Note that the "year" starts in December so these results can be used as a reminder when nominating recipients for awards presented at the Christmas dinner.
Harry Moore celebrated his recent 80th birthday by running the 3.1 mile version of the "Black Death Run" at Combe Sydenham Country Park on Exmoor accompanied by long standing chum Steve Atkins. The pair really enjoyed the race, finishing about 90th out of 145 in 52 mins. They received a wonderful "Black Death" T shirt and await the arrival of their golden boot award.
Patrick Devine-Wright was third in the Great Lakeland Three-Day Fell Race, 80 miles of classic fell running in the Lake District. A brilliant effort.
A few AVRs were joined by a group of Bude Rats and a couple of other guests to run the East Devon Way Relay route. On a perfect running day, new AVR Tom Bland, Jon Day, Paul Johns, Geoff Woodward and Steve Reynolds completed the entire 40 miles, all but Tom exceeding their previous maximum daily mileage by 8 miles. Well done, chaps! Garry Perratt, recovering from illness, and Chris Irving shared driving the support minibus and each ran about 17 miles. Paul Tolchard, Exmouth Harrier Mark Thompson and Sidmouth Runner Virginia Bell also joined in some of the fun. A fantastic day out was topped off with beer and chips in Lyme ... luvverly!
Over the years running races have evolved and many new ones are now multi terrain, whereas there used to be many road races. One reason for the road races demise is the cost of policing events has skyrocketed along with entry costs. However one race has bucked the trend and on Sunday celebrated its 28th year - the Great West Run Half Marathon. Arguably Exeter's premier road race, once again it was well supported both by runners and the fantastic crowds and bands en route. The "Running Community" is a term often bandied about and on Sunday it was just that with young and old encouraging each other to the finish line - the best form of human spirit. There were some fine efforts in the race with Bristol AC's Shaun Antell powering around to win in 1:10:37. Tim Sibley had a target of 1:40 and was delighted to beat it, finishing 196th out of 1,669 in 1:37:48. A good time over a very undulating course and it was also a PB for the first 10K of 45:30. A good young contingent of Matt Morbey, Sam White and James Sibley ran together for most of the race representing Axe Valley Community College, but split towards the end with Matt 447th, 1:46:22; Sam 576th, 1:50:18 and James 628th, 1:51:54. Special congratulations to James who must have been the youngest runner as it was his 17th birthday and you have to be at least 17 to run. Dave Mutter was hoping for sub 2 hours and produced the goods finishing 660th in 1:52:54.
The Great West 5K was held earlier in the day and Ali Chapman ran well to be 85th in 34:05 and many congratulations to Harry Moore for winning the over 70's title and he was the oldest competitor at 79 years young. He was 112th in 44:42 and hopes to run the "Black Death" run next week to celebrate his 80th birthday! Many thanks to Pete Ferleigh and his Ironbridge Runner crew for putting on such fantastic races.
Geoff Woodward and Steve "Retro" Reynolds travelled up to Wiltshire for the Neolithic Marathon. The run which starts in Avebury and finishes at Stonehenge is mostly off road with the first half on grassy tracks and fields and the second half being mostly stony tank tracks. The lads had to decide whether to wear on or off road trainers and decided to go for road shoes. This seemed to be the wrong decision for the first 5 miles which had many muddy sections but paid off on the second half. Retro had decided to have a low gi breakfast but unfortunately had a large bowl of granola instead of the recommended 3 table spoons. So for the first half of the run he was fighting off stomach cramp much too Geoff's amusement who opened up a 12 minute lead. Both are build for the tank tracks though and although Retro did the second half 15 minutes faster than the first half he couldn't catch Geoff who finished in 3hrs 50mins with Retro finishing in 4hrs 2mins. Not bad for a sick man though.
Many AVR's enjoyed the delights of the Honiton Hippo, a tough Multi-terrain race with Roughly 7 miles of Mud, Sweat and Tears, with the odd hill and 4 rivers thrown in too for good measure. Despite still having the London Marathon in his legs Alex Todd was the first AVR home, 5th overall in 52:45. Eleanor Wood was 2nd lady, 27th overall in 1:03:54. Despite his skittleitis, Chris Driver ran well to be 31st in 1:05:03. Mark Hilder was 35th, 1:06:17; Ian Clements 36th, 1:06:24 and Myrtle Croad 39th, 1:06:48. Richard Hale was 49th in 1:09:29 and won the over 60 title - most likely because Graham Newton chaperoned his sister around. Mike Giles was 71st, 1:19:27, then Graham Newton and Janet Callum joint 95th in 1:31:14. Emily Croton was 99th, 1:32:51. Janet Woodward and Gill Day ran together, finishing joint 104th in 1:35:36 and Diane Newton was 109th, 1:39:40.
There was also a 1.75 mile Calf run in which Ethan Day was the only junior AVR competitor. All the AVR gang thoroughly enjoyed their morning in the sun and thank Honiton RC for such a muddy beautiful race.
There were great celebrations at Beer Club on Friday evening when AVR were delighted to hand out a record sum of over £42,000 to 52 various groups who helped with this year's Grizzly run as marshals, drink station helpers and various other jobs, plus 3 main donations to chosen charities. On top of this AVR had previously paid £3,300 for a substantial upgrade to the footpath linking the Fountain Head at Branscombe to the main coastal path as part of the Grizzly strategy of bringing benefit to the local community. The Seaton and District Hospital League of Friends were given the largest donation of £10,000 towards the Seaton Home Health Care Service that enables people to die peacefully in their own homes instead of in an anonymous hospital ward. The service covers a large area in East Devon. The Devon Air Ambulance Trust had £6,184 and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance received £3,000. Add this years total to all that AVR had previously given away as a result of the Grizzly run and it brings the overall total to over £250,000 - yes a quarter of a million pounds. A cracking achievement for a small running club. None of the Grizzly's would be possible without the hard work of a dedicated band of volunteers who form the committee. For the last few years this has been lead by AVR chairman Garry Perratt who puts in an unbelievable amount of work. Many thanks to all past and present members who have contributed to the great Grizzly success story. The June issue of Runners World available now has a 2 page article on this years event which was rated 100% by fellow runners.
The Haldon Heartbeat in its second year of running attracted two AVR members. Although a bit wet and windy, running through beautiful woods and along scenic trails no one seemed to mind a bit of precipitation. First AVR in was Eleanor Wood, 4th Lady and first V55 in 1:03:50. Close on her heals was Graham Newton, who had caught her at five miles but after a natter, dropped off the pace for a bit. Graham was timed in one second behind Eleanor who was pleased she had kept to her speed training schedule as there was a 'last in buys the coffee' riding on it.
