Author: Peter

Two recent traditions were upheld in last week’s set of races. 1. The racing week was kicked off on the Wednesday by two of our regularly competing triathletes, Sally Tuer and Simon Rowland at the Cromhall Sprint Triathlon, and 2. Sally won her age category! Also on the Wednesday, Emily Macaulay travelled a short distance down the M5 to race the Exeter 10k, motoring her way to the finish in 55m19s.

We had competitors in a diverse set of events last week, but closest to home was the firm favourite the Piddlewood Plod, returning after a covid break on what was a bit of a scorcher of a day, so much so that the race start time was brought forward an hour to 10:00. The race starts and finishes at Thurlbear primary school and the pupils there play a major part in it, designing and making the medals and generally getting involved with the event, half of the proceeds of which goes to the school and the excellent cakes on offer ensure this is a large total! First back for the club was Ben Timpson in an excellent 10th placed time of 44m51s. The full set of club results were Andrew Saunders (45m44s), Ali Bisatt (49m47s), Ron Foord (53m23s), Phil Sorrell (55m15s), Pete Richards (56m03s), Simon Rowland (58m31s), Richard Mackrory (1h00m), Matt Blee (1h01m), Lisa Denson (first club lady 1h02m), Emily Macaulay (1h04m), Jamie Hill (1h06m), Richard Hill (1h07m), Steph Andrews (1h08m), Nadine Prouse (1h09m), Katie Baker (1h11m), Sherri Dingle (1h15m), Emma Salter (1h16m), Adrian Troake (1h16m), Dan Devlin (1h19m), Paula Bisatt (1h24m) and Gerri Fagan (1h24m).

This year was the first award of a trophy by the Piddlewood Plod race organisers in memory of RFRC Member Adrian Edwards, which was won by Pete Richards.

Also locally, we had four runners in the Blackdown Beauty run. This event isn’t timed so Bev Collins, Jane Cooke and Peter Hall had as much time on the 18 mile route as they wanted to take in the beautiful sights of the Blackdown Hills and a rather nice looking cream tea! Emily Macaulay completed the short route.

Emma Greig travelled to the Pennines for the Pennine 39 NAV4 Adventure. This hilly but beautiful route does what few ultra marathons achieve, and actually comes up a couple of miles short of the advertised distance, but still manages to pack 5500ft of climbing in the route. Emma is well-known as a fantastic walker in the club, ‘Emma Greiging’ even being recognised as a very fast walking style and she used that to good effect, marching around the course in 11h44m.

Furthest afield this week was Matt Price, who has been undertaking a series of very challenging (see: bonkers) races this year. The latest was the E51 Panorama Trail in the shadow of the Eiger, 51kms of very lumpy but breathtakingly beautiful alpine trail and forest path taking in over 9000ft of climbing, and a very scary looking footbridge which just about clings on to a cliff edge. Matt completed the amazing event in 11h16m.

With good timing given the hot weather, there were only a couple of events for RFRCers this week, but they couldn’t have been more different.

Race regular Nick Brazier took on the July edition of the short and sharp RunExe 5k Summer Series in Exeter, which was over in no time. Nick clocking a very impressive 20m14s.

The other race was on Lundy island, and taking into account a ferry journey of 2-hours each way it took up most of the day for Paul Thompson, Sally Tuer and Tanya Lewis. They were blessed with fabulous, but rather warm, weather for the 13.5 mile PureTrail UK Lundy Island Race on a spectacular course covering more or less all of the island. Sticking together they puffed past the puffins and other associated wildlife to finish in 3h10m, which was enough to get second in age category for Sally.

A core of 20 parkrunners were at Longrun Meadow, with club representation also at Exmouth, Frogmary Green, Horsham, Northala Fields, Parke, Perry Hall, Teignmouth and Weymouth.

Some beastly running this weekend and (Gor)Dean Bennett, he’s only gone one better than the Dartmoor Discovery! But more of that later.

