Honiton Running Club members, despite the wet weather, were out in force for the 2019 Studland Stampede meeting, writes Judy Davey.

This is a challenging 7.5-mile race that sets off from Studland Bay in Dorset.

This popular race has a variety of surfaces to run on from heathland tracks to soft sand dunes and a final mile and a half long run along the beach.

This year, the tide was in so the beach disappeared at one point guaranteeing wet feet, but as it was still raining it didn't seem to matter!

The race was won by Philip Mosley in a time 47:14 and First Lady was Caroline Stanzel in a time of 54:04.

Howard Bidmead led the Honiton runners home in 68th place and a very good time of 62:11 which he was very pleased with. Roger Saunders came in next at 101st in a time of 65:24 a minute slower than last year, but the going was tougher this time!

Tom Bornet was one place behind him in 102nd at 65:28 mins. Sharon Wells was getting her Portuguese suntan washed off to finish just in front of Mark Newson as 139/140th finishers in a time of 69:29.

Nick and Sandra Thorpe travelled down from Midhurst to join their old running club for a race and Nick was 181st in 72:34 and Sandra 325th in 89:15.

Lynn Grady put in a very good run to finish 194th at 73:28 while Janice Newson, who had just got a place the night before, came in 236th in 76:51.

Steve and Michelle Selley, who had not run for some time, both came in together in 236/238 position in 77:56 - a tough way to get back to running!

Finally, the veteran Honiton runner Dennis Costello came in 315th in 87:28, which was an excellent time. The goody bags are always worth having for this race.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Olivia Killen ran the Burton Bradstock half in a time of two-hours-and-six-minutes over what is an undulating route with a short sharp uphill finish to the village hall.

The weather wasn't as bad as forecast with only a few patches of drizzle although it was very wet underfoot due to the surface water on the roads.

Runners were rewarded with a reusable coffee cup and medal.