Category: Weekly Roundup

Yet again a really busy week for members of Running Forever Running Club, seeing members participate in 5km all the way up to Ultra Marathon distance.

Lots of members were present on Saturday morning at Longrun Meadow to help celebrate its 10th Birthday, some even donning fancy dress of their favourite decade. Special mention to Dan Devlin who smashed his PB. Sam Wharton was in Singapore to compete in a slightly more exotic Parkrun.

Next up was the Burnham Half Marathon which forms part of the Somerset Series. Tom Dymott came in 1st with a time of 1:34 followed by Sally Tuer who received an impressive medal for winning her age category.

Locally several members supported the Quantocks 10km and half marathon event, judging from the photos they had a great time.

Further afield Nicola Kelly unperturbed by the extreme weather completed the Glasgow to Edinburgh Ultra Marathon which was 56 miles. Well done Nicola.

More locally Ali Bisatt and Joanna Gavins complete the North Devon 110km trail run which follows the Coast path, a really challenging and technical route, as usual they were supported by other members of the club who kept the pair fed, watered and motivated.

Club legend and 100 Marathon club member Peter Hall ventured to Cornwall for the Atlantic Coast ultra, a 39 mile route again over coastal paths and with massive elevation gain, he finished in a great time of 11 hours and 22 minutes.

For the 2nd week running, members of Running Forever running club donned the famous red and white racing tops and headed for the Welsh Capital. As always, the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic in Cardiff, and local people made everybody feel extremely welcome cheering on the runners. There were lots of children watching, and hopefully they will be inspired to take up the sport.

There was a massive 32 runners from the club, some who had been in previous years and many who were experiencing the event for the first time. As always, a group picture was organized and everybody got to have a chat and a catch up before heading off to the various starting pens.

The top 3 male finishers were Ali Bisatt in 1:31:27, Simon Denson only 7 seconds behind in 2nd place and Fintan Murray in 1:41:32. For the females Sam Wharton was 1st over in 1:45:50, only 4 seconds behind was Vicky Stancer and 3rd female was Sam Cross in 1:54:02.

As always, the support from the non-runners was superb with a Running Forever Flag placed at the 13-mile mark, cheering on the runners to a strong finish, and also taking some lovely pictures of the runners on the course.

Red and White

Taunton 10k was awash with Red and White running tops from 50 members of running Forever RC, this was a really good turnout supporting a really popular local event. Many other members were dotted along the course offering words of encouragement and in some cases sweets.

The first male back was Rob Gittoes in 38:43, second male was Ali Bisatt in 43:23 and third male was John Townend in 45:21. The first female was Sarah Capstick in 45:58, second female was Heather Macklin in 46:50 and third female was Vicky Hanna in 47:44.

There was also some success with Vicky Hanna, Sarah Capstick and Rob Gittoes all picking trophies for wins within their respective age categories.

Last weekend also saw the Conquest of Avalon taking place with 4 members tackling the 30-mile race which starts in Castle Cary and finishes in Glastonbury. Again, this was well supported with several members running aid stations to help facilitate the safe running of the event.

This Sunday is the Cardiff Half Marathon and again a large contingent of the club will be there to participate in one of the biggest half marathons in the UK

BEGINNERS GROUP 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃‍♂️

4th October: 8 weeks

Feeling inspired by the London Marathon?
Wanting to increase your fitness?
Hate running, but fancy being a bit more sociable?
Looking for a new hobby?

There are so many reasons to give it a go, and hardly any reasons not to 😇

Find out more and sign up here:
https://runningforever.club/beginners/

RFRC members had an fabulous weekend with an astonishing 15 runners completing the London marathon – congratulations to Kate MacKenzie, Lisa Windsor, Liz Williams, Emily Vining, Tony Knight, Jules Griffiths-Jones, Nicky Keeble, Hannah Kirkman, Jo Hall, Vivky Hanna, Emma Perkins, Ali Bisatt, Jonathan Gilling, Emma Kiernan and Dean Bennett.
Meanwhile over in Ireland four members took part in the Connemara road races. Sam Wharton & Fintan Marray completed the 40 mile ultra, Simon Denson the marathon and Lisa Denson the half.
Back in London Georgina Brice finished her 138th marathon in the Phoenix Not the London marathon.
Andy Burgess completed his 96th marathon in the Trail Events Wye Valley 35 mile ultra.
Down in Sidmouth Joanna Gavins, Emma Greig, Chris Gunn and Peter Hall took part in the tough LDWA 32 mile challenge event with Sally Tuer, Sue Lewis and Sandra Moffat finishing the 18 mile version.

