First home for Honiton RC in the renowned Grizzly and crowned first local man was Kevin Hawker in a great time of 2:41hrs and ninth place overall.

First home for Honiton RC in the renowned 'Grizzly' (see last week's Midweek Herald) and crowned 'first local man' was Kevin Hawker in a great time of 2:41hrs and ninth place overall. Brian Charters followed him producing a fantastic time for his first Grizzly of 2:50, 36th. Brian is used to long distance off road running but said this was the hardest run he has ever done and he came as close as he ever has to giving up during the race!

Bruce Strawbridge was 208th in 3:20 with the next batch home being 308th Richard Harvey 3:29, 317th Richard Harris 3:30, 322nd Judy Davey 3:31, 343rd Roger Saunders 3:31 and 365th Ceri Oak 3:33. Guy Paddon was not far behind in 407th place and 3:36.

Greg Axsel was 584th place and 3:48 in his first Grizzly. Maria Wadey, who ran with hubby Chris, followed closely behind came in 602nd and 3:49. Leisa Lavendar was happy with her 654th place and 3:53 time as she felt she hadn't done the required training.

Simon Hall managed to have someone knock into him at the bog and his glasses fell off. Another runner promptly stood on them and broke them which left Simon no option but to run in a haze. Broken glasses and runner did get reunited at the finish.

This was a new experience for Simon and he did well to come 884th in a time of 4:11.

Warren Oak was next home in 1017th place and 4:22. Tracey Strawbridge beat her 5 hour barrier and knocked 12 minutes off last year's time, 1313th in 4:55. Tony Whiteley struggled with a knee injury and came 1386th in 5:07. There were nearly 1500 runners.

For the you weren't quite brave enough to tackle the full Grizzly, there was always the Cub in itself a gruelling 9 miles of multi-terrain hills and beach.

Julian Gigg had only returned from skiing the previous day and changed his mind from doing the Grizzly to the Cub on his return. He was first Honiton runner home in 27th place and a time of 1:25. Steve Davey was next home, relieved that he too had recently switched to the Cub. He was 46th in 1:32. Sarah Warren confused the commentator by entering as a Crewkerne member but running in her Honiton vest. She was 49th in 1:34, followed by Claire Pomeroy, 58th in 1:36. Pippa Westall was in 62nd place a minute later and Dennis Costello followed her in 96th place and 1:43. Next was Jennie Sleeman, 112th place in 1:45, Vanessa Glyn-Jones 166th in 1:56 and Pete Lyus, who took a very leisurely pace accompanying his daughter. He came in 219th in 2:09. There were 300 finishers.

l Elsewhere. Heather Foundling-Hawker took part in the Duchy Marathon in gale force winds. She was first lady home in 3:06:02, 15 minutes ahead of the 2nd lady. Steve Boyes also had a great race finishing in 3:37:05.

l Nicki Campbell, Louise Saunders and Jill Wood are all taking part in spring marathons and they took a trip to Bideford as part of their training. They ran the half marathon and were delighted with their times. Nicki was 448th in 1:50:45, Louise 527th in 1:55:16 and Jill 728th in 2:09 which was another pb for her.