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.

We were relatively thin on the ground last week but the quality of the runs makes up for that. First off racing regular Sally Tuer was up in Gloucestershire for the 40th anniversary running of the Stroud Half Marathon. It was one of those tricky wet and warm days, never the best conditions for racing but Sally still managed to finish just inside her target time when crossing the line in 2:04.

Ray Tutton is another frequent racer and he was over in Oxfordshire for the Abindgon marathon. This flat fast course is very popular with people trying to achieve good for age times for London, or personal best times in general. The event has embraced sustainability and operates with paper cups for drinking and wooden medals. However that virtuous approach didn’t placate the weather gods and it rained throughout the race! Ray cruised home in a very respectable 3:44.

Longest race of the week goes to the RunWalkCrawl Gower 50-miler over in south west Wales. The 50-miler is the longest of 3 available distances, and includes a complete circumnavigation of the Gower Peninsula AONB. RunWalkCrawl is a brand rather than a racing strategy, and it’s a challenging course but not too tough to see off our hardy trio of Andy Burgess, Andy Higham and Dean Bennett. Having said that, the route include runnning along the entire length of a 4-mile sandy beach which tested their resilience to its limit!

First back for the club was Dean who flew out of the blocks, putting in some incredibly quick early miles which were enough to secure an impressive 5th place finish overall with his 8h36m finishing time.

Running together throughout the day the two Andys completed the epic one lap course in 12h50m.

parkrun was a mix of local regulars and some less frequented venues, for RFRC runners at least. Destinations this week included Brighouse, Burnham, Exmouth, Itchen Valley, Nobles, Penryn Campus, Queen’s Park Belfast, The Great Field (Dorchester) and a round 30 at Longrun Meadow. #parkrun #running #ultrarunning

Some things are really worth the wait and the finish of a 100-mile race must rank very highly amongst them, as two club members discovered last week! As well as that incredible example of persistence we also had runners at two of the country’s best loved and well attended races, the Bath Half and the Great South run.

Starting with those last two events, the Great South Run is a firm favourite in the running calendar and it takes place over a flat course around Portsmouth and Southsea. It starts and finishes in the same place on the seafront in Southsea before meandering past various landmarks of the area including HMS victory. A 10-miler is not a common race distance and can be tricky to judge, falling somewhere in between 10k and half marathon pace. Our trio of runners at the event managed to produce very good results, lead home by Ray Tutton in 1:15:20 and then followed back in close succession by Chris Adams (1:32:23) and Peta Aspden (1:35:36).

The Bath Half is a hugely popular race and has been the first foray into half marathon distance for many people in the region. That wasn’t the case for Nick Brazcliffe who has represented the club regularly throughout the year and made it around the gently undulating course in 1:45:27.

The leap from half marathon to 100 miles is unimaginable for most people, but Running Forever has an increasing group of crazies who enter races over distances which would put plenty of folks off driving them! Robin Upton and Sam Wharton are two examples of this interesting breed, whose decisions saw them at 9:00 on Saturday in Goring for the Centurion Autumn 100-miler. The course is four equal distance switchbacks (if you don’t go off course…) in the environs of the Thames valley, returning to base camp every 25 miles. Getting back to the race HQ must be a relief, but it takes increasing amounts of willpower to return to the course as the race progress. Robin and Sam ran the first half together at an incredibly quick pace before settling into their own paces for the final two sections. Robin was targeting an incredible sub-20 hour time and continued to hit the necessary pace to eventually finish in a brilliant 19:52:04. Sam was targeting sub-24 hours, and the quick early miles had given her a great buffer. A truly awful yet heroic and character building final 25-miles, which increased to 27 miles after a navigational error, saw her crush her target to finish in 22:33:29. Both Robin and Sam got the coveted ‘100 miles – One Day’ buckle as a fine reward for their efforts. I’m sure Robin and Sam were both very appreciative to club members Fintan Murray and Mark Wilson for accompanying on the final 25 or 27 miles.

Exotic sounding parkrun course of the week was Dallas Burston Polo Club, which instead of being the kind of place you may find some Texan oil barons is in reality near Leamington Spa. We also had runners at Clevedon, Coventry, Parke, the challenging Woolacombe Dunes course and a decent showing of 27 at Longrun Meadow.

Plenty of club members in action last week across a variety of terrain including local hills, coastal paths, multiple parkruns and the roads of one of the US’s largest cities.

Starting off locally, we had great representation at the Prosper Events Quantock Hills Trail Runs half marathon and 10k, although the latter significantly over-delivered on distance at more like 11.5k. That wasn’t enough to throw Sam Carden off his stride though, who won the 10k event in an amazing time of 58:20, more than six minutes ahead of second place. Also enjoying the ‘bonus’ kilometres and many hills were James Palmer (1:26:56), Helen Prescott (1:27:43), Katie Baker (1:41:51) and Nicky Keeble in 1:47:24, who after a navigational anomaly ended up doing about 14k!

