This weekend was a big one for Running Forever when we hosted the Humdinger and Hurtle races in the beautiful Quantock Hills, one of two events we host each year (at least when there isn’t a pandemic underway). The other being the Herepath Half in the equally beautiful and equally hilly Blackdown Hills.
After a gap due to the pandemic, the races returned with a new start and finish location at the Fyne Court National Trust property. The change of location allowed Race Director Sandra Moffat to rework the courses to have even better views than the previous routes, and of course she introduced even more hills which resulted in (largely) positive feedback from the runners… Even so, there were some very rapid finishers for both events!
For the Humdinger, which measures a kilometre over half marathon distance, first home was Michael Sandiford in an incredible time of 1:19:53 followed by Oliver Rant (1:24:14) and Adam Fieldhouse (1:27:12). First female home in a storming time was Gill Pearson in 1:34:47, and then in close order Lisa Hallett (1:54:02) and Hazel Hole (1:55:02) taking second and third spots. Hannah Baker was the sole Running Forever participant finishing in a very respectable 2:02:21.
The Hurtle is the shorter sibling of the Humdinger, a great choice if you want a taste of road racing in the Quantocks but without opting for the Humdinger distance. In a very small field almost half of the runners bagged a trophy. Securing first dibs on the cakes in the café was Robert Mann in 26:34, with James Clapperton next in (34:07). We then had first and second females in a close finish – Amy Chandler securing the win in 35:44 with Zoe Seaton just a few seconds back in 35:56. Terry Prowse (37:01) rounded off the top 3 males and Liz Eele the third female in 44:01.
Numbers were down on previous years, as is the case for many races this year, but we hope to welcome many more runners next year to enjoy what is a fantastic event, especially if you like hills!
In the antithesis of a hilly race, Scott Weetch took on the Winding Paths Canal Canter 50k, completing the ultra distance in 5h35m to secure 10th place. I imagine Scott would have enjoyed an incline or two to mix things up after such an incredible distance along the towpath!
Four RFRCers also raced the very popular Slay the Dragon off road 10k at Hinton St George. There is good club participation every year on what is an attractive course with a nasty hill just before the end – it’s almost as if they planned it!It wasn’t a good day for the dragons with all four committing dracocide in good times. Ron Foord led them home in 52:15 followed closely by Sam Cross in 54:35. Sally Tuer and Helen Prescott both conquering the dragon and the final hill to finish in 1:00:15 and 1:01:01 respectively.
Club parkrunners took on eight different venues this week in a variety of locations including Longrun Meadow, Bournemouth, Killerton, Burnham, Crosby, Exmouth Frogmary Green Farm and Jersey Farm (in St Albans of course).