It was a flying start to 2022 for RFRC members as they headed to Chard on New Years Day for the first race of the Somerset Series.First runner home in the 10K Chard Flyer was Ali Bisatt who clocked 43.16. Emily Batt was next home in 45.22 to take 1st age group award. Simon Rowland (49.34), Phil Sorell (50.47) and Hannah Kirkman (52.21) were next over the line. Nadine Prouse clocked 57.28, closely followed by Sally Tuer in 57.47. Chris Reah and Paul Clowes finished in 58.00 with Paula Bisatt and Liz Williams completing the RFRC contingent with 72.20.

The Wellington Wobble 10K saw a great finish to 2021 competition for Running Forever with Club members Michael Turk (46.29) and Jo Gavins (50.13) taking first finisher spots. Ron Foord finished in 50.29, Lisa Denson in 51.57 and Chris Adams collecting his medal in 60.23.

There was no parkrun at Longrun on Saturday but we had tourists in Bushy Park, Ashton Court, Tamar Trails, Burnham, Exmouth and Cranbrook County Park.

Although only lone RFRC member took part in an organised race this weekend, that doesn’t mean that fitness was forgotten in favour of turkey dinners and cider consumption.

Our solo race entrant was Rob Wood who scored a 45 minute time in the Rock of Gibraltar 10K, with no word whether he was pursued by the famous apes.

Thirty one Club members took time off from opening their presents to take part in Christmas Day parkrun at Longrun Meadow. Tourists headed for Worthing and Wotton to get a break from sprout peeling.

The annual Club Run to the Seaside saw 15 members run the 19 miles from Taunton to Watchet, on the hilly route.

If you’d like to be part of the bestrunningclubever, we’ve a Beginners Group scheduled for early in the new year. C’mon, you know you want to – https://runningforever.club/beginners/

It was a Cracker of a weekend for Running Forever members, with a goodly contingent shaking off the effects of the Club Christmas Party and heading for the Christmas Cracker 10K in Weston. This race has a reputation of being tough but fun with fancy dress encouraged as they run along the sand as well as the prom.

First Club member home was Chris Manley in 53.38, followed by Ann-marie Crampton in 55.50. Sally Tuer finished her sandy exploits in 57.07; new member Damian Lake in 58.14 and Tracy Marshall in 58.15. Our final duo were Paula Bisatt and Karen Chapman who clocked out in 67.12. A cracking performance all round.

Ray Tutton and Tanya Lewis also took a trip to the coast and recorded times of 3.49 and 4.09 respectively in the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon.

Heading for the hills, Andy Burgess completed 33 tough miles of the Celtic Christmas Ultra in 6.49

Weston seems to be a popular place as a couple of members took a trip up mid week for the 5 mile prom race. Hannah Rachel Taunton took the first femail finisher in 28.03 with Sally Tuer finishing the distance in 43.12.

Our parkrun tourists were scattered far and wide this week, Southsea, Burnham, Selby, Exmouth, Mole Valley, Berkeley Green and the Old Showground. Twenty eight took part in the Christmas themed event at Longrun Meadow.

We’re well into December now and a certain time of year was starting to show in the outfits and events club members took part in this week. First race up was the Santa Scramble 10k on Brean Down ‘enjoyed’ by excellent Santa stand-ins Lisa Windsor and Sarah Holloway, who in 1h31m twice had the pleasure of the tough climb up the ‘Down’ during this two-lapper. The real Santa Claus has vowed to stick to squeezing down chimneys – he’s not built for hills!

Later in the day Michael Turk ran the ‘Extremely Jolly 7-miler’ around Escot Park near Ottery St. Mary. This was the first of three Jolly Running events at Escot Park over the two days. On Sunday the incredibly consistent Georgina Brice bagged marathon number 86 in 6h08m, taking her another step closer to her goal of 100 marathons by May 1st next year. She was closely followed home in the Escot Christmas Marathon event (the ‘Jolly’ title seems to have disappeared from the race name by this distance) by Zoe Stainton in 6h32m.

Three further club members took part in the Escot Christmas Half Marathon, Sally Tuer (2h34m), Simon Rowland (2h34m) and Rosie Benneyworth (2h44m), in addition to Michael, Georgina and Zoe, having a great time with the the unique selling point of these races – a mid-race waterslide, the liberal moistening of said slide being under close supervision of supporting club member Rob Murr.

We had a broadly typical count of 24 RFRC parkrunners at Longrun Meadow in Taunton, plus one runner each at Oxford and over in Coole Park, Galway in Ireland.

Starting us off this week on Wednesday was the irrepressible Georgina Brice making the now familiar trip to Phoenix Running’s Walton on Thames base to complete the Christmas Advent Calendar Marathon in 5h32m and collecting a lovely medal and a fine pair of silver wings in recognition of having finished 25 marathons with them. You don’t get to 84 marathons by Georgina’s tender age by doing just one marathon a week, so she was back for more on Saturday for yet another marathon, the Silver Key, to take her total to an incredible 85!

Also on the Saturday, Rob Harris took on the Endurance Life Dorset multi-distance event where runners choose from 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon, Ultra (36 miles) and Ultra PLUS (47 miles). In true Running Forever RC style, Rob chose to take on the Ultra PLUS, although the conditions and brutal nature of the course at over 8,000 feet of climbing saw him complete the Ultra distance instead in a time of 10h03.

