Author: Ola

Running Forever athletes had a flying start to 2020 with a great turnout at the Chard Flyer 10K. The ladies did particularly well, picking up two of the top 3 finishes as well as several age category placings.

First home was Dean Bennett with a 40.37 time, closely followed by Ali Bisatt in 41.24. Our first female finisher, Jo Carritt also took the overall female prize with her 42.38 with Laura Chapman collecting third in 44.06. Our other finishers were Tanya Lewis (45.18 and 2nd age group); Ray Tutton (46.06); Chris Reah (52.07); Sally Tuer (54.33 and 2nd age group); Rob Murr (55.50); Sandra Williams (56.50); Sophie Saint (58.52); Craig Moore (65.37); Lucy Spring (66.13); Paula Bisatt (66.25); Marina Tomsett (66.55); Helen Phillips (66.55). Tanya Gault (70.45); Eliza Brodie (71.57) and Pat Pike (76.02.

Sunday saw a huge field travel to Stoke St Gregory for the very popular Stoke Stampede. Once again, we were rewarded by some great finishes with the first 3 female finishers all being RFRC members! Hannah Taunton (in a TAC vest) took top spot with a 35.32 course record, Jo Carritt continued her excellent form with a 41.03 second place with Caroline Arckless claiming third in 41.11. Well done ladies!

Brett Gatward, a new member of the Club, was first in a Club vest to cross the line in 39.06 with Dean Bennett (39.34) and Chris Brown (39.51) not far behind. Our other finishers were Phil Parsons (41.46); Andrew Saunders (42.35); Martin Webb (43.03); Scott Weetch (43.07); Laura Chapman (43.15 and 3rd in age category); Sam Wharton (43.49); James Lewes (44.36); Fintan Murray (45.51); Dave Bullock (47.06); James Takle (47.53); Chris Reah (48.22); Andy Higham (48.21); Pat Date (48.44); Duncan Gordon (48.43); Don MacPhail (49.00); Hannah Kirkman (49.40 and 1st in age category); Simon Rowland (49.48); Mercedes Thorne (51.01); Lisa Denson (50.47 and 2nd in age category); Michael Glide (51.08); Richard Mackrory (51.32); Sam Stamp (51.43); Sally Tuer (51.55 and 2nd in age category); Darren Purchase (52.23); John Allway (52.30); Chris Buckman (52.35); Jamie Hill (55.07); Jules Griffiths-Jones (57.41); Pet Aspden (58.14); Eleanor Perry (58.45); Steph Andrews (59.30); Gill Taunton (60.44); Tracy Marshall (62.25); Mark Always (62.42); Liz Williams (64.24); Tanya Gault (66.02); Eliza Brodie (67.13);Cat Gullick(68.36); Rachel Reid (70.53); Kirsti Nelson (71.16); Ali Wasey (71.16); Lisa Windson (74.17); Rachel Jones (75.22); Vince Jones (75.22); Claire Loader (75.27); Sarah Holloway (73.03); Sarah Reed (76.39) and Kerry Anne Chapman (85.54).

This week, parkrun tourists visited Winchester, Yeovil, Clevedon, Burnham, Exmouth, Cirencester, Tetbury Goods Shed and Hamilton Island in Australia. Thirty one ran on a damp and muddy Longrun Meadow course with Ola Timpson clocking her 150th run.

If you’d like to be part of this amazing and supportive Club, our next Beginners session starts on Wednesday 15th January. The course is led by English Athletics accredited coaches and will last 8 weeks when you’ll be ready for your first 5K run. There is no charge for participation but you must register via our website www.runningforever.club/beginners

Running Forever members haven’t been idle over the Christmas period, with members collecting an impressive haul of bling to add to the rest of their presents.

Jolly Running provided a lovely festive medal for Half finishers Sam Wharton and Mark Wilson who crossed the line in 2.30 in this pre-Christmas event. Taking on the full Marathon distance were Peter Hall (5.42); Georgina Brice (6.24); Rob Murr who, following a shoe malfunction, dug deep and limped home in 7.00 and Eliza Brodie who finished what when described as her toughest marathon in 8 hours.