Sunday morning was definitely destined to be a duvet day, as the weather was atrocious. However 31 hardy walkers and runners turned up for the Woody's 8 to self navigate a pretty route around Shute. There were many soggy socks and T-shirts strewn around the hall at the end, but plenty of happy smiling faces munching on cakes and bacon butties. The event raised a massive £ 570 which is to be shared between Lam Action, Elf and Help for Heroes. Many thanks to our participants- what a hardy bunch- the cake makers, the bacon fryer and behind the scene crew and supporters. There was an optional bath (old bucket) with soap on a rope (courtesy of John Pearce) and a grungy dog towel to use at the end- They do it with style in Umborne.
If you were one of the millions watching the thousands complete the London marathon on Sunday then you would have got a small flavour of what the event is all about. The atmosphere around the whole route is tremendous and sometimes so deafening it threatens to drown you with sound. It is very hard to get a place in the race without resorting to a charity place and many thousands are disappointed each year. First home for AVR this year was Alex Todd in a superb time of 2:47:34, 424th out of 37,000l, what a brilliant time achieved despite walking for a while at mile 20 - just when the wall starts to build. Luke Reed also ran superbly, finishing 2,073rd in 3:10:19. He completed the first half in 1:29:53 and was hoping for maybe sub 3 hours, but he hit the wall at 16 miles and had to dig deep for that great time. Klara Pritasilova has been running well this year and she certainly didn't disappoint in the race. She was 5,154th just missing the 3:30 barrier in 3:33:31, a new PB by a long way. Chris Polley ran well, but was a tad disappointed to not get under 4 hours by a measly 12 seconds. He was 11,106th in 4:00:12. In her first marathon Sharon Rooke was delighted to beat 5 hours, she was 15,574th in 4:18:29. Mum and daughter Janet and Michelle Woodward were able to compete in the same race, with Michelle home first, 20,618th in 4:37:48. Janet was very pleased with her race, determined to beat 6 hours she was 32,134th in 5:41:02. Wilf Walsh reports nursing the mother, father and next of kin of all colds around the course. He was aiming for 3:55, but he did a muctastic 4:38:04, 20,681st. He was inspired to finish by the number of people who spotted his AVR vest and said an impromptu "hello" and were hugely complimentary about the Grizzly run. Liz Slade ran well to finish 34,571st in 5:45:04. Well done to all the runners, let's hope their legs are not too stiff and to all avid TV watchers hoping their necks are not too stiff.
Helen Eke ran the Paris marathon, a good, flat course with perfect weather for running, just a little cold for her spectators! She completed the race in 4hrs 13mins, beating her marathon PB by 25 minutes, a super effort.
Father and daughter AVR's Graham and Paula Newton ran the Horner Water 11 on Exmoor. Paula said that the beautiful wooded countryside almost made up for the 5 mile killer hill at the start of the 10 mile race. While admiring a herd of deer in the distance Paula suddenly noticed that they had been joined by Bill the dog, apparently Graham had got into a conversation with one of the marshals at the water station and had offered to take her dog Bill along for some exercise. Graham, Paula and Bill all crossed the line together in 1 hr 57 minutes.
Mike and Sue Venn ran the Easter Bunny 10k at Yeovilton Air Base. The organisers were so lucky with the weather, it did rain a little before the start but then stopped for the race. They were both pleased with their times; Mike (who will be 71 this week) finished in 63:48, we didn't wait for the prize giving so no idea if he has won anything in his category, and Sue 59:00. This was great for Sue as the last time she finished within the hour was the late 1990s.
James Chaney was the winner of the senior April handicap in a new PB of 32:34. Janette Mack was 2nd, 3:44; Chris Driver 3rd, 24:25; Ian Clements 4th, 24:37 and Fiona Powell 5th, 27:59. All the first five broke their PB's.
Blues skies and a hot cross bun at the end of the race attracted more than 100 runners to the inaugural Kilmington Kantar. Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers won in 39:07; a scorching time that could be a record for several years. The 2.5 mile Fun Run and Junior Kantar was won by Junior Axe Valley Runner Josh Coates in 17:55.
The Kilmington Kantar seven-mile race started at the Cricket Ground then through the village and up a long hill to Shute Woods. At this point Axe Valley Runner, Chris Keeffe was in the lead until a leg strain slowed him down. A fast downhill stretch past Shute House led into a flat section across the valley to Seaton Junction before a demanding climb back to the woods and through Kilmington to the finish.
Luke Reed was 2nd, first AVR and first local runner in 45:11. James Gular came 7th in 46:58 followed by Phil Bayliss 9th and over 50 winner in 47:11. Tom Hilder was 11th, 47:56 in front of his father Mark who finished in 54:05. Amy Greenhalgh was second lady in 50:09 quickly followed by Tim Sibley, 17th, 50:32. A determined Chris Keeffe was happy to complete the race in 51:31. Robin Britton and Eleanor Wood battled for a sprint finish with Robin the victor in 51:55 with Eleanor 5 seconds behind collecting the first lady V50 prize. Geoff Woodward who finished in 53:56 was followed home by Adele Foxwell, first V35 lady taking 55:24. Clare Hansford, 55:37 sprinted in to finish just one second in front of Ian Clements, with Chris Irving not far behind in 57:10. A stream of AVR runners continued with Andy Sayers, 61:16, Heather Riggs, 63:05 and Anna McLoughlin, 64:36. Dave and Lisa Braunton enjoyed the race together finishing in 70:14. Next came Emma Ellynn, 73:10, Bridget Keeffe, 73:26, Janet Cullum, 74:43, with Diane Newton and Anna Murphy in a joint time of 79:55, then Sam Studley in 86.28. Harry Moore won a prize for the oldest competitor in a time of 118:12.
The first adult home in the combined Fun Run and Junior Kantar was AVR's Rick Wood in a time of 22:06. Thanks go to Race Director Malcolm MacDonald and to the sponsors Ganesha Wholefoods, Millers Farm Shop, Sainsbury's and to the Old Inn for car parking.
Some might say that every day is perfect for running. Sunday morning at the start of the Exe to the Axe was exceptional with a cloudless sky, bright sunshine and a cool gentle breeze. A little more than 100 runners set off from Exmouth for the gruelling 20.3 mile race following the coast path to Seaton with the essential directions - "keep the sea on your right".
Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers, won in a blistering time of 2 hrs 26, a full 16 minutes ahead of the next runner. The first Axe Valley Runner home was Patrick Devine-Wright in 7th place in a time of 2:56. After a short break Patrick had enough surplus energy to run back to Exmouth in a leisurely time of 4:30.
Robbie Holt carefully paced his race to finish strongly in 10th in a time of 3:06 with Phil Bayliss behind in 13th spot in a time of 3:10. Jon Day was very happy with his new PB of 3:16 and 17th place. Garry Perratt, who likes to push the boundaries, detoured with Chris Keeffe to all three trig points on the route (Budleigh Golf Course, High Peak and Weston Cliff). They stormed to the finish in 3:28 in 27th place. Andy Bowman and Eleanor Wood ran together for Andy's first experience of this race finishing in 3:32 and 3:33 respectively in 36th and 37th places. Steve Retro Reynolds completed the race in just one minute over 4hrs in 66th place. Siobhan Reddy, who also runs for Serpentine AC, was 68th in 4:05.
