Retro Reynolds and Jonathan Day attempted the Dartmoor Discovery, a 32 mile Ultra Marathon.

Retro Reynolds and Jonathan Day attempted the Dartmoor Discovery, a 32 mile Ultra Marathon. Retro led off a bit fast at 7.3 min mile pace, with Jon tucked in behind waiting for him to lag. At four miles Jon took the lead, with Retro watching Jon disappear into the distance. The start was a little overcast and then the heavens opened up, which made it very hard trying to hoon in a monsoon! Six miles from the finish the marshals were cheering them on saying how great they were doing - it must have be down to the big fried breakfast they consumed just before the start. Jon finished first, 51st out of 159 in 5.03.06, a new PB by 25 mins. Retro completed in 5.34.00. Both would like to thank Gill and Keith Bedford and Geoff Puddicombe for supporting them around the course.l The Forde Abbey 10k cross country race was held last Thursday. Other than the first 15 or so runners taking the wrong route and running an extra quarter mile it was a lovely evening enjoyed by all. The race was won by Mark Hopkinson of Taunton AC in 37.09 despite the extra bit! The ladies' race was won by Emma Hitchens of South West Road Runners in 43.02, closely followed by AVR's rising star, Hannah Bridger, 24th overall, in 43.48. First overall Axe Valley home was Luke Reed, ninth out of 225 in 41.33. Luke was unfortunate to be one of the runners to take the wrong route at two miles, at which point he was seventh. On rejoining the race, he found himself in about 30th position so progressing back to ninth overall and first AVR was a very impressive achievement. Luke had a very good battle with Bernard Fry in the last kilometre with Bernard eventually finishing 11th in 41.47. Ian Apps was 17th in 42.27, and appears to be getting fitter by the week. Ian just managed to hold off a strong challenge from evergreen Phil Bayliss who was 18th in 42.38. Chris Keefe continues to improve, finishing 23rd in 43.31, not bad after losing his shoe twice in the mud! Next was Mark Hilder, 56th in 47.36, who came out of nowhere to sprint past Eleanor Wood on the final climb. Eleanor was 57th, 47.40. Andrew Sayers powered over the finish line in 87th place with 50.41. Next were training partners Peter Hughes and Gary Davies 101st and 102nd in 52.32. Rebecca Creese finished 133rd in 56.25. Dawn Potter had a really great run, knocking nearly 10 minutes off of her previous time on this course. Sam Macdonald completed in 61.02.l Harry Moore has been in a lot of action over the past week. On Tuesday he ran at Exeter in the Michelmores 5k road run which he completed in 38:12. He was the oldest of the 1,200 competitors. On Thursday he ran the Dawlish Coaster's Coastal Run, a 4 mile multi-terrain event, in 48:16, winning a bottle of wine. He rounded off the week running in the new Chard Runners' muddy, hilly and hard multi-terrain 10k, the 'Wild Race' at Cricket St T, finishing 252nd in 1:38.l Eight other AVRs ran the Wild Race and, after the rain from the day before and six of the nine club members having run at Forde Abbey the previous Thursday, it was going to be a tough day. Luckily the weather had changed and they were all blessed with a beautiful sunny day. First place went to Martin Cox of Salford Harriers who blitzed what was a tough 10k off-road run with plenty of hills in 36:41. First AVR to finish was Luke Reed, producing another incredible performance to finish 11th out of the 253 runners in 43:15. Bernard Fry was next home, continuing to show the strong form he showed at Forde Abbey, finishing 17th in 44:20, which earned Bernard the second male 50 prize. Chris Keeffe was pleased to finish 20th in 45:19. Dominic Schneiders had also run, at Forde Abbey, yet still had a good run finishing 37th in 47:27. Eleanor Wood was next home. Having enjoyed this new run she finished 58th in 49:55 and 6th lady overall. It was good to see Robert Murdy back racing. He produced a fine performance coming in 122nd in 58:54. Rebecca Creese enjoyed her second race of the week coming in 141st in 1:00:45. Bridget Keeffe enjoyed her second race with the club, finishing 212th in 1:11:05.