There are a few races each year which really bring out the FOMO feeling for those who aren’t taking part, and one of those is definitely Albion Running’s Ham & Lyme 50k/100k trail ultra marathon. The saner individuals (no ultra runner is truly sane) participate in the 50k distance over a beautiful and hilly route from Ham Hill down to the seafront in Lyme Regis. The completely not sane 100k runners getting the pleasure of doubling up, starting in Lyme Regis then running to Ham Hill and back again!

RFRC had great representation in the 50k event, with 38 runners making it to the iconic finish along the front at Lyme. There are too many runners to reel off individually, but huge congratulations to all, especially those for whom this was their first ultra marathon.

We also had representation in the very challenging 100k event. Joanna Gavins completed her maiden 100k with the support of two club members, each keeping Joanna company by taking a 50k leg. Also running his maiden 100k race was Dean Bennett, fresh from an impressive 2nd place at the Dartmoor Discovery ultra marathon in early June. In what was a truly awesome performance Dean finished in an astounding 9h56m to take the overall victory in what is only the second sub-10 hour finishing time in the race’s history.

There was more to celebrate for RFRC on Sunday at the Quantock Beast. Serial-winner Sally Tuer continues to dominate her age category with another well earned win. The glory was then shared with Vicky Hanna, Helen Prescott and Paula Bisatt who, as a foursome with Sally, took the women’s group prize.

Congratulations also to Ben Timpson, Jamie Hill, Cathy Parmenter, Val Perigo, Sarah Holloway and Lisa Windsor!

Not all of the action was local this weekend. Emily Macaulay headed to the Leeds 10k and finished in an impressive 53m59s.

Simon Rowland was at English Riviera sprint triathlon event in Torbay, continuing his almost weekly race tempo, completing the race in 2h11m and scoring 3rd place in age category.

Participation was down a bit at Longrun Meadow parkrun on account of the Ham & Lyme ultra, but we still had 16 taking part. Tourists also visited Woodhouse Moor, Brockenhurst, Penrose, Woolacombe Dunes, Tidworth and Zuiderpark in The Hague, which sounds like it should be in Somerset!

This weekend saw the return of the legendary White Star Running Giants Head and Sydling Hill race weekend, back after a covid break since 2019. Everything about this event is big, the welcome of the village of Sydling St Nicholas, the frequent and steep hills, the monstrous post-race ice creams and most of all the Cerne Abbas Giant’s ‘best feature’, a spinning version of which features on the medal.

As befits a popular local race we had a good turnout across the marathon and Sydling Hill 10k events. A hilly half dozen took on the marathon. Simon Denson was first back in 4h16m, followed by some precision running by Scott Weetch to cross the line 2 seconds under the 5-hour mark. Next back was Rob Harris whose local knowledge of the hills took him round in 5h23m despite his training being cut short. The next pair to secure the legendary finishers’ medal were Mercedes Thorne and Jules Griffiths-Jones in 5h57m followed by White Star event regular Rob Murr in 6h45m.

The Sydling Hill 10k, which starts 90 minutes after the marathon and benefits from the combined supporters for both events, had seven from the club taking part. First back and securing an early position in the ice cream queue was Vicky Hanna in 1h24m with Duncan Gordon less than a minute behind. Rachel Reid also ensured she was back before there was any risk they were out of sprinkles in 1h45m. The next four crossed the line in pairs – Kirsti Nelson and Sarah Reed in 1h59 and Suzanne Templeman and Lisa Windsor in 2h3m.

Dorset has some decent hills, but if you want mountains then Wales is the best local option, and as a result it receives visits from club members several times a year. This weekend Sam Wharton and Mark Wilson took on the Trail Events Co Black Mountains Marathon, which comes complete with 3 bonus miles taking the total to just over 29 miles. Not content with over-delivering on distance, somehow they’ve managed to cram 7000ft of climbing into the race as well. Sam and Mark finished together in 7h23m in what was very much a test of endurance to complete the route, and determination to make it through the weather, which treated them to horizontal hail storms.