What to do on a gloriously clear and warm spring Saturday evening? Well you could have joined in with the 80 odd (some very odd) runners in the Nightrunner. This was a 7 mile journey around some of the Grizzly route, but of course in the dark. It started and finished at Beer head car park and the route included 1K of beach and many severe climbs. It was marked by cleverly positioned LED glowsticks and marshalled by many AVR helpers assisted by the coastguard team. Everyone had a ball and it was hard not to stop and stare at the heavens on such a superb evening. After the race we all ventured down to the Anchor Inn, the race sponsors, for a delicious meal and a quick bevy. Garry Perratt fairly belted around to win in 51.54. Dan Sheldrick of Running Forever RC was 2nd, 52.13 and Julian Ridgley also of Running Forever 3rd in 53.39. There was a plethora of AVR's braving the darkness, all with different tales to tell, but their results are: Chris Keefe 4th, 54.22; Andrew Watson 5th, est. 55.10; Tim Sibley 7th, 58.54; Dave Thomas 13th, 1.05.57; Ian Clements 14th, 1.06.21; Martin Croad 19th, 1.08.32; Richard Dodge 28th, 1.11; Wayne Tooze 30th, 1.12.03; Steve Reynolds 32nd, 1.12.07; Adele Foxwell 33rd, 1.13.01; Dave Mutter 40th, 1.15; Gavin Warren 44th, 1.16.35; Pete Hughes 45th, 1.17.57; Vaughan Osborne 46th, 1.18.35; Anna McCoughlin 51st, 1.20.18; Gareth White 61st, 1.22.21; Heather Lowman-Riggs 63rd, 1.25.33; Sam Tooze 71st, 1.28.33; Claire Moles 72nd, 1.28.38; Lisa Braunton 76th, 1.33.52; Dave Braunton 76th, 1.33.52; Emily Hughes 78th, 1.37; Chantelle Osborne 79th, 1.40.25; Paula Newton 80th, 1.41.44; Diane Newton 80th, 1.41.44; Janette Mack 82nd, 1.50.36; Marilyn Hughes 83rd, 1.50.38; Many thanks to Richard Hale and his team for making it a special event.
It was great to see our chums from Honiton RC once again organising a superb Sports Relief event series with over 500 taking part in the various distances. Dominic Schneiders was delighted to win the 6 mile variant in 39:57 and his daughter Rachel was 3rd overall and first lady in around 40 mins. The 3 mile route was more popular and Mike and Sue Venn were dead chuffed with their performances. Sue beat the 30 min barrier, completing in 29:51 with Mike just behind in 31:48. Amie Sibley, accompanied by husband Tim was very pleased to finish in 35:26. Harry Moore had a kind of milestone run; it was his 1,111th competitive event which he finished in around 40 mins.
Meanwhile Luke Reed travelled to Yeovil for the second running of the Yeovil Half Marathon. It was an undulating course with Hendford hill stuck in the middle, just to test the runners grit! Luke survived the challenge and was very pleased to finish 8th out of around 600 starters in 1:21:50.
Well done to Harry Moore who completed the tough Escot 5K Multi Terrain race in 38:14, last week he ran the Great Western 10K in 1:37:13. Wilf Walsh ran the inaugural Blackminster Half Marathon, finishing 96th in 1:48:26.
Liam Roberts competed in the Dambuster Duathlon, which this year acted as the British Age Group Duathlon Championships. This race comprised a 10km run followed by an undulating, windy and challenging 42k bike leg and finished with a 5km run. Liam completed these legs in 33:12, 1:10:37 and 17:13 and the full race in 2:02:26 (including transitions). He was very pleased with the run times although slightly disappointed with the bike time after fatiguing heavily in the last 10km, but was not surprised by this having only ridden a bike twice in the 18 months previous to the race. Some mishaps were also had getting both onto and off of his bike, resulting in some lost time and a quick visit to St John's Ambulance first aid post-race! Overall, Liam finished 30th and, more importantly, 3rd in his age group (20-24) and was awarded a national age group bronze medal. This finishing position has also given Liam qualification for this year's World Age Group Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France.
What a fantastic Grizzly weekend! Seaton was shaken from its soporific winter slumbers and transformed into a buzzing vibrant town. On Saturday the Grizfest was a great success, with crowds flocking to Cliff Field gardens for all the super activities. On Sunday the 25th Anniversary of the Grizzly, "Every Hill has a Silver Lining", could not have been bettered. Crowds were out everywhere around the course and every runner was given loads of encouragement to complete the exceedingly hard 20.3 mile course. From a mid pack runner's point of view the course was typical Grizzly terrain up to mile 13 with beach and hills etc, then came the bog. What a monster - the dryish weather meant that instead of turning to gloop, it was over a foot deep of sticky black gunge that clung to your shoes like super glue. Emerging from that your shoes resembled footballs, but luckily a trip in the stream helped to clear them Then came a new section - the Gay's Farm loop with hills so steel ropes were required to haul yourself up. The final torture was the climb up the "Stairway to heaven" on Branscombe East Cliff. There was a record 1996 finishers in the Grizzly and Cub Runs with 1523 completing the main event. Ceri Rees of Wildrunning.co.uk was the Grizzly winner in 2:25:44, with Allen Smalls 2nd, 2:29:23 and Chris Sellens 3rd, 2:32:38. Isobel Wykes from Truro RC was the lady Grizzly winner, 36th overall in an impressive 2:50:27 with Clevedon AC's Maria Powell 2nd, 2:59:43 and Clare Prosse of Wells City Harriers 3rd, 3:00:03. Jez Mancer was the 9 mile Cub winner in 58:48, with Julian Ridgley of Forever Running RC 2nd, 1:02:20 and AVR's own Andrew Watson 3rd, 1:03:39. Benfleet RC's Lucy Mancer was the lady Cub winner in 1:09:44, with Caroline Pleasence of Exmouth Harriers 2nd, 1:10:08 and Bethany Gregory-Smith of Tynedale Harriers 3rd, 1:11:58.
