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Potter by the Otter
The popular Otter Rail and River 10k on Saturday attracted a big turn-out of AVRs. The race follows the Otter river from Tipton St John down to Harpford then through the woods and back along the old railway line. More than 200 completed the 10k with Eleanor Wood taking first F65 finishing in 50.54. Special mention to Sarah Shepley who completed her first 10k since a serious knee injury. All finishers received a bottle of Otter ale and the race was well organised by Sidmouth Running Club. Full results here
Tree..mendous
Diane Newton entered Relish Running’s Westonbirt half marathon last weekend. Westonbirt is the national arboretum and is home to 2,500 species of trees, including many rare ones from around the world. More than 400 took part in the undulating two-lap course which wound around the various areas dedicated to different species. In her first half-marathon of the year Diane took the F70+ category prize finishing in 2:57:28.
Seaton parkrun
The first finishers this week were both AVRs with Ryan Snell in 17:51 and Emilie Brock in 20:48. Second finisher was Richard Hardy in 18:05 with Luke Reed third in 18:08 after a great tussle between the three of them before Ryan pulled away.
There was also a good haul of PBs for AVR this week from Gareth Walker 22:48, Jeremy Norcombe 22:57, Laura Kerr 23:40, Craig Tiley 24:08 and Dave Hutton 24:20. Laura was particularly pleased as she both smashed her Seaton parkrun PB but also secured an overall parkrun PB beating her Eastbourne time.
First on age grade percentage was AVR Ron Seward in 22:27 for 80.55% while Elaine Chesterman celebrated her 50th parkrun milestone. The parkrunners, volunteers and spectators were entertained on Saturday by a fabulous performance from the local Sunshine Samba.
Further afield Bec Davey secured her D at Dinton Pastures parkrun, Adele Girdwood ran Penrose parkrun, Amie and Tim Sibley, also in Cornwall, completed Trelissick while David and Susi Sadler took on Penrhyn parkrun in Wales.
AVRs shine at the Ham to Lyme Ultra
With an elevation of 3316 feet and more than 30 miles of multi-terrain running up hills, down dale, across fields and along the riverside this race is a challenge for anyone but it is becoming increasingly popular amongst AVRs with some 24 taking part last Saturday. It starts up in Somerset in Ham Hill Country Park and winds its way through the stunning scenery of the Liberty Trail, Wayford Woods and Lamberts Castle to finish on the seafront in beautiful Lyme Regis.
AVR scooped second, third and fourth places with some tremendous times. Rich Hardy came in second place in an incredible 4 hours 15 minutes with Rob Collier, third in 4 hours 25 minutes, pushing last year’s winner, Matt Clist into fourth. Kerry Board, competing in her first ultra, finished in an excellent 5 hours 40 minutes as fifth female finisher. Special mention to Louise Rawlins, who only began running during lockdown in 2020, joined AVR a year later and on Saturday completed an ultra and even managed her usual trademark cartwheel on the Cobb!
It was a hot day and mostly self-navigated so all finishers were well deserving of the beautiful ammonite medal. Full results here Huge congratulations to everyone who completed it and to Albion Running for organising the race so well.
Charmouth Challenge
Despite the previous day’s rain, it was dry underfoot but very muggy for the Charmouth Challenge on Saturday. This 8-mile multi-terrain hilly race included an ascent of Golden Cap, the highest point on the South Coast of England at 191 metres.
There was a good turnout of AVRs amongst the 150 finishers with Andrew Snook coming in fifth place, second M40 in 56:06. Ron Seward steamed in yet again achieving first in M70+ finishing in 1:22:30. Ann Coston, a new member of AVR, was second in the F50+ category at 1:27:41. Other AVRs to complete the Challenge were Patrick Rosello, Darrell Farley, Diana Burn and Adele Girdwood.