On a slightly flatter course, Emma Greig clocked 5.24 for the 31 mile Ultra and Ray Tutton 4.10 for the 26.2 distance at the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon event.

The dynamic duo of Hannah and Gill Taunton took part in the Weston 5 mile race, clocking 29.07 and 51.06 respectively.

Popular local race, the Wellington Monument 10K nearly succumbed to the awful weather of the previous days but happily Taunton AC managed to make it through the rain and it was a great success. First Runner home for RFRC was Adam Crichton in 41.53, closely followed by Dean Bennet (42.51) and Tanya Lewis whose 46.44 earned her 3rd female finisher trophy. Our other finishers were Andrew Saunders (47.18); Martin Webb (47.18); Jonathan Newby (47.45); Chris Brown (48.53); Hannah Kirkman (53.04); Simon Rowland (53.33); Rachel Mills (56.18); Richard Mackrory (56.20); Pete Stretton (62.26) and Louise Mills (67.41).

Ali Bisatt, Paula Bisatt and Morwena Duncan took part in the Selworthy Stargazer night run, survising the hills and grim weather.

Last Sunday Laura Chapman secured 4th place female finisher trophy in the Abdominal Snowman 10 mile event on the Isle of Wight. Not quite where you’d expect to find the Yeti but I believe even he likes a festive break!

Over the Festive season, parkrun tourists visited Minehead, Fareham, Burnham, Exmouth, Kingsway, Temorfa, and Boston with Simon Denson (50), Andrew Saunders (100) and Hannah Taunton (200) clocking up milestone runs.

If you’d like to be part of this amazing and supportive Club, our next Beginners session starts on Wednesday 15th January. The course is led by English Athletics accredited coaches and will last 8 weeks when you’ll be ready for your first 5K run. There is no charge for participation but you must register via our website www.runningforever.club/beginners

It’s a quiet time in the racing calendar so Running Forever athletes took the chance to squeeze in a bit of parkrun tourism with members taking part in Finsbury, Southsea, Dudley, Nonsuch, Minehead, Winchester, Wotton and Yeovil parkruns. Twenty six splashed their way round Longrun Meadow where Emma Greig hit a PB and Don MacPhail clocked up his 50 milestone.

It was a Cracker of a weekend for twenty-six Running Forever members who took the short trip up the M5 to play on the sand at the Weston Christmas Cracker 10K. Donning their fancy dress, Santa hats and tinsel our brave contingent dodged showers, sandstorms and a bit of a breeze. First home for us was Charlie Revell in 46.46 followed by Ray Tutton (52.35) and Don MacPhail in 52.57. Other finishers were Chris Adams (58.17); Ann-Marie Crampton (58.41); Phil Parsons (59.44); Michael Turk (61.00); Craig Moore (66.57); Nadine Prouse (67.28); Liz Williams (67.54); Janette Blair (68.33); Paula Bisatt (68.59); Lucy Spring (69.40); Carl Smith (77.05); Rachel Reid (78.01); Lisa Windsor (78.15); Sarah Holloway (78.19); Sarah Reed (81.12); Tracey Yeo (81.20); Caroline Webb (81.32); Cherry Harris (84.24); Pat Pike (85.09); Kerry Chapman (88.31); Kate Mackenzie (88.32); Karen Chapman (88.32) and Claire Loader (88.32).

Georgina Brice completed 11 laps of the Goodwood Race Circuit to take the chequered flag in 5.22 at their marathon event. No mention of any pit stops or shoe changes.

Rob Murr was back on the 26.2 hunt with a 4.47 finish at the Plym Trail Marathon on Saturday.

Simon and Lisa Denson were hampered by weather of a different sort at the Dubai 10K where, despite a very early start, the sun was beating down as they crossed the line in just under 52 minutes.

At the interestingly named Cockington Caper 7.5 mile event, Pete Stretton was crowing about his 1.56 finish.