There were some superb performances by the AVR runners from the first to last finisher in both races. In the Grizzly Alex Todd was 7th, 2:36:52 was delighted to beat Patrick Devine-Wright, 8th, 2:37:17, with Tom Hilder the 3rd AVR, 53rd overall in 2:52:32. Klara Pritasilova was the first AVR lady home, 168th in 3:16:45, just ahead of Eleanor Wood, 198th, 3:19:30 and Sue Campbell, 369th, 3:34:40. Justin Holt, 96, 3:05:11; Martin Lascelles, 98, 3:05:39; James Guler, 133, 3:12:13; Lawrence Power, 149, 3:13:52; Jonathan Day, 156, 3:14:55; Robin Britton, 185, 3:18:07; Robbie Holt, 211, 3:20:46; Chris Keeffe, 223, 3:22:27; Geoff Woodward, 271, 3:25:58; Andy Bowman, 281, 3:27:03; Tim Sibley, 311, 3:29:01; John Blackledge, 384, 3:36:05; Matt Tubbs, 410, 3:38:12; Paul Johns, 427, 3:39:50; Kevin Glover, 449, 3:41:49; Adele Foxwell, 476, 3:43:39; Neil Tubbs, 514, 3:46:42; Richard Dodge, 528, 3:48:05; Rebecca Creese, 571, 3:50:39; Jacqui Stokes, 598, 3:53:12; Chris Polley, 602, 3:53:20; Steve Reynolds, 657, 3:57:03; Dave Mutter, 680, 3:58:14; Steven Lewis, 681, 3:58:18; Graham Newton, 687, 3:58:56; Ian Apps, 697, 3:59:36; Ian Clements, 745, 4:02:12; Fiona Powell, 776, 4:04:27; Christopher Driver, 831, 4:09:36; Simon Davey, 834, 4:09:57; David Thomas, 866, 4:12:13; Richard Hale, 898, 4:14:17; Gavin Warren, 904, 4:14:44; Mike Giles, 936, 4:17:25; Michael Challis, 978, 4:20:23; Martin Croad, 993, 4:21:11; Helen Eke, 1014, 4:22:14; Rhea Lawrence, 1015, 4:22:17; Kelly Dack, 1066, 4:28:00; Wayne Tooze, 1070, 4:28:40; Tracey Stone, 1107, 4:31:49; Siobhan Reddy, 1131, 4:34:59; Claire Moles, 1203, 4:41:50; Samantha Tooze, 1204, 4:41:51; Chelle Woodward, 1233, 4:45:55; Bethany Sibley, 1281, 4:51:28; Bec Davey, 1343, 4:58:11; Gill Day, 1371, 5:03:35; Chantelle Osborn, 1372, 5:03:36; Ali Chapman, 1373, 5:03:47; Paula Newton, 1395, 5:09:22; Diane Newton, 1396, 5:09:23 and Dave Braunton, 1451, 5:18:14.
The other AVR Cub run results were: Clare Hansford, 30, 1:19:00; Alison Bowskill, 51, 1:24:20; James Sibley, 62, 1:26:23; Teresa Coates, 129, 1:37:18; Kim Vine, 134, 1:37:41; Jayne Aplin, 175, 1:41:52; Jane Calvert, 183, 1:42:34; Heather Lowman-Riggs, 201, 1:43:46; Alison Gould, 217, 1:46:05; Janette Mack, 233, 1:48:02; Michelle Bee, 240, 1:48:26; Janet Woodward, 283, 1:52:21; Janet Cullum, 284, 1:52:23; Emily Hughes, 349, 1:58:53; Emma Chaplyn, 350, 1:58:55; Samantha Studley, 390, 2:04:50; Kate Hornby, 391, 2:04:55; Debbie Barry, 401, 2:05:43; Michael Barry, 403, 2:05:48 and Marilyn Hughes, 409, 2:06:06.
AVR hope that all those who ran, watched or helped at Sunday's 25th Anniversary special enjoyed themselves, but sadly a Grizzly runner became poorly during the run and had to be airlifted to hospital and remains in a critical condition. AVR's thoughts are with the family who have requested privacy during this difficult time. We were once again blessed with the weather so our friends at the Met Office down the road, some of whom were running, did the job! We are very grateful to all of the 500+ helpers (that many people really are needed to put on this level of event - marshals, water stations, timekeepers, first aid/comms/runner pickup and so many more). Huge thanks also to the landowners who allowed us to run over parts of their land away from the public footpaths or just unlocked gates to help the flow of the race. A lot of the route was on private land, so please don't try to run the course away from public access land. Thanks to the various venues around Seaton who let us use their facilities and to the sponsors whose contributions allow us to give more away to charity from the race proceeds. We won't know how much that is until we sort the race accounts in a few weeks but expect it to be a very nice sum. To remind you of this race there is some merchandise left over which will be posted the website www.axevalleyrunners.org.uk
A special mention has to go to the Race Director Garry "Can I stop worrying yet?" Perratt and his team of helpers, some of whom are not AVR members who have worked tirelessly over the past few months to get this prestigious race organised. Garry himself says "Special thanks to the AVR who went so far above and beyond the call of duty, took so much of the load away from me and probably prevented me from running away to hide in a cave ... you know who you are so I won't embarrass you by mentioning any names, but THANK YOU!"
Away from the Grizzly Harry Moore ran the Great Western 10K in 1:37:13 and Wilf Walsh ran the inaugural Blackminster Half Marathon, finishing 96th in 1:48:26.
There was great success for Harry Moore in the Combe St. Nicholas 10K, not only did he beat last years time by 18 mins, finishing in 1:21:00, but also won an achievement award and the oldest competitor award. Dominic Schneiders ran extremely well to finish 10th in 43:44 in a race that was won by Paul Rose of Yeovil.
Last Sunday Luke Reed took part in the Taunton Aquathlon, the race consists of a 1000m pool swim and a 10k undulation road run. He was extremely pleased to swim a PB of 16:47 including transition which he puts down to the persistence of swim coach Pat Parkes. He was also fairly pleased with a solid run of 38:01 which was just slightly down on last year. In the end Luke was very pleased; finishing in 54.58 and 15th place overall, in a very high quality field of athletes.
As proved above, runners don't just run, you know ... sometimes they like messing about on the water. So much the better when it's on their own doorstep, so Sunday's Rive Axe Race from Whitford to Axmouth was just the thing. Jon Day paddled his sit-upon, Andrew Watson and his dad Brian dug out their two-seater kayak, as did Lawrence Power and his mate and Graham Newton invited Garry Perratt into his Canadian. Graham's experience reined in Garry's somewhat limited boating ability and the pair were astonished to be not only the first AVRs across the line but third in the C2 class (pair's canoe). Father and son were next, likewise third in their K2 class (pairs kayak). As for the others, we hear that a number of boats got in a bit of a tangle near the finish and tried to take an overland shortcut. It was no surprise to learn that Jon Day was in the thick of it but, being generous to fellow-runners, he allowed Lawrence and mate to join in the fun. They all managed to regain the river and made it to the finish without further incident.
What to do on a gloriously sunny Sunday that felt like spring had well and truly sprung? In many people's eyes there was only one place to be: that well known Metropolis of Dalwood. The canny villagers had prepared 3 runs of varying difficulty and length, starting with a 1.5 mile fun run, a nearly 4 mile Mini Challenge and then the beast itself; the 10 mile Dalwood Three Hills Challenge (Well 3½ hills actually). Needless to say on all runs there were hills and mud a plenty, with the associated glorious vistas of East Devon - perfect.
