Worth braving Tarka Trail for PBs

Honiton Runners improved their performances in the Bideford Half Marathon, writes Judy Davey.

The town was taken over with well over 1,000 runners from all over the south west taking part. The route is slightly undulating on the way out but the route back is on the Tarka Trail, a disused railway line, and therefore almost flat which can lead to good times.

First back for Honiton, after battling against the wind over the last couple of miles, was Julie Payne who managed a PB at 1:35:19 and was third in her category confirming her excellent form at the moment which bodes well for London. Second back was Roger Saunders in a time of 1:37:18 closely followed by Grahame Rooms at 1:37:24. For Grahame this was a new PB so he was well pleased and Roger was within a minute of his run last year.

Brent Dicks smashed his previous PB by 17 mins to finish in 1:42:51 thanks to all the hard London Marathon training he has been doing.

Warren Oak followed in Brent’s wake in 1:49:32 also training for London. Vanessa Glyn Jones, also running the London Marathon, finished in 2:15:29 which was 10th in her category so a very respectable time.

So with three PBs Honiton runners returned with smiles on their faces glad they had braved the rain and enjoyed the Tarka Trail.