This report covers the two weeks from 14th to 27th November, during which time the annual club trip took place along with the concluding race of the 2022 Somerset Series.

The Somerset Series 2022 had 16 races this year, including the Humdinger/Hurtle and Herepath events organised by Running Forever. Scoring for the series is based on the gender finishing position of competitors, with the objective being to achieve the lowest average score across at least 7 races. The club has a few members who participate regularly and the considerable efforts of two of the most reliable competitors from the club have been rewarded this year. Sally Tuer had a hugely successful year, winning a number of age group races which resulted in her placing first overall in the 55-64 category, bagging a very good trophy and an overall top 10 ladies finishing position! Ben Timpson also placed well throughout the year, securing himself a top 10 mens finishing position in the process. Well done to all those who entered the series races this year.

The final race of this year’s Somerset Series was the 5.75 mile Brent Knoll race, up and down the iconic hill. We had 4 club entrants this year, Ben Timpson was first back in 44m57s, followed in by Tom Dymott (50m45s), Mark Wilson (54m11s) and Simon Rowland (1h03m37s).

Marathon regular Georgina Brice was in action again at the Save the Rhino run over in Hertfordshire, completing her 118th marathon and ultra marathon in 5h45m. Also racing ‘out of county’ was Chris Gunn at the Trowbridge Half. finishing in 1h58m.

The annual club trip was to Gran Canaria this year, to run the Maspalomas Marathon and 10k and enjoy some very welcome late autumn sunshine, although it was less welcome during the race! We had 12 runners in the marathon and the general agreement was that times were about 30 minutes slower than usual, due to the heat and direct sunshine during almost all of the race. First club finisher of the two lap course was Chris Grieco, who with some very sensible first lap pacing managed to achieve a negative split in his time of 3h46m. Simon Denson (3h55m) and Sam Wharton (4h01m) were next back either side of 4 hours. A magnificent 7 then came in before the 5-hour mark, led by Paul Parmenter (4h27m) and including Mark Wilson (4h32m), Helen Needs (4h36m), Peter Hall (4h41m), Lisa Denson (4h49m), Chris Gunn (4h53m) and Matt Price (4h56m). Completing the line-up were Chris Reah (5h07m) and Cathy Parmenter (5h20m), ensuring a 100% finishing rate for what was a tough race.

Saz Henderson and Irene Lo Bianco very sensibly opted for the 10k event, although running at pace in the heat was no mean feat. Saz finished in a sprightly 51m48s and Irene managed to achieve the impressive achievement of doing her quickest and longest run ever to finish in 1h11m.

This weekly report won’t include our regular race reports, which will begin again next week.

The past week has been very difficult for Running Forever after we lost James Lewes, one of our most beloved, active and social members. The kind and gentle big man with an even bigger smile.

From joining RFRC James had very much established himself at the heart of the club. He was a regular leader of Group 3 on a Wednesday night where his trademark was the somewhat random incorporation of mini cul de sacs loops. James was also a great participant in races, including completing his first 50-miler this year and traveling to the Florence and Porto marathons on club trips. Most recently, James had joined the committee and had immediately got stuck in writing the weekly reports and it won’t surprise anyone who knew him that he was keen to take on more responsibility.

Whilst this has been an awful time for the club, most of all our thoughts go out to James’ family and friends during this impossibly difficult period.

Rest in peace James – we were amazingly lucky to have you in our running family and will all miss you deeply.

This last week has been a relatively quiet one for RFRC at events. We start in Street with the November edition of the monthly night time 5k run taking place on Wednesday. Ben Timpson cruised around in 19:35 while Nigel Baker finished in 24:53, winning him the first MV70 award for both races in the series so far.

The weekend saw Georgina Brice back on the trail at the Remembrance Marathon on the Thames Towpath near Hampton Court. This was her 50th Phoenix event, earning her not just a poppy-themed medal for her 5:27 finish but also her Phoenix gold wings.

Meanwhile, Scott Weetch and Andy Burgess headed south to the Starcross Shuffle, on the Exe Estuary trail near Powderham Castle. The Shuffle gives you 7 hours to complete as many 6.6 mile laps of the course as you like (or can). Scott Weetch notched up 4 laps to make up the marathon distance in 4 hours 23 minutes while Andy Burgess managed one more lap to take him into ultra territory, completing his 5 laps in 5 hours 24 minutes.