This week’s parkrun tourists visited Bath Skyline, Killerton, Cranleigh, Cassiobury, Exmouth, Stratford Park and Severn Bridge. Twenty one tackled the Longrun Meadow course where Darren Purchase and Richard Mackrory had PBs.

It was a quieter week for Running Forever as we headed towards Christmas.

Andy Burgess headed over the border to Dorset where he completed the Endurance Life Ultra is 8.08.

Also over the border, but over the sea too was Michael Davies who was in Patagonia for the Pataonman XTRi Ironman distance triathlon.

Celebrating a great year in the Somerset Series were a quartet of our female runners. Jo Carritt topped the female finishers table, Sam Wharton took third place and Tanya Lewis made it 3 in the top 5. Sally Tuer was 3rd in her age group. Well done Ladies of RFRC; lads, where are you?!

This week’s parkrun tourists visited Eastleigh, Minehead, Stonehouse, Exmouth, Bethlem Royal Hospital, King George V Playing Field and Clevedon. Thirty splashed their way round the Longrun Meadow course where Don MacPhail, Richard Mackrory and Penny Watson had PBs.

A hot bank holiday weekend might mean lazing in the garden for some, but for our runners it simply means more time to recover from races.

Saturday saw Bev Collins and Rob Murr head down to Devon for the summer edition of the Plym Trail Marathon. They survived the hills and the heat to finish in 4 hours 35 and 5 hours 12 respectively.

Also that day, Louise Mills returned to her childhood town in Wales for the Llantwit Major 10k, which she finished in 1:08:18.

On Sunday, several of our runners couldn’t decide which side of the Welsh border to run on, and so ran across the Severn Bridge. Kirsti Nelson and Jamie Hill both completed the Severn Bridge Half Marathon in 2:34:03, with Ali Wasey (1:14:29) and Carl Smith (1:18:13) choosing the 10k distance.

Our biggest group of runners went to the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k in Langport. Battling their way through the heat were Chris Brown (36:56), Emma Kiernan (40:17, in Taunton AC kit), Michael Threlfall (41:43), Lee Derrick (51:12), Pat Date (51:59), Simon Rowland (52:02), Ola Timpson (57:33), Robert Williams (1:01:46), Peter Stretton (1:03:43), Lucy Spring (1:04:08), Craig Moore (1:05:02), Brian Brown (1:07:41), Rachel Reid (1:14:21), Lisa Windsor (1:14:07), Tracy Yeo (1:19:11), Sarah Reed (1:21:20) and Sarah Holloway (1:22:35).

This week’s parkrun tourists went to Barnstaple, Bexley, Darlington South Park, Minehead, Severn Valley, Southsea, The Old Showfield and Winchester. 30 runners stayed home at Longrun Meadow, where Rachel Nicholls got a new PB.

If you’re inspired to get running, we have a new Beginners Group starting on 18th September. Go to our Beginners Group page for details of how to sign up.

It was another great sporting weekend when Running Forever members refused to be eclipsed by some bloke driving in a circle or some other blokes with bats. For tales of truly epic feats, read on …

Massive congratulations to Helen Needs who completed her first Ultra at the Race to the Stones 50K event. Despite a tumble early on, Helen found the stones and a lovely bit of bling in 8.14.

Also on the Ultra trail were the intrepid trio of Ali Bisatt, Sam Wharton and Damon Butler who headed to Snowdonia for the very tough Trail Ultra. After a massive amount of running up, running down and wobbling on the edges Ali finished in 7.14 to take 4th in his age group, Sam swept up 5th female finished with her 7.44 and Damon slayed the dragons of last year to cross the line in 10.11.

A little trip in a boat and a bit of a run for Ian Bawler and Rachel Nicholls who travelled to Lundy Island for their 13.5 mile tour of this beautiful place, some beautiful views later Ian finished in 2.40 and Rachel in 3.26.

