On Sunday, new AVR Tom Bland lined up at the start of the South West Coast Path in Minehead with a New Zealander called Mal who he had only met the day before.

The pair's aim is to run the entire 630 miles in less than two weeks, that's an average of 45 miles per day for a fortnight! The fastest previous time they are aware of is a week longer.

The first day was just over 40 miles long with 10,000ft of ascent, that's two Grizzlies in distance but four in climb, which took them a steady 9:40. Even Garry Perratt and Chris Irving, who alternately paced the lunatics that day and are no strangers to unflat runs, considered it to have been decidedly hilly and returned home very tired. One down, 13 to go. Today (Wednesday) they should be at the Porthcothan to Hayle stretch. More details of their run and the charities for which they are raising funds can be found at www.coastpathrun.co.uk

?The Junior June handicap was won by Caitlin Bee in a new PB of 16:48. James Knapp was second, 15:26; Ed Polley third, 16:39 and Ethan Day fourth, 17:24. Caitlin Bee now heads the Junior rankings with 114 points, Max Bowskill is second with 95 and May Wood third, 80 points. With numbers down due to the England footy, Martin Croad roared to victory in the senior event, knocking nearly a minute off his PB, finishing in 23:39. Eleanor Wood was second, 24:38; James Sibley third, 25:12; James Guler fourth, 21:21 and Ian Clements fifth, 24:31. Croad now has an impressive lead on the rest with 100 points, James Guler is second, 79 and James Sibley third, 71 points.

?Shortly after the beginning of the “Over The Hill and Farway” 10K race there is a mountainous hill more than one kilometre long (Warren Hill). Most people’s legs have turned to rubber by the time they reach the top after which there is a chance of recovery with a long downhill stretch. The race continued with mainly gentle undulations along the lanes between Southleigh, Northleigh and Farway. Running conditions were perfect with warm sunshine and soft breezes. It’s not often races are won by a 60 year old, but first home was AVR’s Phil (Evergreen) Bayliss in 43:31, hotly pursued by Aaron Smith of Sidmouth RC in 44:01. Next AVR in fifth place was Martin Croad in 47:35. Sue Venn was delighted to have cut two minutes from her previous time by completing it in 64:20. Harry Moore’s1:40 was quicker than last year. Harry put this down to the recent uphill races. The winners of the shorter Junior Race were for the U10s – Felix Williams in 11:35 and 10-14 years William Tynes 15:09. Thanks go to Farway Primary School for organising the event and their sponsors.

?On Sunday, over 2000 athletes descended on Wimbleball Lake on Exmoor to take on what has been described as the toughest triathlon race of its distance in the world, and this year it definitely lived up to its expectation.

After a week of heavy rain and wind, Wimbleball Lake was very high, meaning it was very cold, 14 degrees to be precise! The bike course of 56 miles including 54 hills speaks for itself and the multi terrain run course was very wet and boggy in places, making it tougher than usual. Luke Reed had a good swim completing the 1.2 miles in 31:20. Then onto the bike feeling very cold from the swim, He had a tough time, but was very pleased to complete the 56 miles in 3:14:06.

At this point the run was all about just trying to get around the half marathon course, which Luke did in 1:43:40, giving him an overall time of 5:37:17 and 197th place out of around 2,000 finishers. Richard Easton also took part, having a fantastic race finishing 62nd overall, with 26:06 for the swim, 2:56:23 bike and 1:39:23 for the run.

?Robin Britton travelled to Dorset for the Puddletown 20K. A good course with plenty of undulations and an unusual distance for a road race. He enjoyed the sunshine and finished 22nd in 1:31:56., just missing out on the over-55 prize.

There were 26 teams of four runners in the first of the inter club Woodland Relay races hosted by AVR utilising the superb Morganhayes woodlands trails.

Exmouth Harriers 1 team; Adam Miller, Mike Musgrove and Jamie Pearson were the victors with a combined time of 39:38.

AVR Men 1, Chris Keeffe, Alex Todd and James Guler were second with 40:51 and AVR Men 2, James Jackson, Jon Day and Garry Perratt third, 42:37. Honiton Juniors; Ian Ross, Henry Riddle and Jack Elson ran well to finish fifth overall in 44:37. Honiton Junior girls; Lydia Clapp, Flo Swann and Ruth Squires were the first female team to finish, ninth overall in 49:27.

The event is not all about winners though, it is a great opportunity for club members to mix and have a good old yarn.