Scorchio at the Ug
It was one of the hottest days of the summer on Saturday for the Umborne Ug; a very scenic multi-terrain 10k race organised jointly by AVR and the Umborne Village Hall committee. With the race in the evening and children’s races and a post-race bbq and beer tent on offer, the event always has a great community feel, helped this year with the sunshine on Midsummer’s Day.
After starting at the village hall, the runners enjoyed a loop around the village and farm before heading out onto the Widworthy Estate and the challenging hills, woods and river crossing before returning to finish at the hall.
The winners were Alex Sparks and Chloe Olford, both Teignbridge Trotters in 39:51 and 51:30 respectively. AVR scooped second place male and female with Matt Clist in 40:44 and Karen Eyre in 53:28. Jack Broom was third male in 41:46 followed by Ritchie Durrant, 43:22 and Max Richardson in 44:29. The age group winners amongst AVR were Rob Collier M50 in 45:30; Kerry Board F45 in 57:17; Ron Seward M70 in 59:22 and Shirley Salter F65 in 1:25.32. The prizes were presented by potter, Gilly Humphries who made both the mugs and the medals.
A total of 95 completed the race and with it being in this year’s AVR Race Series there was a good showing from the club.
Many thanks to all those who helped with timing, marshalling, back-marking, MC’ing and to Race Directors, Eleanor Wood and Henry Smith for putting on such a great event.
East Devon Relays
This annual locally organised event took place at Greendale Farm Shop this year organised by AVR with the route forming part of the new parkrun. Each team consisted of three members running around 3.5k each with junior, senior (under-50) and vet (over-50) categories for male, female and mixed teams.
A total of 62 teams took part with representation from Honiton RC, Sidmouth RC, Exmouth Harriers and AVR. AVRs scooped the men’s senior first place with Matt Clist, Rich Hardy and Joel Seward; the mixed senior first place with Debbie Whiston, James Green and Max Richardson; and the mixed vet first place with Simon McClellan, Eleanor Wood and Kerry Board. Many thanks to Rob Collier and all who helped make this event possible.
Man v Moor
Based on the ancient “Chains” area of Exmoor and going into some of the most remote parts of Exmoor National Park, this is a race with a difference organised by Channel Events. Runners have to navigate natural obstacles over the moor as they run, walk, scramble , swim and even tunnel around the 10m route. Bec Davey, Emma Richardson and Sam Tooze took part completing it together in 2:36:14 to finish 12th, 13th and 14th women and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Jurassic Extinction
These tough ultra-marathon races were organised by Climb South-West with a number of options available over midsummer weekend with 105k, 100k, 70k, 50k and 33k options all following the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site that spans from Old Harry Rocks, in Studland, to Orcombe Point in Exmouth. All the races are self-navigated.
Patrick Devine-Wright opted for the full 105k which started on Saturday at 8am and took in an incredible 4900m of ascent. He finished in a tremendous third place in 26:20.46 with just 18 completing the longest of the races.
Ed Bower and Sarah Coates chose the 50k race from Lyme Regis to Exmouth along the beautiful but tough South West Coast Path with a height gain of 1730m.
Starting on Sunday morning at 8am Ed finished a brilliant third in an impressive time of 5:18:06. Sarah was fifth female and 18th overall in an excellent time of 6:49:08 with 88 runners completing this distance on a warm, blustery day.
Seaton parkrun and beyond
Joel Seward was first finisher in 17:07 at Seaton parkrun where the wind reduced the heat a bit on a sunny Saturday morning for the 275 finishers.
In a blatant bid for the Chair’s award for the “longest warm-up for an event”, David and Susi Sadler set off for the Y-Promenad, Abermaw parkrun at around 3.30 am from Milford covering some 11 miles including ascents of Craig Iywd, Craig Com March and Cadair Idris totalling some 3657 feet to reach the parkrun in Barmouth for 9am!
With the holiday season upon us there were AVRs at parkrun events from Trelissick in Cornwall to Rothay in the Lake District. A full list can be found here
