Honiton runners spread over south West

The Dalwood 10k last Wednesday saw Honiton runners out in force with 22 taking part. This race forms part of the Dalwood Fayre celebrations and is a mixture of road and off road taking in plenty of the local hills. This was the second running of the race and a record 92 runners took part. It was a perfect evening for running and many runners stayed after the race to take advantage of the curry or sausage and chips served outside the Tuckers Arms.

Alex Todd of local Axe Valley Runners won the race in a time of 39:49 and the first Honiton runner home was Kevin Hawker in fourth place and 41:02.

New to Honiton Running Club, Ian Stewart, had a brilliant inaugural run coming next in 12th place and 44:31. Young Tom Dunn continues his great form and managed 23rd place and 46:58. Just one other runner managed to squeeze in between the next five Honiton runners who all finished within a minute of each other. They were: 29, Richard Harvey 48:11, 31, Steve Davey 48:18, 32, Bruce Strawbridge 48:37, 33, Richard Harris 48:48 and 34, Ceri Oak 49:17.

They were closely followed by Vernon Gillard who hasn’t raced recently and doesn’t consider himself as fit as he could be. He came 36th in 49:52. Marion Broom was delighted with her run as she hasn’t raced for almost a year but finished in a very respectable time of 55:57 and took 52nd place.

Pippa Westall was expecting to come to Dalwood for a leisurely training run only to find that it was a race! Reluctant at first, she soon got into the swing of things and managed to finish in under an hour in 59:30 and 61st place.

Alan Nichols travelled all the way from Wales to take part – he must have forgotten about those Devon hills or he may not have bothered! He came 71st in 1:01:34.

Tracey Strawbridge finished as usual with a fine sprint to the line in 86th place in 1:10:08 ahead of Simon Hall one place later in 1:12:51. Simon had a good excuse though as he took part in the Round Britain coastal run which started in May. Earlier in the day the run went from Portland Bill to Sidmouth with Simon running the leg from West Bay to Lyme Regis.

Other Honiton runners: 39, Roger Saunders 50:31, 44, Judy Davey 52:46, 47, John Burgess 53:40, 58, Nick Thorpe 57:56, 67, Claire Pomeroy 1:00:10, 76, Gerry Evans 1:03:07, 82, Sandra Thorpe 1:06:58 and 85, Lin Pike 1:09:32.

Last week, three Honiton Running Club members took part in the Haselbury Trail 10k race organised by Crewkerne Running Club.

The race is a scenic off-road event taking runners through the grounds of Perrott Hill School and North Perrott Fruit Farm. It starts and finishes at North Perrott Cricket Club ground and is a two lap race with about 20 stiles to negotiate. Apart from that, it is relatively flat with one very short, but sharp, hill which runners have to endure twice.

Quite a few brave runners managed to run it the first time but the majority were reduced to walking it for their second attempt. Local Axe Valley Runner Alex Todd won the race in a time of 39:16.

Steve Davey was first in for Honiton in 36th place and 47:39, followed by John Burgess who continued his run of beating Judy Davey. John had followed her for most of the way, but managed to overtake her at the five mile mark. John didn’t attempt to run the steep hill, so Judy managed to get past him, but her efforts were wasted when they reached the top as John regained his lead. He finished in 56th place in 50:55 with Judy coming 59th in 51:21 coming first in her category. There were 145 runners.

? Steve Boyes recently ran the Salisbury 5-4-3-2-1 50k Ultra. He was delighted to come 15th overall and 2nd in his category in a time of 4hours 22 mins.

? Bruce and Tracey Strawbridge were Honiton RC’s only representatives at the Sidmouth Festival 10k last week which has a particularly tough start with runners going up Peak Hill.

The race was won by Sidmouth Running Club’s own Mateusz Szala in a time of 38:25. Bruce came 53rd in 50:23 and Tracey was pleased to have improved her time from last year to finish 195th in 1:11:18.

? Three Honiton runners travelled to Yeovilton last Wednesday for the fifth race in the summer series of 5k races. It was a very worthwhile trip for two of them – Nick Bradley-Carter did a new PB of 21.47, and Tom Dunn further consolidated his recent run of good form with an impressive 19.43, another PB. Tim Legg, meanwhile, took another step on the road to old age, so it would seem, at 17.47, fully a minute slower than he was running a couple of years ago, and leaving him without having broken 17.30 this season (yet). Weather conditions were good, but for a headwind on the back straight.

? On Saturday, Ceri Oak ran the Jurassic Coast 10k which starts and finishes at Budleigh Salterton.

This is a race that offers something for everyone. Not only are there tough climbs and descents, but there are beautiful stretches along river and coastal paths where runners can take in the fantastic views and landscape of the Jurassic Coast. All money raised goes towards the FORCE cancer charity. Ceri came 41st overall in 45:46 and first in her category.

The parents of Honiton Juniors were invited to the annual awards evening and were treated to games of indoor tug-of-war as the weather was so wet.

The President of Honiton Running Club, Alan Rowe MBE, presented the awards and Richard Harris of To-an-Fro, who generously sponsors transport for the club, was also in attendance.

Awards were given to the following members:

Great Improvement; Hester Heeler-Frood and Harry Whiteley,

Dedicated Runner: Jake Harvey, Katie Davey, Kieran Anderson and Reuben Heeler-Frood

Tough runner: Ella Harvey and Ed Cannings

Runner of the Year: Sam Urquhart and Lily Helston

Loyalty: Sophie Keywood, Joanna Davey and Jennie Doble

Achievement in Athletics: Lauren Davey and Joe Urquhart

All members were congratulated on their individual achievements throughout the year.

It has been a very successful year for the juniors and we are looking forward to resuming in September.

If anyone aged 11-16 is interested in joining the juniors, click on the link to the junior section on the website www.honitonrc.com for more information.

? The Blackdown Beauty took place for the second year on Saturday and several members of other local running clubs joined Honiton for this fun event.

It was a social run taking in five pubs and a cream tea on an 18 mile circuit of the wonderful countryside of the Blackdown Hills.

It was not a race but a chance to run and walk in good company enjoying the beautiful scenery following public footpaths and minor roads. It started at the Holman Clavel pub at Culmhead going through Pine Woods to the Queen’s Arms at Pitminster when the route goes cross country to Blagdon Hill and up to the Merry Harriers pub and then on to the Half Moon at Clayhidon.

The next stop was Pear Tree Cottage at Stapley for a sumptuous cream tea provided by Smeatharpe WI, then the York Inn at Churchinford before heading back to the Holman Clavel via Otterhead Lakes.

Organisers were promoting a fancy dress theme of doctors, nurses and patients and this was the perfect excuse for the more adventurous Honiton Running Club member to indulge in a little fantasy.

Fellow runners will never be able to take Bruce Strawbridge, Nick Thorpe, Steve Davey and many others seriously again!

It was a great occasion with perfect weather – thanks particularly to Alan Nichols, Nick Thorpe and John Burgess - as well as the local landowners, for allowing runners to run over their land.

ABOVE: The Blackdown Beauty start.

ER: Runners will never think of their colleagues in the same light. There was a medical theme for the BB event.