It was a fine, but chilly, morning at Colyton for the BBC Children in Need appeal five mile and fun run last Sunday.

There was the usual friendly atmosphere with lots of runners in fancy dress. The event is organised by Axe Valley Runners and all the proceeds go to Children in Need.

Tom Bornett was doing his first race since joining the club and went off strongly. Following behind were Julie Payne and Nick Bradley-Carter who were soon into a ding-dong battle. Once they got into the second lap, Julie pulled away and she soon passed Tom as well. Nick also caught Tom and managed to get past him before the line, although they were given identical times. Nick was delighted with his time. Next home was Greg Axsel who also found the route to his liking and he was able to get the better of John Burgess who had run with him for most of the first two miles. John is still missing three front teeth from his fall at Yarcombe two weeks ago so had lots of sympathy from fellow runners. Thankfully he managed to stay on his feet this time.

Tony Whiteley, Simon Hall and Claire Pomeroy also ran along with Kelly Allison who only joined the club a few months ago and this was her first race. She paced herself well and enjoyed the experience. Wendy Williams is also new to the club this year and deliberately started slowly. She found it tough, but was delighted to complete the course. The race was won by Ashley Humphreys in a time of 26:52. First lady was Anna Allen in a time of32:21. There were 138 runners. After the race there were lots of cakes and hot drinks with more donations invited for Children in Need.

Honiton RC results: 38th Julie 35:37, 39th Nick 36:39, 40th Tom 36:39, 44th Greg 37:09, 48th John 38:11, 55th Simon 39:21, 75th Claire 40:39, 84th Tony 42:34, 94th Kelly 43:43 and 125th Wendy 51:01

In the junior race, the winner was Matt Morbey of Axe Valley Runners in a time of 16:10. Reuben Heeler-Frood had a great run and finished fourth in 16:52. Ian Ross found it cold, but was very pleased to pass lots of adults and he put in a good sprint at the end and finished 10th in 18:03. Harry Whitely didn’t feel at his best but he still managed to finish in 19th place in 18:35.

Meanwhile, five Honiton runners took part in the Castle Drogo 10 mile off road race. This is a tough race with 1760ft of climb, early congestion and the famous calf-busting Hunters’ Path which no runner will forget as it is so long and steep. The race has a sting in the tail right at the end in the form of steep steps.

James McMullan of Thames Hare and Hounds broke the course record and won �50 for being the first person to break the hour barrier on this particular course.

Bruce Strawbridge was first back for Honiton in 83rd place and a time of 1:19:10. Steve Davey was next home in 112th and 1:22:14. Richard Harris hasn’t raced recently and his only training has been running up and down his fields whilst tending to his alpacas. He came 135th in 1:24:10. This was Roger Saunders first race since the summer and the first time he had run the Drogo. Like everyone else, he found it tough but was pleased with his 183rd place and 1:28:05 time. Judy Davey came both first and last lady for Honiton in 213th place in 1:31:02. There were a record number of entries with 574 finishers recorded.