An extraordinary day out!

Four AVRs tackled the East Devon Round on Saturday with Julia Mallon completing the 104k Full Round, a remarkable achievement given just 33 completed the course which included an elevation of an incredible 9665 ft.  Starting at 5.30 am, with a piper to see the runners off from Offwell, the route took runners through forests of bluebells, across to Axminster and then onto Lyme where a tough section of the course followed the coast path over the Undercliffs into Seaton.  Julia was supported for some 22 miles by Emma Richardson, Helen Holmes and Suzi Blackett.

After running through the Wetlands to Colyton the course went along the East Devon Way up to Sidford, Gittisham and beyond before returning to Offwell via a final loop north of Honiton.  Finishing at 2.30 am the following morning in a phenomenal 21:05.33, Julia describes the event as “a brilliant day out!”.

Stephen Grigg, Dan Clist and James Hawker all completed the Half Round, following the same route as the first half of the Full and still a challenging 50k (35 miles) around 6000 feet of elevation finishing in Blackbury Camp.  Stephen was a brilliant fourth finisher in an amazing 6:46.20.  Dan and James ran together finishing in 8:59.37 -ultra runners and ultra brilliant.

 

Big thanks also to go to those providing the all-important feed stations and checkpoints on the route.  In Axmouth,  AVR managed the checkpoint with Sam Halls, Rob Collier and Rik Tumber working hard all day supplying essentials to the runners passing through.

 

North Dorset Village Marathon

At the North Dorset Village Marathon Ryan Snell was fifth in a very impressive 2:49.18 taking the first M40 prize.  The 26.2m underlating run attracted 167 finishers, and began at Sturminster High School going along country lanes through a series of villages across North Dorset.

Round the Tor

Ian Kinnersley travelled to Glastonbury for the Round the Tor 10k. The course was run on country lanes around the Tor with a great atmosphere boosted by good crowds of spectators throughout the course.

He finished 38th out of 288 runners and 2nd in the MV60 category in 42:22.

1-2-3 at Seaton parkrun

AVR took the first three places at the Seaton parkrun on Saturday with Jack Broom (16.41), Joel Seward (16.46), and Ritchie Durrant (in a PB of 16.50) battling it out all the way.  First female finisher was Deborah Whiston in 19.56.

The top six age-grade times were all AVR with Eleanor Wood 92% for 22.31; Ron Seward 80% for 22.34; Deborah Whiston, 79.6%; Carol Austin 78.3% for 24.46; Joel Seward 77.8% and Jack Broom 77%.

Jayne Tumber nabbed another PB in 33.16.  There was a great turnout of 244 parkrunners this week.