Making things just slightly trickier, Heather Pearce and Sarah Henderson had to forego the boat and swim between the run legs of the Breca Gower. A total of 37km of running and 5km of swimming, plus 18 transitions between the two, was completed in 9 hours.

The Blackdown Beauty isn’t really a race; it’s more of a scenic run with a cream tea and a few pub stops to break up the miles. These are some of the favourite things of RFRC members so well done to Simon Rowland, Chris Buckman and James Talke who tackled the 19 mile course and to Eliza Brodie who did the 13 mile route and all remembered that in RFRC rule that it’s red before white as far as club scone eating is concerned.

It was off to the Otter Rail and River 10K for Sally Tuer on Sunday where here efforts saw her crossing the line in 56.53 for a 2nd age group place.

Pat Pike took a run up Brean Down and her 1.13 finish in the 10K saw her take the top spot in her age group.

Eight members travelled to Tiverton for the Grand Western Canal Run 10K. There are no official times for this event but our members are well drilled and equipped with their own technology. Tanya Lewis was our first finisher in 49.00, followed by Simon Rowland in 56.42 (despite his 19 miles and 3 scones the day before at the Blackdown Beauty). Malcolm Hutchings (59.40) just pipped Dave Mackenzie (60.00), with Tracey Marshall crossing the line in 67 minutes. Rachel Jones finished in 1.23, with our final duo of Kate Mackenzie & Karen Chapman sticking together to collect their medal in 1.32

Gavin Clegg took 1st M60 place in the Marston Lodge Spartan Sprint 5K which also involved 19 obstacles including a barbed wire crawl and a rope climb!

A quartet of members travelled to Yeovilton on Wednesday night a race in their popular 5K series. Ann-Marie Crampton (24.53) set the pace with Ola Timpson (25.03), Sally Tuer (25.51) and Mercedes Thorne (25.57) hot on her heels.

Parkrun tourists travelled to Black Park. Poole, Winchester, Thornbury, Forest Rec, Burnham and Exmouth. Thirty two took on the local course at Longrun Meadow where Tanya Herbison scored a PB and the first male (Chris Brown) and first female (Caroline Norris) spots were taken by Running Forever members.

Running Forever took part in some Beastly activity up thanks to the Quantock Harriers and their annual Quantock Beast trail race. On a sunny Sunday, Dowan Kwon was our first runner home, his 38.40 earing him 7th place overall. Our Jo Carritt was first female overall in 41.32, with Tanya Lewis taking 2nd in her Age Group after crossing the line in 46.44.

Our other finishers were Dave Bullock (49.21); Nigel Baker (52.40); Lee Derrick (55.14); Simon Rowland (57.00); Mercedes Thorne (57.53); Phil Parsons (58.14); Emily Vining (62.04); Joanne Toogood (63.24); Rachel Nicholls (66.23); Peter Stretton (67.58); Vicky Hanna (67.58); Brian Brown (69.48); Nic Saint (69.49); Val Perigo (71.51); Lisa Windsor (74.17) and Sarah Holloway (80348).

Albion Running organised a nice trip to the seaside on Saturday as runners raced the 50K from Ham to Lyme. The promise of a cooling dip in the sea saw Dan Talbot finish the run in 5.03 in 8th place. Emma Perkins, Lisa Rossiter and Andy Burgess dipped their toes in the water in 6.55 with Chris Gunn and Adrian Edwards making a splash in 7.16.

Top distance effort this weekend from Peter Hall who completed the 104 miles of the 1066 King Harold way race from Barnes to Battle in 31hours 20 minutes with not an Norman in sight.
Also on the long distance trail was Andy Higham whose 100K effort on the Serpent Trail on the South Downs took him 15.35.

Distance travelled for an event was won by Simon and Lisa Denson who were in Austria for the Glacier Half Marathon in Imst. Simon won first in his age category with his 1.28 and Lisa crossing the line in 1.59.

A quartet travelled to the New Forest for their scenic 10 mile race. Ray Tutton came home in 1.20, Marina Tomsett and Helen Phillips in 1.47 and returning from a nasty injury, Lucy Spring was delighted with her 1.51 time.