The heart of Running Forever RC is the Wednesday club night, where we have 10 groups each week catering for all paces. Peter Stretton, Group 7 leader, took a few of his fellow runners down to Torquay on Saturday to race the 7.5 mile hilly Cockington Christmas Caper where Craig Moore, Elizabeth and Matt Williams completed the event in 2h13m. Please contact us if you want to come along and give a Wednesday session a go – we’re very friendly and have a group that will suit everyone.

Carrying on the Christmas theme, Charles Hiney sped around the Cardiff Santa Dash in 18m44s to finish in 4th place. Llongyfarchiadau Charles, as they say around those parts!

Regular trail and road group leader Andy Higham continues his quest to run an Ultra Marathon in each of the UK’s national parks, this time taking on the Montane Cheviot Ultra. At 55 miles this has a reputation of being one of the toughest in the UK over the ~50 mile distance. Fellow club member Ali Bisatt accompanied Andy up to the North East but in the event their plans were scuppered by Storm Arwen, which blitzed through the region leaving many without power and Andy and Ali without a race to run. Being made of hardy stuff, despite the cancellation of the race they decided to use the time to recce some of the course, and after slipping and sliding in the snowy conditions eventually beat a retreat to the warmth of the car after 30 miles. I have no doubt they will be back next year for another go!

Locally, parkrun was mercifully largely spared by Storm Arwen and we had 20 take park at Longrun Meadow in Taunton plus one each at Burnham and Highbridge, Exmouth and Central parkrun in Plymouth.

It’s the time of year when days are short and race calendars are sparse but that didn’t stop new club member Emma Louise completing the Heddon Howler 5km race over near Barnstaple coming in as 2nd lady in her age group. A further hardy group of 14 Running Forever RC members weren’t to be put off by the wintry conditions from making the short trip to Bicton College near Budleigh Salterton for the Bicton Blister 10 mile race. It’s great to see one of the popular local races making a comeback this year following cancellation in 2020 for this and many others. The course is mostly along hilly trails with a very welcome quick finish along the road, as you can see from the finishing straight photos. First home in 1h29m was Ron Foord continuing a rich vein of form over the autumn, with Simon Rowland (1h30m), Ian Bawler (1h31m), Jon Newby (1h34m) and Dave Loader (1h34m) all close behind. First ladies home were Sam Cross and Sue Lewis both in 1h38m, followed by Damon Butler (1h43m). The next set of hardy runners back were Ann-Marie Crampton (1h48m), Helen Prescott (1h50m), Nadine Prouse (1h50m) and Peta Aspden (1h54), with Rosie Bennyworth (2h01m) and Rachel Nicholls (2h07m) completing the club charge to the finish. Storm Arwen managed to close several parkrun events, but whilst numbers were down for us compared to a normal week we still had good representation at Longrun Meadow with 12 taking part, plus 1 each at St Mary’s Bridport and Great Field Dorchester.

A large group of Running Forever trail runners took to the hills of South Wales on Saturday 13th November for the ever popular Up Hill Down Dale Beacons Ultra, a 47 mile route in the Brecon Beacons. Running in memory of Adrian Edwards, a much-loved club member who passed away earlier in the year, they were blessed by favourable weather for this very challenging route, made tougher by being a two-lapper; the runners know exactly what they are in for when they leave the halfway checkpoint! A few had also done the Porto Marathon the week before and needed the extra help of their memories of Adrian to get around lap two. First home for the club and in 4th place overall was Sam Carden in 7h42, with Dean Bennett (7h58) and Ali Bisatt (8h32) close behind, and then 3rd lady Sam Wharton and Robin Upton (both 9h56). Next over the finish line were Fintan Murray (10h42), Andy Burgess (10:51) and Martin Webb (10:52), then the trio of Dave Marshall, Jon Newby and Mark Wilson in 11h32. Andy Higham (11:48) and Sandra Moffatt (13:16) followed them in, and lastly the group of Chris Buckman, Matt Blee and Chris Gunn all completed the course in 14h03. Also taking on a loopy endeavour, four club members headed to Cricket St Thomas to take on the Lemur Loop which offers a range of distances from a 10k single lap all the way up to as many laps as you can manage in 12 hours. Three club members, Ann-Marie Crampton, Helen Prescott and Sally Tuer, all opted for the 10k which they completed in 1h08. Brett Gatward, channelling his inner hamster, went around the loop six times in all for a grand total of 35 miles in 11:15. Rob Murr travelled over to Walton on Thames to pay his respects by taking part in the Phoenix Running Remembrance Run, during which at 11:00 the runners out on the course pause to observe the 2 minute silence. Rob completed the event in 5h44m to receive his poignant medal. A bumper crop of 36 parkrunners took part across 10 different courses this week, including Kingsway (2), Hampstead Heath (1), Newport (1), Lanydrock (1), Worthing (1), Exmouth (2), Bolberry Down (1), Central Park (Plymouth, not New York! 1), Cranbrook Country Park (1) and the usual good turnout of 25 at Longrun Meadow.