure Ltd. for allowing Dave Stone to use their works van for transporting the start and finish banners, finish funnel, etc, to and from the race.

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(LT)

Full results on:

http://www.exmouth-harriers.co.uk/manor07/rptResult.html

Plymouth 13.1 & European Champs

Cathy Newman, Exmouth Harriers’ leading lady and currently their top athlete, has just returned from Regensburg, Germany, after her brilliant performances for Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the European Non-Stadia Championships. Due to various problems she nearly didn’t go, but fortunately for Great Britain (and Exmouth), in the end she went.

There were over 1500 competitors altogether and over 100 from Great Britain. Cathy’s first medal was her silver in the W45 10K. The race was won by Katharina Kaufmann (Germany) in 35:47 and another German, Katrin Dorre-Heinig, was 3rd in 36:37. Cathy’s time of 36:14 was a massive age graded performance of 89.36% - just awesome, and her best result of the championships!

Next, with her team-mates Fiona Bishop and Lynne Marr, Cathy picked up a bronze medal in the 3 x 2K W45 Team Cross Country event, on a beautiful grassy undulating course on the bank of the River Danube. Their time was 28:54 and the race was won by the German team in 24:41, 2nd place going to the Ireland team in 24:47.

Not content with two medals, Cathy did it again! Another silver for another great performance, this time in the half marathon, in 1:23:13. The winner, just as in the 10 K, was Katharina Kaufmann (Germany), in 1:20:22. The Austrian Anita Pichler was 3rd in 1:24:21. Well done, Cathy! Exmouth Harriers are all very proud of you!!

A large field of 3128 runners, including five Exmouth Harriers, contested the Plymouth Half Marathon, which was won by Gemechu Kidane in 1:03:55. Although much of the day was cold and wet, the rain stopped for the race itself, the sun came out and it became very hot.

Hugh Marsden produced another excellent performance for 44th overall and 3rd V45 in 1:20:37. Andy Johnson was 151st in 1:29:07. Julie Gellender produced another good performance for 219th overall and 5th FV35 in 1:32:38. Trevor Cope achieved his best time for about five years, coming 1144th in 1:52:34. Dawn Teed, currently undergoing treatment for a running injury, was asked by her medical advisor to run in a race to check the effects of the treatment. For Dawn, just completing 13 miles was quite an achievement, let alone coming 1336th in 1:55:28. Well done, Dawn!

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Athlete of the year so far (?!) Cathy !!

(LT)

Woodland XC-Relays

Monday Evening, 21st May -- 28 teams took part in the 4 x 1.8 mile Woodland (Cross Country) Relays at the East Hill Strips between Ottery St Mary and Sidbury last night.

The winning team was Axe Valley “A” in 41:45. Their lead runner, Garry Perratt, ran the fastest individual leg in 9:48.

The Exmouth Harriers V60 Team of Ray Elston (12:39), Les Turner (15:09), Jim Wyatt (13:34) and Roger Rowe (11:58) was the 15th team to finish in 53:20.

Harrier Jon Croome (11:50) ran in the Met Office Men’s Team which finished in 47:24 for 6th place. Lorraine Croome ran for Met Office Ladies who came 7th in 49:36 and her individual time was 13:00. John Perratt (13:21), who helped to organise the event and set out the course, ran with Sidmouth Running Club 3rds, who completed the race in 53:49 for 16th place.

(LT)

BMAF Road Relays - Sutton Park Birmingham

The Exmouth Harriers V60 team returned to Sutton Park, Birmingham, for the 3 x 3 mile BMAF Road Relays 2007. This national event involves some of the best runners in the country. Here, old friends enjoy meeting up again, but once the races are under way the friendliness is replaced temporarily by fierce competition and intense rivalry. Harriers seem to have a particular bond with Clydesdale, who again gave us a great welcome, helped to erect the Exmouth tent and banner and were naturally invited to share it with us.

