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Weekly round up: 15th November 2021

A large group of Running Forever trail runners took to the hills of South Wales on Saturday 13th November for the ever popular Up Hill Down Dale Beacons Ultra, a 47 mile route in the Brecon Beacons. Running in memory of Adrian Edwards, a much-loved club member who passed away earlier in the year, they were blessed by favourable weather for this very challenging route, made tougher by being a two-lapper; the runners know exactly what they are in for when they leave the halfway checkpoint! A few had also done the Porto Marathon the week before and needed the extra help of their memories of Adrian to get around lap two. First home for the club and in 4th place overall was Sam Carden in 7h42, with Dean Bennett (7h58) and Ali Bisatt (8h32) close behind, and then 3rd lady Sam Wharton and Robin Upton (both 9h56). Next over the finish line were Fintan Murray (10h42), Andy Burgess (10:51) and Martin Webb (10:52), then the trio of Dave Marshall, Jon Newby and Mark Wilson in 11h32. Andy Higham (11:48) and Sandra Moffatt (13:16) followed them in, and lastly the group of Chris Buckman, Matt Blee and Chris Gunn all completed the course in 14h03. Also taking on a loopy endeavour, four club members headed to Cricket St Thomas to take on the Lemur Loop which offers a range of distances from a 10k single lap all the way up to as many laps as you can manage in 12 hours. Three club members, Ann-Marie Crampton, Helen Prescott and Sally Tuer, all opted for the 10k which they completed in 1h08. Brett Gatward, channelling his inner hamster, went around the loop six times in all for a grand total of 35 miles in 11:15. Rob Murr travelled over to Walton on Thames to pay his respects by taking part in the Phoenix Running Remembrance Run, during which at 11:00 the runners out on the course pause to observe the 2 minute silence. Rob completed the event in 5h44m to receive his poignant medal. A bumper crop of 36 parkrunners took part across 10 different courses this week, including Kingsway (2), Hampstead Heath (1), Newport (1), Lanydrock (1), Worthing (1), Exmouth (2), Bolberry Down (1), Central Park (Plymouth, not New York! 1), Cranbrook Country Park (1) and the usual good turnout of 25 at Longrun Meadow.