AVR's Ethan Day ran very well in the fun run finishing 4th in 10:29 and then was very busy handing out finishing water to the senior competitors - well done Ethan. Caleb Sinclair was 7th in 11:09, Elisa Wood 12th, 13:23 and Lisa Gregory 13th, 13:29.
Congratulations to Josh Coates for winning the Mini Challenge in 23:58 and also very well done to Mollie Hansford, the first female finisher, 5th overall in 29:02. May Wood was 9th in 33:05 and Harry Moore, who has been suffering with a blood problem ran well to finish 12th in 62:50, seven minutes quicker than last year.
The Three Hills Challenge was won by Michael Robinson of Tamar Trotters in 1:07:55. Alex Todd was the first AVR home, 4th overall in 1:12:47. Sam Anning had a really terrific run, finishing 1st over 50, 7th overall in 1:15:45 as did young Andrew Watson in his first 10 mile run he was 9th in 1:17:47, he will only get stronger over the next few years. A rather wet Garry Perratt decided 3 hills wasn't enough, so he ran a pre race course check and then blasted around to 13th spot in 1:19:41, with Phil (Evergreen) Bayliss just 9 seconds adrift, winning the over 60 category. Robin Britton was 23rd, 1:27:29 and Eleanor Wood had another great run, finishing 1st over 50 lady, 27th overall in 1:28:39. Chris Driver was gutted when Eleanor passed him going up the notorious Danes Hill, but he clung on to be 30th in 1:30:05. Jon Day ran from Seaton to the start intending to use the race as a training run, but after a while his competitive juices started to flow and he roared through the field to finish 32nd in 1:30:58, with Geoff Woodward 1 minute and 1 place behind. Dave Thomas was 37th, 1:32:38; Robin Carter 41st, 1:32:56; Clare Hansford in a rare race moment, 49th, 1:36:41 and Wayne Tooze 60th, 1:39:46. Dave Mutter was able to get his squeaky decorators knees moving and overtook quite a few on the final ascent to be 65th in 1:42:09, with Alison Bowskill 66th, 1:42:28 and Richard Hale, in his first race since last July is at last getting injury and illness free and completed 76th in 1:46:17. If Jacqui Stokes hadn't spent an age emptying her shoes of grit after a particularly boggy section she would have been a lot higher than 83rd, 1:48:11. Andy Sayers was 91st, 1:50:04 and Helen Eke 92nd, 1:50:12. Newly Brunette Kelly Dack and Rhea Lawrence had a good finishing sprint with Honiton RC's Pete Lyus. The girls burned him up with Kelly 98th, 1:53:58 and Rhea just behind. Tracey Stone was 106th, 1:57:31 and Dave Braunton 110th, 2:01:09. Gill Day beat her off road PB by 10 mins, finishing 112th in 2:04:00 and Diane Newton won the over 60's lady's category, 122nd overall in 2:22:00.
So ended another cracking day out in Dalwood, with many of the competitors enjoying the inch thick bacon sarnies or a celebration drink in the Tuckers Arms.
No report.
May Wood was the victor in February's Junior handicap in 16:18, followed by Ed Polley, 16:36 and Caitlin Bee, 17:01. The first three all beat their PB's. Mollie Hansford was 4th, 14:55 and Josh Coates 5th, 11:45. Unfortunately the timing went slightly awry in the Senior handicap that had over 50 runners pelting around Seaton. Beth Sibley was the winner, an incredible achievement as she has won it twice recently. Myrtle Croad was 2nd, Jacqui Stokes 3rd, Rhea Lawrence 4th and Chris Driver 5th.
A new half marathon was run in Exeter last Sunday. This was a three lap course around the canal basin which may seem a tad boring to some, but the dead flat course had its upside by us mortals letting us watch the lead runners at various places en route. Brighton & Hove's Martyn Bean was the winner in 1:15:09. Being dead flat meant this was used as a training run for many a London Marathoner and Luke Reed was no exception. He had a terrific run finishing 17th out of 268 in 1:24:26. Sharon Rooke is also a London Marathoner and she ran it with her chum Adele Foxwell finishing joint 151st in 1:47:44. Pete Hughes harboured delusions of being able to keep up with the girls and after a brief chase there he was running with them - until half way around when things started to get a bit creaky. He persevered and was frantically looking around to see if Dave Mutter was gaining on him, no chance of that and Pete finished 165th in 1:50:46 looking a very white shade of pale until he was force fed raisins by the ladies. Dave Mutter was like a conked out old diesel tractor at the start as he puffed and wheezed in the cold trying to get going. This lasted for two laps when suddenly the engine burst into full power and Dave was off - unfortunately far too late to catch Pete, but he hauled in a few as he finished 178th in 1:54:21. This was a great event for marathon training, but didn't bear much resemblance to the Grizzly course.
The Four Trigs covers 17 miles of finest East Devon scenery "with an obscene amount of climb" but just doing it once isn't enough for some. Garry Perratt and Alex Todd got up early to nip round before the race but Garry crashed and burned halfway so the pair bailed and ran directly back to the start, Garry in no fit state to start the race. But it's amazing what a rest and drink will do so he duly lined up with the other hundred runners in somewhat warmer (and lighter) conditions than three hours earlier. Alex went hooning off as usual, a mere 13 miles not having dented his spirit, was leading at half way but then he began to struggle and finally finished 7th in 2:31:18, ten minutes behind the winner.
Birthday boy Chris Keeffe was second AVR, 13th in 2:48:34 but should have been third. Fortunately for him, Guy Lavender's sense of direction led him astray a few times, most notably in the newly-felled Harpford Woods, notorious for losing runners at the best of times, let alone when old paths are covered with brashings and new tracks which seem to go the right way don't, so he only managed 20th in 3:08:48. Graham Newton, Eleanor Wood and Andy Bowman ran most of the race with North Devon Road Runner Simon Oliver but split after the last trig on Weston Cliff with Graham and Simon moving ahead. Graham and Simon finishing 28th in 3:14:32. Garry's remarkably good start faded just over halfway and he crashed and burned again climbing out of Harcombe. Andy began to struggle so Eleanor pushed on to catch the boys, taking pity on Garry as she passed and gave him the remainder of her go-faster juice. This nearly backfired on her since it kicked in after ten minutes or so and gave him the energy to chase after her and the boys but he couldn't quite make it so Eleanor finished 30th in 3:14:33 and Garry 31st in 3:14:34. Andy came in a few minutes later, 36th in 3:21:50. Sue Tubbs ran with hubbie Neil, finishing 56th in 3:47:08. Jon Day had recovered from his recent health issues to back-mark a gaggle of girls around the first three trigs; Jess Tubbs did an excellent jobs of leading Alison Gould, Claire Moles, Tracey Stone, Kelly Dack, Sam Tooze and Pixie the dog round in 3:43:56 with Jon continuing via the last trig to finish 76th in 4:24:17.