Clydesdale are a top team and won gold in both 2005 and 2006. This year they only came second in 55:39, but were slightly handicapped because one of their team fell 20 feet off a ladder a week before the race! The winners were Oxford City A.C. in 53:59.

Ray Elston ran a very tough first leg for Exmouth in 20:14, and performed extremely well to hand over to John Perratt in 16th place overall. John stormed away, and brought the Harriers up to 11th in 19:38. Finally, Roger Rowe, still recovering from his knee operation in January managed to overtake another 4 athletes in 18:45, to bring us home in 7th place overall in 58:37 - less than two minutes behind bronze medallists, Birchfield Harriers. The age group is 60 – 69, so for Exmouth, with ages ranging from 62 – 70 and averaging almost 67 years, this was a tremendous achievement against generally much younger men. And Roger Rowe’s great performance, despite the knee operation, resulted in 10th place individually out of 73 runners!

Exmouth also had strong support from Mandy Marvin, who has now joined Bedford Harriers, but retains her first claim membership with Exmouth. Mandy provided the home made cookies that helped the team to run so well! Les Turner travelled as reserve, but fortunately wasn’t required with all the team reasonably fit and running so well. Exmouth Harriers times:

Ray Elston 20:14
John Perratt 19:38
Roger Rowe 18:45

A field of 550 runners competed in the Ivybridge 10K race, including three Exmouth Harriers, who all turned in good performances. Andy Johnson came 52nd in 39:45, Lee Russell was 146th in 44:12 and Jim Wyatt was 262nd in 48:50. The winner was Matt Robinson of Torbay A.C. in 33:25.

(LT)

Kernow '5'

With Launceston being renowned for being in a hilly part of North Cornwall, it makes a refreshing change to be able to advertise the 'Kernow May - 5 miler' as a fairly flat and fast course( with one hill at approx 4.5 miles, sorry). So said the race organisers, but in fact this race would have been more accurately described as 'flat for Launceston' - ie not at all flat! And we had a very stiff wind to contend with as well.

The first 2.5M are mostly climbing, and today they were into the energy-sapping wind. Then we turned and enjoyed 2M of mostly descent with the wind at our backs or sheltered from us by the high hedges. Then we had another tough climb around half-a-mile from the finish, with the rest of the route uphill.

My time was a minute down on the GWR Fulford's 5 in Exmouth in February (32:15), but I was fairly satisfied. I was 17th out of over 100. Cathy Newman was first woman in 30:44 -- what a performance!

This was a good little event. We got a nice momento to gather dust on the sideboard. I would recommend it. It's a good Bank Holiday day out. And we had an enjoyable walk on Bodmin Moor after lunch.

[Andrew Johnson]

Great West Run - Results

Hugh Marsden 12th 01:20:15 M45 3rd
Paul Samways 25th 01:24:17 MSEN 15th
Andy Kennedy 78th 01:30:28 MSEN 45th (?)
Bob Keast 185th 01:37:17 M50 4th
Duncan Parkes 267th 01:40:28 MSEN 152nd
Emma Dupain 309th 01:41:41 FSEN 12th
Nigel Dupain 409th 01:44:44 M55 8th
Chris Dupain 498th 01:46:47 MSEN 290th
Ben White 863th 01:55:40 MSEN 467th
Trevor Cope 1,076th 02:00:30 M50 44th
Denise Kennedy 1,607th 02:18:18 F50 24th

Athlete of the day? Hugh's great 12th in the field [3rd Vet/45]

PS I understand Ray Elston ran the 5k fun-run in 21:47 (2nd Vet/40, 7th overall), with Jim Wyatt in 9th overall (3rd Vet/40) in 23:23; whilst Roger Rowe, running in the main race ran the first 3 miles at 7-minute pace, and the second 3 miles at 6-minute pace, before stopping at mile 8. All in preparation for the BMAF Road Relays in Sutton Park, Birmingham next Saturday.

In no particular order - GWR photos

[All images: Mary Rowe]