Author: Peter

Taunton Marathon was back this weekend and that meant that the red and white of RFRC was out in force, both as runners and as marshals.

On the Marathon trail were the RFRC Magnificent Seven, led home by first time marathoner Andrew Saunders in 3.09 to take a 2nd age group spot. Dan Talbot (3.41) and Ray Tutton (3.43) were next with Ray taking 3rd AG position. Emma Perkins and Andy Burgess both dipped under the 4 hours with their 3.57 joint effort, with Jo Gavins and Mercedes Thorne also sticking together to finish in 4.16.

Almost 40 Club members tackled the Half distance, with many such as Emma Salter and Sherri Dingle for the first time. There were some great PB runs including Darren Purchase, Chris Manley, Chris Adams and Rachel Nicholls. There were 2nd AG spots for Sally Tuer and John Townend and 3rds for Richard Mackrory and Hannah Kirkman.

Well done all of you, those who had to dig deep to find the strength to finish the distance as well as the gazelles who make it seem so effortless.

Up in Manchester, Emma Kiernan and James Beach were speeding round the city to clock 3.02 and 3.47 respectively for the 26.2 distance.

Down in that London place, it looked like Lisa Windsor, Suzanne Templeman and Sarah Holloway were having great fun at the London Landmarks Half Marathon.

It was a trip along the motorway for Sam Wharton and Mark Wilson this weekend where they both clocked 1.43 for the Reading Half. I await confirmation that this was in the 3 legged race category

On the street of Paris, Oliver Bagnara was passing the Eiffel Tower and collecting his medal in 5.43.

The Buttleigh of my last joke this weekend was Ben Timpson who took part in the 10K event in this village. It’s part of the Somerset Series and Ben crossed the line in just under 46 minutes.

Parkrunners we’re in Minehead, Killerton, Frogmary Green and Durlston Country Park as well as Longrun Meadow.

Finally, we’re all dot watching as Emma Greig is mid way in the Northern Traverse Challenge which is 300km coast to coast event. Still going strong as I type and fuelled by a veritable smorgasbord of cake and goodies we’re waiting to see where Emma partakes of the traditional mid route cream tea.

Where to begin, there’s so many options as we had red and white clad runners all over. Speaking of red, a host of members crossed the Severn in a bid to make the city streets as red as they are on match-day, and some running of course. First home for the club was Andrew Saunders in a super speedy (1.24), next close to one another were Simon Rowland (1.47) and Ron Foord (1.48). The first two Ladies were hot on their heels, Sam Cross (1.53) and Sally Tuer (1.58). A RFRC train of four then flew across the finish line in tight formation, Damon Butler (2.03), Chris Adams (2.05), Ann-Marie Crompton (2.06) and Lee Macklin (2.06). Then last but not least bringing the club’s successful Welsh trip to a close were Malcolm Hutchings (2.22) and Oliver Bagnara (2.40).

Our Ultra athletes were out in force this weekend as well, taking on the “Total Coastal Ultra” this is a race along a section of the Devon-based part of the South West Coastal Path. The first two in were Jonathan Newby and Scott Wheech (8.41). These two were followed by a quartet of members, Chris Gunn, Peter Hall, Arthur Lewis and Andy Higham, all in (9.32) and a great showing of the tight-knit community of the club.

They weren’t the only coastal runners of the weekend however, as on the Somerset Coast Susie James was putting in a super performance at the Weston Super Half marathon (2.05).

Not a race but two of our members completed an extremely gorgeous looking Yorkshire 3 peaks, well done Mark Wilson and Sam Wharton.

Last but not least by any means was our incredible showing at parkrun!We had 20 runners at our lovely local Longrun Meadow, where at least one PB was smashed!While we also had runners at Woodhouse Moor, Hereford, Hastings, Barry Island, Heartlands, Marine Parade, Exmouth and Jelenia Gora in Poland..