Tracy Marshall headed over to Lacock in Wiltshire for a Relish Running 10k which she completed under the hour in 59m42s.

Sandra Moffat took part in the Montane Summer Spine race along the Pennine Way, covering a ridiculous 145 miles before retiring, but I’m sure she will be back for another go!

parkrun saw a good attendance of 23 RFRCers at Longrun Meadow, and UK-based tourists roamed as near as Exmouth, Killerton and Weymouth, and as far as Greenwich. By far the most exotic destination, and also trickiest to spell, was Speyer Leinpfad on the banks of the Rhine in Germany.

One would think that with the amount of racing last week that we would be having a rest but our brilliant members are always pounding the pavements and trails of Somerset and beyond and this week is no exception.

5 red and white clad runners ventured out to take on the Martock 10km and enjoy the sun with a local race. First over the line for a pb was Andrew Saunders (38:48), followed by Ray Tutton (42:59), next in were Don MacPhail (46:58) and Richard Mackrory (51:39), with Daniel Delvin (1:11) bringing the club home.

We were also represented at another 10k this time down in deepest Devon by Louise Mills who had what looks like a great time running the Plymouth 10k, well worth it for the delight of the finishing the race next to the iconic Smeaton’s Tower!

Meanwhile, we were also on Exmoor, where Chris Gunn bested the Exmoor Preprambulations course to finish in 7:40, a great achievement on a challenging 30-miler.

Midweek saw the Town tree trail and a tremendous 12 runners decend upon the race for what looked to have been a hot but enjoyable Somerset Series event.

For the regular report readers Georgina Brice needs no introduction, she is one of the 100 marathon club and as a result it would be understandable to expect to hear about a marathon…nope, Georgina took part in the Centaur 100-miler, 100x 1-mile laps! Legs begin to ache at those mere words but she only went and did it, finishing the event in (31.44) a great showing of grit and determination for sure.

Our fine RFRC athletes aren’t just amazing runners though…oh no.

We also had two members completing the West Bay Triathlon, Simon Rowland (1.47) and Helen Prescott (1.55). Meanwhile Liz Williams cycled the Dartmoor classic.

Well done to all our members this week and we cannot wait to see the amazing feat’s that you get up to next!

There were runners and supporters all over the place this weekend including a full set of home nations events. As is the way lately, the triathlon crew were first off the mark, and this week it was the Cromhall Sprint Triathlon where Helen Prescott led club members home in a great time of 1h28m, followed jointly by Simon Rowland and Sally Tuer in 1h34m, which for Sally was enough to maintain her prize-winning ways and secure age graded victory. Not content with one victory Sally then headed to Northern Ireland to bag an age category win in the Carrickfergus Castle Triathlon on Sunday.

Another regular racer, Georgina Brice, hasn’t let hitting the 100-mile marker in April stop her. She’s already up to 102 after finishing the Phoenix Running Squid Marathon to take her total to 102 and counting.

In Wales, Hannah Kirkman ran a blistering 1h46m for the Swansea half marathon, taking several minutes off her previous time in the event.

The club has a very keen ultra-marathon section, and these tend to start on a Saturday to enable people to a)recover in time for work on Monday or, in extreme cases, b) have time to finish the race because it is so very long! We had a bit of both this weekend but I’ll start with one of the absolute club favourites for runners and supporters, the Dartmoor Discovery, or DD as it is universally known.

Most ultra marathon races are trail, with a lot of variety of surface – the DD is basically a very hilly 32.5 road ‘marathon’ with timing cut-offs at 13.1, 20 and 26.2 miles. That makes it a little more relentless than a typical ultra, but for some reason people love it, and even those that hate it come back for more!

For Running Forever it’s an annual pilgrimage that is made not only by the runners but also by the absolutely amazing supporters who can be found popping up all over the place to cheer-on club members (and everyone else) as they make their way through the tough course. The iconic spot is at 22 miles where the RFRC flags can be seen waving and the supporters can be heard cheering as runners crest yet another hill. It gives every one of us a tremendous lift, and this year there was so much extra lift from the wind that one of the flags blew off the flagpole!