Full results can be found here
Wednesday down at the Abbey
On a lovely sunny but cool Wednesday evening, 31 AVRs took part in this beautiful 10k off road race which starts and finishes at Forde Abbey and includes a couple of river crossings. Kerry Board was second female in an impressive 54:18 and first F40. Adrian Strawbridge was fifth overall in 51:41 and took first M40 while Eleanor Wood was first F55 in 58:12, 42nd overall. Unfortunately, a few front runners including Max Richardson took a slight wrong turning meaning completing almost 7 miles and missing a top ten finish.
Full results can be found here
Down by the Riverside
Matt Frost took part in the Exeter Community Trust 10k river run on Friday starting and finishing at Exeter Quay. He finished in eighth in 38:28.
Seaton parkrun
Ryan Snell was third finisher in 18:06 while Debbie Whiston was 1st female in 19:44 and also second overall on age grade in 80.49%. PBs were gained by Gareth Walker 22:54, Zoe Trewick 27:45 and Ann-Louise Gridley 31:24. More than 200 took part with many AVRs amongst the volunteers. The team are always on the look-out for more volunteers especially during the busy holiday period when many tourists come to run and some of the regular helpers are away so if you would like to start Saturday morning with lots fun for a worthwhile cause please email seaton@parkrun.com for more information.
On their travels again, Carolyn Nation picked up a U and another country by completing Uppsala parkrun in Sweden while Carol Austin returned for a fourth visit to Haga parkrun in Stockholm. Aileen and Peter Heal went to Bushy parkrun, where they were amongst the more than 1300 finishers including many octogenarians as the home of parkrun celebrated its huge age diversity.
AVR dominate at the Ug
AVR’s Emilie Brock and Jack Broom were victorious on Saturday evening at the Umborne Ug, a tough multi-terrain 10k run organised by AVR and raising funds to support the village hall in Umborne.
Some 800 feet of elevation provide spectacular views but was also hot work for the runners on a glorious summer’s evening. Emilie finished in 49:06 and took first F40 as well as first female. Amazingly, the following morning she cycled 100 miles at the Nello bike race with husband, Warren, in aid of the Forces Cancer Charity.
First home at the Ug was Jack Broom in 38:45, just pipping Chard Road Runners’ Wayne Loveridge who took second place. Third female was AVR’s Kerry Board in 54:30.
Other prize winners for AVR on Saturday were Matt Clist, first M40 and fourth overall in 41:32 and Rob Collier, first M50 in 44:27.
There was a huge turnout from the club amongst the 115 finishers with many more supporting organisers’ Rick and Eleanor Wood with timing, back-marking, marshalling and setting up. The race was followed by a BBQ. Full results are here
Summer Solstice on the Fells
The latest in the South West Fell Runners Dartmoor series took place last Wednesday, summer solstice, on Merrivale.
Tim Lenton, Rik Tumber, David and Susi Sadler started the hilly 9.5km fell run taking in a huge 1000 feet of ascent on a very warm evening which made for a challenging but beautiful run including passing some Dartmoor ponies and foals!
Tim came an impressive seventh place, second M50, in 39:41 with Rik in 17th in 44:40. Susi was happy to finish in 1:12.29 with David sadly having to drop out due to injury.
More information on these fell races is here and it would be great to see a few more AVRs taking on the challenge:
Land and sand
Matt Frost ran the Land and Sand 5k in Exmouth on Friday evening which involved a lot of running on the sandy beach! He was an excellent fifth out of 98 finishers in 22:10.
Clean sweep at Seaton parkrun for AVR
On another sunny Saturday, AVRs were first male finisher – Ryan Snell in a PB of 17:26; first female finisher, Debbie Whiston in 19:49 and first on age-grade Eleanor Wood 88.75% for her 23:33. It was also a great day for AVR PBs with Max Richardson (19:12), Gareth Walker (23:09), Zoe Harp (26:50), Zoe Trewick (29:01) and Jayne Tumber (32:45). Emma Ellynn celebrated her 50th milestone.
Further afield, Carol Austin and Carolyn Nation bagged their Z for the parkrun alphabet challenge at Zielony Jar in Krakow, Poland while Tony Smith and Sam Miller added another country to their collection taking part in the beautifully scenic Amager Strandpark parkrun in Copenhagen.
All AVR parkrun results are here.