This weekend must have been national run a non-standard distance weekend. Of the three main events club members took part in, one was a fifteen miler and the other two were twenty milers.

The first of them on Saturday 19th March was the combined Fission 20 & half marathon from the site of the now disused Berkeley power station in Gloucestershire. Helen Needs raced around the 20-mile route in a fantastic time of 3:01. Taking on the half course were Helen Prescott in a PB time of 2:01 beaten home by Sally Tuer in 2:00. Simon Rowland also scored a very quick PB of 1:42.

On the Sunday Tanya Lewis and Saz Henderson travelled to Cheddar to take on The Big Cheese over 15 hilly off road miles. Racing at this time of year can bring with it some challenging conditions but the weather in Cheddar was Gorge-eous for running and Tanya zoomed around the course faster than cheese down a hill in 2:35 and Saz came in soon after in 3:02.

The third event was the Ashby 20 in Ashby de la Zouch where Lisa and Simon Denson were guaranteed PBs in their first 20-miler. Lisa finishing in 3:09 and Simon in 2:28. The race is known for the hoodie awarded to all finishers, which didn’t disappoint but was outdone by the Jaffa Cake Donuts in the goodie bag!

In parkrun news, many club members regularly volunteer at local and not so local events and to give something back Running Forever stepped up to take on most of the volunteer roles at this week’s parkrun in Longrun Meadow.

Club members also turned out in numbers to run at Longrun Meadow with 20 taking part there plus four at Frogmary Green Farm and one each at Cranbrook and Minehead.

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).

With Auntie Linda away the pen has fallen to me, so get a cuppa and get comfy.

It was a great weekend for the boys and girls in red with athletes gracing the roads and trails of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, both racing and parkrunning.

Talking of which, today’s post is going to begin with parkrun, we had 19 members representing the club at our local, Longrun Meadow. Meanwhile, Malcolm Hutchings and Kate Mackenzie were off enjoying Lands End, Ben and Ola Timpson were at my old stomping ground the relatively new Central Park Plymouth event, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

However, for the parkrun keenos amongst you Claire Allison had the pleasure of meeting Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun, at California County.

If you’re anything like me, Sunday was a blur but the club managed to fill out the day well. As usual our Club group runs got us going (do try them, they’re great!) and they were accompanied by three separate events.

At Bideford Half Marathon, James Lewes and Hannah Kirkman flew the flag fir the club in what looked like good race conditions. James came in at 1:35:27 and Hannah in 1:50:35

Meanwhile we had five club members at the White Star Running Larmer event with Jules Griffiths-Jones completing the half in 2:24. Our other 4 members taking part in the marathon, Jonathan Newby and Emma Perkins (5:14), Georgina Byrne came one step closer to the 100 club (6:41) while the man who’s flamboyant tight’s fame match his famous saying came in at 7:17.

Finally, our biggest event attendance of the weekend, the RFRC contingent at the Grizzly event.
First back from the club was the annoyingly nice and fast Dean Bennett (2:50:15). Hot on his heels was Ali Bisatt (3:07:19). Chris Grieco (3:33:37) and Simon Denson (3:38:59) were next in for the club, while our first lady in was Tanya Lewis (3:51:51). After this saw a flurry of red and white, Fintan Murray (4:04:27), Sam Wharton (4:11:21), Mark Wilson (4:12:43), Ron Foord (4:14:50), Samantha Cross (4:14:51) and Damon Butler (4:15:46). Our last five bought a successful day to an end with David Loader (4:20:57), Mercedes Thorne (4:30:17), Joanne Gavins (4:30:20), Matt Price (4:30:55), Alex Hughes (4:42:18) and Matt Blee (4:42:21) all crossing the line.

I hope you all recover well from your endeavours and if you’re reading this as someone thinking about trying us, go for it, the most lovely group of people one can meet.

After a week of weather disruption, it was back to the business of running races and collecting medals for Running Forever athletes.