We had a great turn out of 17 starters this year, although we lost 3 along the way. The DD weekend is much more than the race, and I know each of the DNFers were happy to have participated on the back of what hadn’t been ideal preparation.

Right at the front of the pack was our very own Dean Bennett who scored an amazing 2nd place in 4h2m, putting in a casual 3h12m for the first 26.2 and then just keeping on going. Dean also bagged the 1st V45 prize. Next back for the club was John Hunt in 5h26m, a fantastic time made more incredible when considering that John withdrew from last year’s DD with a broken leg. What a comeback! In third place for the club was James Lewes, striding home in 5h40m. Together that was enough to take the 3rd place men’s prize, giving Dean his third piece of glassware of the day.

Another notable finisher was Scott Weetch, who completed his 50th marathon/ultra marathon with this iconic race, maintaining his place on the all time DD finishers leaderboard in the process.

Congratulations are also due to Andy Phillips, Dave Loader, Emma Perkins, Fintan Murray, Joanna Gavins, Lisa Denson, Mark Wilson, Peter Hall, Sam Wharton and Simon Denson for completing the race within the 6h30m cut-off, with some having more time to spare than others!

Our furthest flung athlete this week was Andy Higham, who headed to Scotland for the Cairngorms Trail Ultra. The 36 spectacular miles of this event takes Andy to 12 out of 15 in his goal of completing an ultra marathon in each of the UK’s National Parks.

Two events remain for this week’s report and the distances start to get ridiculous. The first of them was Matt Price taking on the Jurassic Coast 100km covering pretty much all of Lyme Bay from Weymouth to Exmouth. To anyone who has run in this area you know it’s challenging terrain, made tougher still be starting the race at 9pm and straight into a night section. Matt defied the odds to complete race on what was a warm day and crossed the line in 20 hours.

So what do you do to top a 100km run? Do a 100 mile run of course, which is exactly what Robin Upton did when he took on the South Downs Way 100. The race starts just east of Winchester and takes in an impressive slice of the South East before finishing in Eastbourne. The dream time for those crazy individuals who take on a 100-miler is to complete the race in under 24 hours. Robin arrived in Eastbourne at dawn in an incredible time of 23h2m, breaking the club all-time record for 100 miles in the process and earning a coveted buckle in the process.

The club had representation in just three events this weekend, most were partaking of various Platinum Jubilee celebration opportunities instead.

Sam Wharton and Mark Wilson risked the bank holiday traffic for a trip north to race the beautiful Ullswater 20-miler. They were rewarded with a rare day of sunshine in the Lake District, adding to the already stunning scenery. As is traditional for a trail race it was a bit over distance at 21.5 miles and they finished together in 4h38m.

The Somerset Series races are largely back on track this year and so a half dozen headed over to Crewkerne for the combined 10k and 5k race. All RFRC entrants opted for the 10k and were lead home by Ben Timpson in 42m15s, followed by Sally Tuer in 56m50s whose speedy time won her the 55+ Female age category first prize trophy. Helen Prescott dipped under the hour at 58m05s, and Paula McShane (1h04m), Sherri Dingle (1h05m) and Emma Salter (1h07m) all finished just over the hour and within a few minutes of each other.

Simon Rowland continued his series of triathlon events but going for more distance this time in the Cotswold 113 70.3 miles event, turning in a very good time of 7h16m.

Most club members who managed to fit a parkrun in to their long weekend did so at Longrun Meadow where we had 29 runners, with two further runners just up the road in Burnham on Sea. The award for most exotic location of the week goes to Claire Allison who was at Vallaskogen in Sweden.

A very Celtic theme to this week’s race report, which can only mean some mountains, Scottish and Welsh ones.

