Many people start running and are put off joining running clubs often because they think they are for fast racing snakes only, writes Dave Mutter.

Definitely all of East Devon’s running clubs welcome new runners of all abilities and Axe Valley Runners (AVR) has a dedicated evening for slower runners (Friday’s 6.30pm to 7.30pm meeting near the Tramway toilets). There’s also opportunities for absolute beginners with a group that meet on Thursday mornings at 9.30am at the same location.

Robert Kerr, who started running last October in the absolute beginners’ group, completed his first race on Saturday at Taunton 5k Parkrun in a time of 29:49 and was 167th in a field of 273. A huge well done to Robert!

Geoff Woodward and Steve Retro Reynolds were the only AVR members that made the trip to Cheddar to take part in The Big Cheese event; an off run of 15 miles with over 2000ft of climb.

Geoff was in a bit of a dither before the start. Having looked at the course map he came back to Retro and said you idiot it’s a Marathon! He didn’t realise that the 26 points on the map were marshalling points and not mile markers. After he had been reassured he then could not get his expensive watch to work, much to Retro’s amusement.

The race itself started in a narrow lane and climbed 800ft in the first two miles up a stony track then continued over the Mendips. Anyone who has taken part in the Mendip Muddle or Uphill to Wells runs would recognise parts of the course.

The two old boys started well with Retro taking an early lead only to be caught by Geoff at around 10 mile so they ran together until the last descent where Retro managed to disengage his brain and ran like the clappers. Retro finished in 2:27:32 with Geoff just 20 seconds back. Both were pleased with their performance on a hard course and stated the tea and cake at the HQ assisted their recovery.