The 26.2 Day challenge provided an opportunity to run laps to make up the chosen distance. Andy Burgess clocked up 32.9 miles in 5.16 for the ultra option. First home for the marathon distance was Sam Wharton in 3.57; followed by Scott Weetch in 4.12 and Peter Hall in 4.47.

Nick Brazier hit the line in a speedy 42.59 in the Exeter 10K event.

Down by the seaside for the Brighton Half we hope Chris Adams treated himself to a celebratory ice cream after his 2.02 PB.

Going underground was the order of the day for Chris Manley and Damian Lake as they took on the Bath Two Tunnels 10K, finishing in 42.57 and 48.33 respectively.

Sunday saw the next race in the Somerset Series, the Babcary 7 which is organised by Wells City Harriers. A quartet of runners from the Club tackled this unusual distance with Chris Grieco leading them home in 47.37. Ben Timpson crossed the line in 52.37; John Townend in 55.30 with Sally Tuer completing in 65.55.

Our parkrun tourists were on the road early to visit Poole, Riverfront, Bournemouth, Exmouth, Haldon Forest, Milford Waterfront and Berkley Green. Twenty members took their Saturday exercise at Longrun Meadow.

Georgina Brice was back on the marathon trail this weekend, clocking up #88 with a 5.18 at the imaginatively named Hug Marry Run Marathon event.

Down in Exeter and braving the weather for their Half Marathon on Sunday, Helen Needs (1.55) and Emily Macaulay (2.06) were delighted to stay upright if not dry to collect their medals.

Sally Tuer took on the Dursley Dozen which included 2200 feet of climb in the 12 miles, finishing in 2.43.

Our parkrunners ventured to Shepton, Plymouth and Coed Cefn-pwll-du (that nearly made autocorrect explode) with 19 staying local at Longrun Meadow.

A quieter week for RFRC members but still a good presence at the Endurancelife South Devon event where Sam Carden took 4th spot in the marathon distance with 4.06. In the ultra race, Chris Grieco clocked 6.54 and Jo Gavins 8.19 on a very challenging course.

It was a half distance for Georgina Brice this week, how she resisted the urge to go round again for another notch on her marathon belt we’ll never know, but had to be content with a 2.32 finish at the Blackmore Vale Half.

Our parkrun tourists were in Minehead, Exmouth, Wyre Forest, Street, Warwick Racecourse, Beacon, Marine Parade and the spiritual home of parkrun in Bushy Park. Twenty four stayed on home turf at Longrun Meadow.

A real variety of events this week – with some absolutely epic races taken on and conquered by club members at either end of the country, a run in the Blackdowns with a serious focus on in-race hydration and a 10k around the beautiful grounds of Longleat (avoiding the lion enclosure).

The first epic event of the weekend was the Mudcrew Arc of Attrition, a race which is so long it has to start at lunchtime on the Friday to ensure everyone can get round before it’s time to get back to work on Monday! This extreme ultra event covers just over 100 miles and 20,000 feet of ups (and downs) of the very undulating South West Coastal Path, cicumnavigating the westerly most section of Cornwall from Coverack to Porthtowan.

The RFRC nutters toeing the starting line were the very experienced trio of Ali Bisatt, Martin Webb and Robin Upton. Each of them put in a monumental performance to complete the race and receive their coveted ‘buckle’, no mere medal for a race of this distance (although I can’t help thinking it’s much harder to show them off than hanging medals as a backdrop to your Zoom calls). It’s an incredible distance to run – but run it they did and Martin was first back in 29h20m, with Ali and Robin completing the event together in 32h53m.

Only slightly less crazy were the four club members who opted for the 50 mile version of the Arc which started on the Saturday from the wonderfully dramatic position of the coastal Minack Theatre (although it’s a devil of a climb to start with!). The quartet embarking on this brutallly challenging 50-miler were Alex Hughes, Dave Marshall, Matt Price and Sam Wharton. Sam was first club member back in 13h15m, followed by Dave in 14h43m and Matt in 14h57m. Alex took the sensible option and called it a day in St Ives after more than 10 hours on the course.

