Wow – what a weekend! We kicked of with ‘RFRC does parkrun’ at Longrun Meadow, where the club filled all of the volunteer roles, to ensure people got around a very splishy sploshy course!
From Taunton we have access to some of the best trail events in England & Wales. The sub-optimal winter weather has made these events tougher than ever, but enjoying these challenging conditions in Wales were Cathy Parmenter and Julie Gilbert completing the 43 mile Canum Ultra along the ‘Mon & Brec’ Canal. Also in the principality was Peter Hall for a very muddy and windy 33 mile Vale Coastal Ultra.
We had several runners taking place in events along the south coast, including the self-declared ‘brutal’ Exe to Axe 22-miler. As anyone familiar with the coast path knows, if it isn’t going up it’s going down and with a bunch of steps thrown in. Regardless, the six hardy souls of Dee Finch, Emma Biswas, Jonathan Newby, Martin Webb, Paul Parmenter & Rob Harris got the job done!
Just along the coast Chris Manley and Hannah Baker ran the Powderham Castle 10-miler, again over challenging terrain.
Still at the coast was race regular Eliza Brodie with Chris White, who took part in the Southampton Half Marathon.
Further east we had club representation in the Brighton Marathon and 10k, which despite the trek to get there is popular with the club. This year Kate Mackenzie ran the 10k, with Karen Chapman, Kirsti Nelson, Paula Bisatt, Ron Foord & Sam Cross running strongly in the marathon – including a hat trick of marathon first timers!
In London Chris White, Lucy Stancer and Sarah Holloway took part in the popular London Landmarks Half marathon, with a route that takes in much of central London.
Running under RFRC colours for the first time was Pam Beattie who completed the Brabazon Half Marathon up in Patchway, Bristol.
Also in an RFRC debut at half marathon distance was Tanya Downes who ran the Prague half marathon, one of the European Superhalfs race series.
Finally, Steven Cockram took part in an event that has captured the media’s interest joining Russ Cook ‘Hardest Geezer’ in Tunisia on his last 27 mile run to complete an epic journey across Africa!
