AVR teams run well at annual Woodland Relays meeting at a soggy Woodbury Common

The annual Woodland Relays between various East Devon clubs last week was a rather soggy affair on Woodbury Common, writes Dave Mutter.

The course was lumpy, bumpy and wet, but that did not stop AVR teams from returning some fine performances.

‘AVR Very Young Men’, Tom and Ben Perry, were second in the three-times-1k junior race with Tom running twice due to the third team member dropping out at the last minute.

They were beaten by boys much older than them so should be very proud of their performance.

The three-times-4k senior race was unsurprisingly won by N1 Tri Club (including AVRs Ollie Caute), who recorded the fastest three individual times, but ‘AVR Young Men’, Chris Keeffe, Matt Clist and Simon Davis, did well to finish third, FOUR minutes behind N1, but just nine seconds behind second-placed Sidmouth RC.

‘AVR Middle-Aged Men’, Tim Sibley, Chris Perry and Garry Perratt, finished three minutes later, fourth overall and first M40 tea, and ‘AVR Old Men’, Robert Kerr, David Cooke and Kevin Feeney, were 17th and also the first M60 team.

Since many runners had left to dry out and warm up, by the time of the prize-giving, Garry had to collect everyone’s prizes for the N1, M40 and M60 teams.

He assures us that he will pass on the 30 bottles of beer to their rightful recipients ... possibly ... maybe ... perhaps.