Honiton Running Club (HRC) had a great turnout for the Axmouth Challenge last Sunday, writes Judy Davey.

There were four choices of distance to race and all of the HRC adults took on the nine-mile race.

This is half on-road and half off-road and the mud was not as bad as it often is, so finishing times were generally good. First back for Honiton was Rod Inglis, who came 15th in a time of 1:10:22.

Steve Davey followed, coming 20th in a time of 1:14:02. His daughter, Jo, was hot on his heels having had the run of her life. She finished as fourth lady overall and just 13 seconds behind her father.

Jo managed to knock nearly 14 minutes off her time of two years ago. Richard Harris followed, having been overtaken by Jo in the later stages.

He came 28th in 1:15:22 and Judy Davey followed one place behind in 1:16:44. She also had a great race, knocking nearly five minutes off last year’s time and coming third lady vet.

Howard Bidmead was taking it steadily as he is off to Australia next week and wants to do a ‘down under’ Park Run without injury.

He came 38th in 1:18:32 and was followed by Roger Saunders, who came 48th in 1:21:21.

Pippa Westall was chasing Roger to the finish line and finished two places and seven seconds later. Rebecca Stevens thoroughly enjoyed the race to come 75th in 1:29:47. She was followed by Rachel Hennessey just two places and 17 seconds later.

Linda Grady came 79th in 1:33:49, reporting that she thought it was a tougher race than she had bargained for.

Alex Turnham came 87th in 1:38:07 and her mother-in-law Carol completed the line-up for HRC, coming 92nd in 1:45:23. There were 98 finishers and runners were treated to delicious bacon butties, warm soup and cakes upon their return.

Other distances on offer were five-mile and three-mile races. Two of the HRC youngsters took part in the one-mile fun run. Emily Pepper finished 16th overall in 12:44 with Oscar Devine coming 21st in 14:26. There were 26 finishers and the race was won by Kai Martin in 9:53.