Further north in Skipton, Emma Greig was about to embark on an epic journey of her own, the 100-mile Lady Ann’s Way. This scenic but also very challenging course follows the route between Skipton and Penrith taken by the indomitable 17th century land owner Lady Anne Clifford. The website guide to the route recommends nine days for the walk, but Emma had other plans and completed the distance in just over one and a half days (38h58m). The weather was less kind in the north, with not one but two named storms passing through the area. The prevailing winds could explain why Emma had quite a tilt to her gait by the end of the race

Any running event which involves beer as part of the in-race hydration offerings is highly likely to attract RFRC club members. The hilly Blackdown Beauty hosted by Honiton Running Club which starts at Dunkeswell Aerodrome is one such event and a good collection of club members duly turned out. Not technically a race, there are no finishing times to report for the almost 17-mile route, probably a good thing given the refreshments available. ‘The Beast’ has a summertime sister event ‘The Beauty’ which is also well supported by the club, although the dryish weather of late and the reasonable weather ensured this year’s event was less beastly and more beautiful than some muddier, wetter and windier years.

Finishing off the weekend’s races on a beautiful sunny morning were Daniel Devlin, Karen Chapman and Suzanne Templeman at the Longleat 10k. Keeping with the theme of the weekend this was also a hilly course with the biggest hill completed twice for extra fun, although the one mile downhill finish went some way to make up for it. Finishing times for the crew were Karen in 1h9m, Daniel in 1h12m and Suzanne 1h18m.

Lots of parkrun activity for the club this weekend as well, the 16 RFRCers at Longrun Meadow were augmented by visitors to Burnham (1), Eastville (2), Marine Parade (1), Penryn (2), Southwick (2), Upton Court (1), Worthing (1) and the exotic sounding California Country (near Wokingham!).

Not many races this weekend and even fewer photos! So let’s start with a reminder that the club is always welcoming new members. We are a club of all abilities, offering 11 different paced groups at our main club night on a Wednesday, as well as speed sessions on a Monday, trail runs on a Tuesday and regular longer runs (road and trail) at the weekends. Runners in general are a friendly bunch, but we like to think that Running Forever is the friendliest club around so if you want to give us a try head over to the website at https://runningforever.club or https://www.facebook.com/runningforeverrunningclub/ to find out more.

On to races now – if you’re up for the challenge of running a hilly 5k or 10k, then why not make it that bit tougher by doing it in the dark? I’m assuming that was the thinking of the brave souls who entered the Storm the Fort 5k and 10k events on the evening of Saturday 22nd Jan. The challenging route took runners up Brean Down and along to the Fort and back – twice for those choosing the 10k. First back in the 5k was Michael Turk in 40 mins followed by Emma Louise in 49m. Leading the way back for the club in the 10k was Adam Crichton in 46m, then Jo Carritt finished a few minutes later in 53m. A further group of four club members (Andrew Phillips, Dee Finch, Helen Prescott and Simon Rowland) took the safety in numbers approach in the dark and finished together in 1h14m.

Also on Saturday, and with the option to continue into Sunday, Dave Urwin took on the Crooked Tracks Wiltshire’s Trail event ‘Beyond the Far Side’ – a multi-lap endurance race with choices of 6, 12 and 24 hour durations. Dave plumped for the 12 hour variant and completed a very hilly 37.1 miles (7 laps) in 11h10m.

Hannah Taunton produced a fabulous performance at the Speedway 10k on Sunday running in her Taunton Athletic Club colours in a personal best time of 35m16s.

A total of 30 RFRC parkrunners were out in good force in Taunton this weekend, with visitors to Minehead, Weymouth and four taking part in only the second Marine Parade event in Weston-Super-Mare.