The mythical unicorn was out in record numbers in Dorset over the weekend with Helen Moffat completing 3 laps (16 miles) of the Unicorn Frolic on Saturday. The Moreton Marathon was run at the same venue on Sunday with Bev Collins, Rob Murr and Georgina Brice finishing in 4.59, 5.43 and 5.54 respectively; both ladies taking 3rd places in their age categories.

Parkrun tourists ventured to Torbay Velopark, Nonsuch, Minehead, Killerton, Winchester, Forest Rec, Burnham, Exmouth, Jersey Farm and Rouen. Thirty seven took on the local course at Longrun Meadow where Pat Pike picked up her 100th run tshirt and Gill Taunton completed her 200th parkrun. There were PBs for Jamie Bousfield and Luke Thorne.

Running Forever were delighted to send a contingent of 22 to the inaugural Minster Milers 10K Mash, it’s always great to support new local events. The course promised lots of hills and it certainly delivered those along with bright sunshine and a great atmosphere.

Mike Threlfall was our first man home, his 44.13 time earning him first place in the V50 category. Close behind was Caroline Norris who took the first female finisher prize in 45.20. Dave Bullock tacked the hills to cross the line in 51.14, followed by Duncan Gordon (53.29), Simon Rowland (54.39) and Lee Derrick (55.55).

Other Club finishers were Jamie Hill (58.26); Steph Andrews (59.59); Ann-Marie Crampton (61.04); Phil Parsons (61.13); Nic Saint (65.50); Brian Brown (71.21); Val Perigo (71.58); Tracy Marshall (72.18); Lisa Windsor (73.57); Kirsti Nelson (75.24); Ali Wasey (75.24) Rachel Reid (77.34); Pat Pike (79.05); Tracy Yeo (81.10); Sarah Reed (81.11) and Rachael Jones (82.28).

Birthday girl Helen Moffat started off her celebrations with a visit to the North Devon AONB Half Marathon where her 2.27 time got the party off to a great start.

Parkrun tourists ventured to Torbay Velopark, Moors Valley, Hereford, Lacing Beach Green and Woolacombe Downs. Thirty one took on the local course at Longrun Meadow where Emma Harris completed her 50th parkrun.

It was off to sunny Dorset for several members this weekend for the Giants Head Marathon and it’s littler sibling the Sydling Hill Race. These White Star Running events are always popular as they provide the world’s biggest ice creams at the finish as well as a rather splendid medal.

Martin Webb and Rob Murr took on the Giant and defeated him in 4.51 and 6.39 respectively. Duncan Gordon and Jamie Hill were first back to the ice cream van in the 11K race in 1.17 with Peter Stretton (1.25), Carl Moppett (1.29) and Brian Brown (1.30) not far behind them in the queue. Hopefully there was still plenty of sprinkles left when Vicky Hanna, Doris Nelson and Ali Wasey finished in 1.41 and Eliza Brodie in 1.43.

Wimbleball lake provided a perfect venue this weekend for the inaugural Immortal 10K which Sally Tuer finished in 62 minutes to claim her age group prize. Adding a bit of a dip and a cycle to her 10K, Nadine Prouse completed the Immortal Classic triathlon at the same venue in 4.05.

James Nicholas went to the seaside for the Torbay Half which he completed in 1.33.

Taking things a bit further, Ali Bisatt and Robin Upton took part in the 30 mile Exmoor Perambulation, touring the sights of Exmoor in 6.37 to finish 3rd and 4th in this ‘not really a race’ event.

Distance of the weekend goes to Jonathan Newby for his completion of the Jurassic coast 100K race in 16.37.

Parkrun tourists ventured to South Manchester, Winchester, Southwick, Tamar Lakes, Burnham, Portsmouth, Exmouth and Somerdale. Thirty five took on the local course at Longrun Meadow where Tarun Solaki completed his 150th parkrun.