Three AVR's travelled to Bishops Caundle to take part in the Blackmoor Vale half Marathon. This is an undulating road run with a tough last mile uphill to the finish. Geoff Woodward, Steve Retro Reynolds and Mike Giles turned up on an icy morning along with 650 other runners ready to tackle this tough run. Geoff started quickly leaving an over dressed Retro in his wake. Retro finally decided to shed some clothes at the 5 mile water station. While bare chested he received a drenching from Chard and Honiton's Maria Wadey who thought it just had to be done. This cooled Retro off and for the next 6 miles he was flying and had Geoff in his sights. Alas just as he was catching his friend and rival the course started to climb and he couldn't quite over-hall the chunky one. Geoff finished in 1:41:.16 and Retro in 1:42:06. Mike Giles was tackling his first Half and was well pleased with 1:56:40, not bad seeing he much prefers off roading.
Three AVR members turned out for the Hestercombe Humdinger - a very tough 9.5 mile road race, but very scenic. Laurence Bolam of Sidmouth came home first in a three way burnup down the home straight, to finish in 56:49. Robin Britton was pleased with his run, working steadily through as the hills came into play in the second half and finished 48th and first V60 in 69:57. Geoff Woodward and Steve Retro Reynolds had a Humdinger of a battle with Retro dragging Geoff through the first mile in 6min 20secs. Geoff had the better of Retro on the hills but was caught at 9 miles by his flying rival. This set up a sprint up the final 400m which was won by Geoff who was 105th in 76:34 with Retro 10 seconds and two places behind. All the finishers received a free photo and a goody bag which contained a technical tee shirt and a free entry to the Edwardian gardens which were designed by Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens between 1904 and 1906 and are now being restored by the Hestercombe gardens Trust. There were over 300 starters on a freezing cold morning, and at least it stayed dry for a very much a recommended race.
Lesley Adams' latest foray in the Park Run series took her to Albert Park, Melbourne Australia. The 5K route mainly uses a gravel/sand track, as well as some minimal areas of concrete. She finished 62nd in 29:23, a long way to go for such a short run!
Another great Grizz and Cub training weekend was had by AVR. Dave Mutter took a group of seven on Saturday getting in some fastish paced training over a 15.2 mile course. Jon Day had a good group on Sunday running from Beer Head doing the 10 mile Route, who were joined by a few intrepid runners on the 5 mile route. "The Hill of Despair" which climbs up from Hole House to Branscombe Airfield got renamed by Marilyn Hughes to "The Hill of Doom", then on the way back to Beer from Branscombe she renamed the original "Stairway to Heaven" to "The Hill of Death!" Congratulations to Marilyn Hughes, Debbie Payne, Jane Bennett and Janette Mack for completing the 11 mile route that was really good Grizzly preparation.
What to do on a fresh Sunday morning? Well you could have joined in the 97 runners who enjoyed the East Devon scenery from Southleigh to Branscombe on a nominal 14 or 9 mile run 'Any Which Way You Can'. The shortest known route was a touch over 13m (with some flaky shortcuts ... you know who you are!) and the longest about 17m. As the name suggests there was no fixed routes twixt 8 checkpoints where you had to do a spot of maths and add up all your figures for the final total. It was a bit bad in places as the answer for one clue was zero, resulting in bodies searching everywhere for nonexistent numbers. For many the race was a training run for the Grizzly, so teams were made up and the world put to rights during the morning.
For the record AVR's Jon Day who had poured hours of research into the quickest route and Alex Todd (Team mud-dogs) were the long route winners taking 2 hours exactly. Garry Perratt, Chris Keefe, Simon and Phil Bayliss were 10th in 2:24, but Garry did have a bit of an advantage as he set the checkpoints and questions! Graham Newton, Ian Apps, Andy Bowman, Dave Thomas, Eleanor Wood, Sam Anning and Klara Pritasilova were 18th, 2:31. Steve Lewis was 28th, 2:51 and Geoff Woodward with Mike Giles 31st, 2:54. Robin Cater was 33rd, also in 2:54. Si and Bec Davey with Tracy Kenworthy were 34th, 2:59. Ian Clements, Chris Driver, James Guler and Lawrence Power were 37th, in 3:02 despite a strange detour at Branscombe village hall by Chris. Chris Irving, Richard Dodge, Pete Hughes, Jacqui Stokes, Martin Croad, Andy Sayers, Dave Mutter, Wayne Tooze, Nicky Ingarfield, Becs Creese and Simon Rowbottom were 45th in 3:18. Tim, Beth and James Sibley were 66th, 3:29.Debbie Payne, Chantelle Osborne and Carol Goddard, Bev Tarry, Sue Tubbs and Rachel Tytherleigh 71st, 3:53.
Janette Mack and Marilyn Hughes ran the short version and were 5th in 2:24.
The event HQ was Seaton Scout hall and after the exertions of the morning everyone was provided with a delicious piping hot pasty donated by Ganesha Wholefoods Axminster or from Colyton Butchers and a nice cup of tea - a perfect end to a perfect morning activity - Roll on the Grizzly on March 11th.
Thanks to Janet Woodward, Irene Croad, Helen Goodman, Emma and Owen Todd, Jermaine and Ethan Day, for their time keeping and kitchen help. Delicious homemade cakes were sold and £160 was raised towards scout funds.
Graham Newton recently travelled almost as far as anyone can go to take part in the Cadbury Marathon on 8th January. This is the only marathon in the world that starts and finishes at a chocolate factory and takes place on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The race started at 6am to avoid the worst of the Australian summer heat and early on the runners were doused with a shower of rain but by 8.30 the heat from the sun was relentless and so Graham was very pleased to finish 80th with a time of 3:41. The Tasmanian branch of the Axe Valley Supporters club aka Graham's Australian family, son Adam, daughter-in-law, Jen and grandchildren, Saskia, aged 11 and Reese, aged 9 took part in the 5K all wearing AxeValley Runner tee shirts. Diane Newton, finally back from an injury which has prevented her from running since last October ran the 5k with the rest of the family and finished 282nd in 36:47. Everyone was rewarded with lots of Cadbury's chocolate on crossing the finishing line, although in that heat a glass of water would have been just as welcome.
On a blustery but bright Sunday morning, four AVR's decided to take the challenge of running the 11.5 mile Oh my Obelisk! run. There was a huge turnout for this popular race. First AVR home was Eleanor Wood in 1:29:58, winning the first vet 50 prize. Next home was Geoff Woodward in 1:38:30, pleased with his strong run and doubly pleased to be ahead of his main rival Steve Reynolds who was unable to catch up with him this time due to eating a huge chocolate chip cookie before the run. His time was 1:39:05. He said he could have gone faster but he was too hot and had to remove a T shirt en route - this involved multi-tasking! Mike Giles came in feeling happy with his time of 1:43:01. Many thanks to Dawlish Coasters for putting on a most enjoyable race with great T shirts for all the finishers.
