Honiton ten tackle Bideford half Marathon

Ten Honiton Running Club members travelled to North Devon last Sunday to take part in the Bideford Half Marathon, writes Judy Davey.

Sold as a fast flat race runners reported a number of undulations as they left Bideford before returning on the pancake flat Tarka Trail.

The weather in Honiton would have made for ideal conditions for running but not so in Bideford. The forecast was for rain and down it came! Once runners had set off it wasn’t too cold and the rain eased into a thick drizzle before hammering it down once again at the finish.

Nevertheless, Hadleigh Davies had a great run, finishing very close to his personal best time for the distance.

He was 90th in a time of one hour 28 minutes and 47 seconds. Steve Davey was next back finishing 169th in 1:36:06 with Bruce Strawbridge hot on his heels having had a great run finishing in 178th place and just 18 seconds later.

Judy Davey led the Honiton ladies home to come 248th in 1:40:09. Paul Williams found he still had Grizzly in his legs,but did well to come 270th in 1:41:22. Mark Dallyn also had Grizzly legs and finished 305th in 1:43:18.

Mark had to find a last minute burst of energy when he realised Roger Saunders was right behind him and that’s how they entered the finish funnel. Richard Tricky Terry found it tough even though he had lost the beard so was much more streamlined. He came 418th in 1:51:06. Jenny Sleeman put in another great half marathon finishing at about the same time as she always does in 1:52:57 and 440th place.

Newly crowned female Runner of the Year at the Honiton Running Club, Kathy Layzell, did herself proud gaining a personal best, finishing 683rd in 2:07:53. The race was won by Shaun Antell in the amazing time of 1:10:50 and there were 849 finishers. Most of the Honiton runners had completed the Grizzly last week, but reported that they found this flat road race much tougher for very different reasons.