For those who read last week’s report and are wondering how Martin Webb got on after setting off on a ridiculously long race in the NW of Scotland – well basically he just kept running all week and completed the gruelling 400km Cape Wrath ultra on Sunday in a time of 64h53m. As if the distance wasn’t enough in its own right, the race also has more than 45,000 feet of climbs, that’s more than 1.5 Mt Everests. A truly momentous achievement – congratulations Martin!

Sticking with Scotland but away from the wilderness, we had two runners in the Edinburgh marathon. Susan Bryant finished at just over the four-hour mark in 4h01m, with Ann-Marie Crampton reaching the finish at the coast in Musselburgh in 4h46m.

Our next Celtic venue is Snowdonia where Jonathan Newby and Chris Gunn put their regular Blackdown Hills training to the test in the long version of the Welsh 1000m Peaks Race, which takes in all five 1000m+ Snowdonia peaks. The race is hardcore, right down to not allowing GPS. I guess you just point yourself at a mountain and start running, and then repeat four more times!

Jonathan got around the course in 8h43m, taking in 9500ft of elevation in just over 20 miles, roughly 475ft per mile on average. By comparison, club favourite the Dartmoor Discovery comes in at about 120ft per mile! Unfortunately Chris didn’t quite get round this brutal course, retiring at checkpoint 6 after 16.5 miles.

Finally, we return to England, and are right back at home in Taunton for the local triathlon of a 400m swim, 21km cycle and finished off with a 5.7km run. We had three athletes in the race and first back was Sarah Capstick, who was third place in her age category with a time of 1h21m. Simon Rowland, one of our most frequent racers this year, was next club member over the line in 1h26m and the trio of finishers was completed by Katie Baker in 1h36. Well done all!

Last week’s extreme mileage events have given way to more typical distances this week, with one notable exception we’ll get to further down. Club members took part in several races over the weekend, which we’ll cover from south to north, starting in Haldon Forest near Exeter where Helen Prescott finished the Haldon Summer Series 10k May edition in 1h8m.

Moving ever so slightly north to Exeter itself several RFRCers took part in the hugely popular Great West Run half marathon. Leading the crew home were Kevin Garner (1h46m) then the smallest of gaps to Ron Foord (1h47m) and right behind him Nick Brazier (1h49m). Sam Cross dipped well under 2 hours in 1h55m, followed home by Chris Adams (2h10m) and Rosie Benneyworth (2h16m). It was a beautiful sunny day although a little too sunny for the quite hilly course.

Heading a few junctions up the M5 we had a fabulous five enjoying a couple of trail races put on by Prosper Events in the club’s home town of Taunton . We had two entrants in the 10k with great times of 53m36s for Damian Lake and 1h8m for Tracy Marshall. The balance of three club members took on the half marathon. Chris Manley, getting pacier by the week, was third male home in 1h39m, Dee Finch was back a few minutes over two hours in 2h05m, and Flo Bridges running with a friend was around in 2h28m.

Now we move up many more junctions of the M5 and half way up the M6 for the Great Run Manchester half marathon, where Sherri Dingle raced around her old haunts in a PB time of 2h21m.

Finally, heading almost as far north as you can get without the help of a boat we have Martin Webb who is taking part in the iconic Cape Wrath Ultra. A ridiculously long event of 400kms over 8 days, much of it in the wilds of north west Scotland with not even a trail to guide him. This is a properly tough event, which is so long it will span into next week’s race report as well!

Martin is off to a good start, although as you can see from the photo he has taken ‘reversible’ to the next level. I wonder if some locals told him that wearing it that way round was midge-proof (is that even a thing?)?

Plenty of parkrun action this week too – a total of 9 different events. Longrun Meadow in Taunton as you’d expect having the most entrants with 25 taking part from the club. Some of the parkrun events have interesting names, I think this week’s winner is Alice Holt near Farnham where we had 1 runner. Surely someone called Alice Holt will have taken part. The most boring name goes to Parke, graced by 2 club members. Other events with one club entrant were Berkeley Green, Bideford, Cranbrook, Higginson and Seaton, plus Gloucester North was visited by the Timpson family, who have managed quite a bit of parkrun tourism between them.