There was a huge turnout for the January AVR handicap - the first of the new 2012 series. May Wood was the winner of the Junior race in 16:49 with Josh Coates 2nd, 11:17; Laurence Edgeley 3rd, 12:15; Caitlin Bee 4th 17:08 and James Knapp 5th, 15:30. The top four all beat their PB's. With fifty runners in the senior race, getting points was going to be hard. Lawrence Power was the winner in only 20:50 with Emily Hughes 2nd, 37:14; James Guler 3rd, 22:16; Teresa Coates 4th, 29:10 and Simon Radcliffe 5th 23:53. All of the top five beat their PB's.
On Sunday about 50 keen AVR's had a go at the Grizzly and Cub Run training runs lead by John and Gill Day. The 10 mile gang ran from Beer Head Car Park on a bright and very fresh morning, collecting the 5 mile people at Branscombe village hall. They Plodded up and around the legendary grizzly bogs, around the back of Hole House, then onwards and upwards over Branscombe airfield, then down and up and over "Mountain Goat Hill". They reached Weston and returned through woodland before dropping off the five milers' to the village hall. The ten mile gang then ran up east cliff and returned to the car park. A fantastic run was had by all with lots of looping back to help, support and encourage the back runners, which really helped to keep moral high.
What a difference a year makes; last year the tracks and roads in the Axmouth Challenge runs were covered in thick layers of ice, this year we enjoyed balmy conditions with a fair dollop of mud in some of the off road sections, thus ensuring a mammoth AVR turnout for the event..
The first girl home in the junior 2K race for 8-11 year olds was Gemma Hodder with Sam Taylor the first boy. AVR’s Indianna Powell was the girls 11-16 year old 4K race winner, Max Bowskill was 4th, 21:29 and Ethan Day 5th 23:41.
There was a 5 mile run for seniors that was won by AVR’s Andrew Watson in 35:51, with Thomas Oarsman 2nd, 38:33 and Jared Steven 3rd 41:47. It was great to see Mike and Jane Calvert on the running scene after a long lay off. Mike was 6th, 49:21 and Jane 1st lady 8th overall in 54:10. Teresa Coates was just behind Jane, 2nd Lady, 9th overall in 54:17. Heather Lowman-Riggs was 3rd lady, 10th overall, 54:55; Dave Braunton 12th, 1:00:12; Gavin Warren 13th 1:00:22; Janet Woodward 14th, 1:03:06; Janet Cullum 15th, 1:03:14 and Marilyn Hughes 18th, 1:07:07. Just to prove that you are never too old to run 79 year old Harry Moore enjoyed his run finishing 19th in 1:34:07.
The main 10 mile run was won by Steve Osborne of club Votwo in 58:02. AVR’s Alex Todd had a great run finishing 2nd out of 84 in 59:39. He beat Patrick Devine-Wright who was 3rd in 1:00:57 for the first time. Young Lawrence Power ran really well to be 6th, 1:03:12. Congrats to Amy Greenhalgh who was the first lady, 10th overall in 1:07:20. Martin Lascelles was 10th, 1:08:31, just ahead of wife Lin,13th, 1:08:49. Guy Lavender was 15th, 1:09:00; Phil Bayliss was 1st over 60, 16th overall, 1:09:15; Robin Britton 21st, 1:12:16 and Chris Driver 24th, 1:13:59. Eleanor Wood was 1st over 50 lady, 31st overall in 1:16:19. Dave Thomas was 34th, 1:17:11; Steve Reynolds 39th, 1:19:57 and Geoff Woodward, minus his beanie hat 41st, 1:20:30. Martin Croad was 44th, 1:21:37; Ian Clements 45th, 1:21:39; Chris Irving 49th, 1:22:55; Nicky Ingarfield 52nd, 1:23:55 and Pete Hughes, complete with roughty toughty stubble 53rd, 1:24:59, the same time as Ian Apps. Paul Johns was 55th, 1:25:05; Lesley Westgate 59th, 1:25:57; Becs Creese 63rd, 1:27:30; Dave Mutter 64th, 1:27:50; Andy Sayers 66th, 1:29:40; Fiona Powell 67th 1:29:49 and Steven Lewis 68th 1:29:50. Sam Tooze and Claire Moles finished joint 73rd in 1:38:05.
As well as having many, several AVR’s helped with the event, so many thanks to the back markers and time keepers, Jon and Gill, Tracey, Jane, Eric & Sandra who along with everyone enjoyed a post race cup of tea and cake provided by the Axmouth ladies.
Lesley Adams completed the Cannon Hill in Birmingham parkrun 5k 186th taking 29:16.
Father and son Mark and Tom Hilder forgot about Axmouth and took part in the First Chance 10K in Exeter. This is a fast and flat race along paths and cycle ways by the Exeter Canal and the River Exe. Tom sprinted home, over 4 minutes ahead of his father finishing 59th out of 479 in 40:13. Mark was pleased to go under 45mins finishing 131st in 44:29. The winner was Jim Cole from Tavistock AC in 31:51, only a minute off the course record and a bonus of £100.
There were just over a hundred hangovers gathered at Chard cricket club for the New Years Day Chard Flyer 10k road race. They assembled in the grey weather by Tesco's to tackle the relatively benign lanes east of town, with just one steady climb and descent. Dominic Schneiders was the first AVR home in 43:54, fairly closely followed by Robin Britton who clocked just over 45 minutes. Eleanor Wood was next AVR and 2nd lady overall in 46:52 (Lin Lascelles being first lady, in under 43 minutes). Geoff Woodward in 49:55 and Steve Reynolds in 50-odd minutes soon followed. Mike Giles had a good run, registering 53:40. Harry Moore won the oldest competitor award and received a bottle of wine for his effort, finishing in 1:46. The team event was first 3 in a club, but had to be mixed. In a bizarre quirk some Maiden Newton runners ran as Crewkerne, and Chard had no ladies near the front of the race resulting in AVR winning the team prize, collecting both wine and a trophy.
Lesley Adams completed the Cannon Hill parkrun, near Edgbaston 145th in 29:09.
The third annual Bog Training event, a chance to run repeated laps around and through the legendary Grizzly Bog's at Hole Bottom Branscombe happened last week. Each lap is a ¼ mile long, with four feet of deep gloop in places. 20 keen Bogger's took up the challenge: one Honiton runner, Warren Oak, 18 AVR's, and one AVR elite Junior, May Wood, learning the fine art of Bog Running. A new record of 23 Laps was recorded by Joint winners Jamie Lambert and Bog host Jon Day. Most Bogger's had a nice cool and fresh wash off in the stream before plodding up and over to the Fountain Head for some lovely refreshments by the roaring open fire. A great gooey day was had by all!