We were well represented at the Longrun Meadow parkrun, with 29 members completing the course. There were plenty of sightings of RFRC at park run events further afield too, in Torbay, Minehead, Seaton, Exeter, Burnham & Highbridge, at Edenbrook and, further again, at Nansen Parken near Oslo in Norway. Back in the UK, eagle-eyed viewers of BBC Spotlight might have spotted Malcolm Hutchings and Kate Mackenzie at the Children In Need edition of the Heartlands parkrun in Cornwall, with Pudsey himself sending the runners on their merry way.

The club had a preponderance of road races last week, which is probably for the best given the weather we’ve been having, although there were still hills aplenty for some.

Sunday saw a fine contingent of 13 club members racing the Bideford 10-miler. The largely flat course along the River Torridge estuary saw some very quick times for the RFRCers, including a few age group placings. First back for RFRC was Ali Bisatt in a blistering time of 1h7m, enough to bag him 3rd in age group. Not far behind was Ben Timpson with a fine performance to finish in 1h8m. He was followed in by two other age group winners. Hannah Kirkman placing 2nd in a time of 1h20m, and also placing second was Nigel Baker in 1h25m. We then had a cluster of finishers who were led back by Lauren Clarke in 1h42m and next was Lucy Stancer in 1h44m before the trio of Sherri Dingle, Karen Chapman and Emma Salter all crossed the line in 1h47m. Rachel Nicholls was well under the 2-hour mark in a time of 1h51m, with Eliza Brodie just over it in 2h02m. The RFRC results finished with almost namesakes Rachel Reid (2h07m) and Sarah Reed (2h16m).

We were meant to have 4 participants at the Cornish marathon but unfortunately one tested positive for Covid, which left Bev Collins, Mark Wilson and Peter Hall to represent the club at the event. Mark produced a terrific performance to finish in 3h43m and grabbed himself a well earned genuine Cornish pasty. Bev was second back for the club, followed by Peter in a reprise of his 100th marathon in 2018 to register his 133rd marathon and ultra finish.

Bucking this week’s road running trend was Dan Devlin who relished the rain, puddles, mud and hills in the Haldon Forest 10k, finishing in 1h20m to receive a well deserved bag of goodies.

A higher than average level of exoticness to parkrun this week – we had the typical attendance of local course including Burham, Exmouth and 19 at Longrun Meadow. Branching out a little further there were also RFRCers at Bowling Park (Bradford), Dulston Country Park and the Eden Project. Further still we had a presence at the Castlerea parkrun in Ireland, but lastly and taking it to the next level one club member made it all the way down under to the event at Burnie in Australia. #runninguk #parkrun

It was another busy weekend for RFRC. First up was our marathon machine Georgina Brice in action on the Thames towpath at the Hemerodromoi Marathon. Hemerodromoi, meaning ‘day runners’ in Greek, were the running messengers of Ancient Greece. Georgina delivered her message in 5:52 and celebrated with a relatively un-Greek cider.

Closer to home was Saturday night’s Moonlit Meadow Run in Taunton’s Longrun Meadow, with a decidedly spooky theme and both a 5km and 10km option. In the 5k event Adrian Troake, cunningly disguised as The Grim Reaper, was the first club member home in 32:20, 6th overall and 1st in his age group. Katy Monk was hot on his heels in 33:51, grabbing the 2nd female position, followed by Alex Watson in 37:09, Gerry Fagan in 39:10, Kate Mackenzie in 40:42 and Kerry-Anne Chapman in 45:07. In the 10k event, James Palmer finished in 52:54 and Dan Devlin in 79:19.

Once the sun was up on Sunday morning, it was off to the Blackdowns for our very own Herepath Half Marathon. Herepaths date back to the 9th century when they were important trade and communication routes between settlements. The half marathon, actually 13.7 miles, follows the Staple Fitzpaine Herepath Trail up and around the highest point on the Blackdowns, so lots of climbing and, after the recent rain, a wide selection of mud, with none more sapping than the infamous Field of Doom. Sam Carden overcame the obstacles in 1:45:42, followed by Simon Malley in 2:10:01, Sarah Henderson in 2:21:01 with Amy Maggs right behind her in 2:21:41. Andrew Phillips reached the cake table in 2:24:03 with Richard Hill making it back in 2:49:36.

Helen Phillips headed further afield to the New Forest for a pony- and pig-strewn scenic 10 mile jaunt, finishing after numerous photo stops in 2:01:46.

We had 39 runners at Longrun Meadow for the 400th edition of the parkrun. Elsewhere, club members were in parkrun action in Cardiff, Hackney Marshes, Seaton, Burnham & Highbridge and Tidworth.