The Wellington Monument 25th anniversary 6.2m Race has taken three years to happen, due to bad icy, snowy weather for the last two years. It was thankfully a beautiful, crisp morning and three AVR members ventured out. The overall winner was James Denne of Exeter Harriers. Eleanor Wood was first AVR home, in 46:50, 2nd Vet 45. A very festive Jane Calvert equipped with Santa's hat (give it back) really enjoyed the challenging three miles up hill and three miles down, finishing with a smile as always. Even after having to ask a local which way she needed to go through the village of Hemyock she finished in 1:04. Harry Moore was delighted to be cheered home by many of the runners as he completed in 1:45. Harry, at 79 years of age and on his 25th run of the year, had a twinkle in his eye, running with an attractive back marker. Well done to the organisers and thanks for the wacky hats and shot glasses we all received.
Last Saturday night seven AVRs and three guests from Bridport Runners, Exmouth Harriers and Sidmouth RC ran the traditional pre-Christmas Midwinter Dream, 17 miles of nocturnal and largely off-road running with as much ascent mile-for-mile as the hilliest of Grizzlies. Two began by running over to the start outside the Hook and Parrot, Jamie Lambert running 5m from Hole and Garry Perratt nearly 10m from Axminster. Ironically, Garry had given the runners strict instructions to be on time and only one was five minutes late - Garry himself! They were joined by Phil Bayliss, Paul Johns, Lin & Martin Lascelles, Richard Dodge, Graham Newton, Virginia Bell and Mark Thompson.
The run began up through Seaton Marshes to Colyford, getting lost in the cemetery after assuming that Phil knew where he was going when he said "it's this way", then along the footpath alongside the river to Colyton and the first stop at the Gerrard Arms. A pint and natter later, the ten continued following the footpath upriver to Heathayne where Garry, Jamie and Graham braved the ford while the others wimped out on the bridge. Then up to Jobbles Wood and all the way through Morganhayes, both of which were in marvellously-muddy condition, to the second stop at the edge of the wood. Here Garry had stashed water, beer, mince pies and Christmas cake, all of which rapidly disappeared.
With half the distance down, they wended their merry way to Blackberry Camp, across to the Three Horseshoes, through Beckham Woods and over to third stop at the Fountainhead. After more nattering and alcoholic refuelling in front of the fire the ten forced themselves back outside where the climb up to the coast path felt as steep as ever but the run through the woods on West Cliff as wonderful as usual. They were all intending to climb East Cliff from Branscombe Mouth but Jamie coerced Garry into the hard man's route via beach and Under Hooken, so Garry took a bit of revenge and coerced Jamie into running down the stream on the beach first. At least it was fairly firm going down by the water but some of the breakers managed to reach higher than was comfortable when tired and cold!
The ten regrouped at the final stop in the Anchor where Garry was too tired to do any more than sit on the floor feeling knackered and even Jamie declined beer in favour of coke. Then it was on back over to the Hook to finish another memorable Midwinter Dream.
Special mention must go to Lin & Martin who had flown back from a running trip to the USA only the day before (such dedication to Garry's night runs!) and Virginia on surviving her debut with the Axe Valley Asylum of "What On Earth Are We Doing Here?".
The AVR annual dinner and dance was held at the Dolphin hotel, Beer last Friday and what a splendid evening it was. After a sumptuous meal, chairman Garry Perratt, complete with rather dubious mohair jumper and winkle pickers, proceeded to give out the awards as follows. Handicap winner - Gill Day with 155 points, Runner up - Tim Sibley 149, 3rd Clare Hansford 140. Team Award - The forces march team comprising Geoff Woodward, Retro Reynolds and Graham Newton who completed 5 marathons in 5 days. The Derby & County AC Shield for the most Improved runner went to Gill Day. The Unfortunate Sole award went to Graham Newton for being bumped into by a car during the forces march ending up with a bad back. Fortunately he has now made a splendid recovery. The New member's award was won by Andy Hitchcock and the President's Shield for running achievement went to Paul Johns for completing his first Ironman Triathlon. Sue Tubbs won the Founders award for improvement for her encouragement to the Wednesday training gang. For the 2nd year running Chris Irving won the Chairman's Shield and it was great to see Jon Day win the Club Person award. Eleanor Wood and Amy Greenhalgh were the joint winners of the Female Runner of the year and Alex Todd was the Male runner of the year. Special awards went to Sandra Porter for her handicap marshalling and Debbie Barry for organising the dinner. There were 12 people eligible for the London Marathon club place and Becky Davey was the lucky winners, with Becs Crease on standby. Garry was the somewhat surprised to be given another special award to share with wife Marie for all they do for the club.
As is the custom, after the "proper" awards were presented, Dave Mutter proceeded to embarrass a few runners by presenting them with alternative award certificates, but not to be outdone Garry then awarded "rosettes" to anyone who had beaten him in a race during 2011. After all the awards the tables were cleared and everyone shook their booty to the music of The Barries, although it has to be said that not many were good enough for Strictly. A super time was had and the club look forward to another good year in 2012.
The next day a gentle 2 hour run around some of next year's Grizzly course was planned. All went well and even Andy Hitchcock in his baggy trousers was going well. Then a decision was made to slightly extend the run. So three hours and 13 hilly, boggy miles later numerous shattered AVR's and a dog were very pleased to be back at Beer Head car park.
Four AVR's turned out for Saturday's Otterton Reindeer Run, a multi terrain 10K with a good testing course. It was a fairly wet day - but improved by the prospect of mulled wine and mince pies afterwards. Laurence Bolam of Sidmouth won comfortably in 37:04. Robin Britton had a good run finishing 22nd in 44:39. Robin Carter was next, she finished 37th in 46:49, with a very weary Paul Johns 39th in 47:50. Andy Sayers made it home in 82nd, 54:42, still in the top half of the field of running reindeer and Santa's etc. A jolly good run to get you set for the Yuletide season.
Other runners enjoyed the delights of the well established Full Monty-Cute ten mile cross country race on Sunday. This starts and finished at the top of ham hill, with the added bonus of ten hills en route. Garry Perratt has taken to become many races' course checker and this is what he did here, running the route ensuring all was marked well for the competitors. However his quick change at the end seemed to put a few runners off their stride. Alex Todd was the first AVR home, a magnificent 6th overall out of 237 in 1:18:44. Graham Newton had a brilliant end of year run finishing 46th in 1:31:32 and winning the first vet 60 category. Eleanor Wood was very pleased to get a PB of 1:35:47, 5th lady home, 68th overall and winning the first vet 45 trophy. They had an enjoyable journey home drinking their champagne prizes, admiring their beautiful Ham stone trophies and eating Graham's spot prize chocolates. Richard Dodge was 106th, 1:42:19. Gavin Warren had a much better run than last week's Bicton Blister and was dead chuffed with his performance, he was 193rd in 1:58:24. Despite a great Christmas party on Saturday evening, Gill and Jon Day ran together as a husband and wife team finishing in 2:20:49, joint 230th. All who ran give a big thank you Crewkerne RC for a great event.