The half marathon course was pretty much bang on distance but that didn’t stop them packing an unreasonable number of hills into the distance. First back for RFRC was Simon Rowland in 2:43:47, then Chris Gunn in 2:50:12, followed by the trio of Dee Finch, Bev Collins and Jane Cooke who crossed the line together in 3:11:35. Bringing up the rear in 4:03:02 and very much in his own inimitable style was Rob Murr, resplendent in kilt and packing a brush in his role as sweeper.

Marathon regular (and that’s an understatement) Georgina Brice moved up to ultra distance to take on the Atlantic Coast 40 mile ultra coastal trail run, completing the very lumpy course in 12:43:20 and taking her tally of marathons and ultras to 115.

In a real change from the hills and coastal trails of the south west, Helen Needs was in the US to run the Chicago marathon, a huge event of over forty thousand runners which takes over the centre of the city and is one of the six world marathon majors. Helen raced around the course in 4:28:21, completing her fourth marathon major (Berlin, London, New York and now Chicago) with Boston and Tokyo remaining to complete the set.

We had runners at 10 different parkruns last weekend including Bideford, Burnham, Hastings, Itchen Valley, Marine Parade, Minehead, Seaton, Teignmouth and Upton House (Poole), the biggest contingent as always was at Longrun Meadow (19 runners). #parkrun #running #wmmajors

In an usual convergence of dates largely owing to the pandemic, this weekend saw the London Marathon and Cardiff Half Marathon take place on the same day, and as you’d expect we had good participation in both. Last week also saw a few others events ranging from a 10k, through a sprint triathlon and, being RFRC we do of course have an ultra marathon to cover!

Firstly, despite the ever increasing challenge of grabbing a place we had 6 runners in the capital racing the iconic London marathon. Ali Bisatt was first finisher for the club in a fantastic time of 3:06:40, followed in by Andrew Saunders in 3:17:28. Sally Tuer produced yet another great performance in what has been a very busy year for her, crossing the finish line in 4:29:31. Next back was Kris Saint in 4:33:30, Joanna Gavins in 4:44:27 and then Rosie Benneyworth in 5:11:50. Each of the runners at London have their own challenges to overcome just to make it to the start line, so congratulations to all 6 for making it to the finish as well!

Not to be left out, Georgina Brice did the NOT the London Marathon, completing it in a great time of 5:32:25.

Over in the Welsh capital we had a good turnout of 12 runners for the always popular Cardiff Half Marathon. So popular that many have already signed up to give it another go next year. First back was Ron Foord in 1:50:12, then a cluster of runners around the 2-hour mark including Darren Purchase (2:00:08), Sam Cross (2:01:16), Damon Butler (2:02:23), Chris Adams (2:03:49), Nadine Prouse (2:08:10) and Jamie Hill (2:09:37). All the others got around the course in under 3 hours, including Katie Baker (2:17:48), Liz Williams (2:33:57), Tanya Gault (2:51:17), Karen Chapman (2:59:50) and Sarah Holloway (2:59:51).

The less high profile events of the week included Ben Timpson in Cornwall for the Poldhu Trail 10k in 53:17, Andy Staples up in Cheshire for the Chester marathon which he whizzed around in 3:07:08 and ensuring we had representation in at least one ultra marathon was Emily Macaulay in the Winding Paths Exe Estuary 50k, completing the race in 7h30m. Race regular Simon Rowland was in action in the Minehead Sprint Triathlon completing the three events in 1:38:51.

A good selection of parkrun locations again this week, with 21 at Longrun Meadow and then ones and twos at Bolberry Down in the South Hams, Hastings, Penrose, Street, Whitby, Worthing and York.

RFRC were out in large numbers last week as the popular autumn racing season continued, mostly road running for a change and ranging from 10k through to ultra distance.

Starting with the longest race of the week, Andy Burgess took on the Albion Running Conquest of Avalon 50-miler and defeated it in 10h32m. Other ultra distance races this week were the Chagford Challenge measuring in just shy of 33 miles and completed by Matt Price in 8h04m. Slightly shorter again at 31 miles we had Rob Murr doing the Jurassic Coast Ultra in 8h27m.

Seven marathons were completed this week as well, although five of those were by one person (regular readers will not need any clues to guess who it is). The remaining two marathons are diametrically opposed, one being a hilly trail run and the other the quickest road marathon course in the world. Rob Harris was running the hilly one, the Jurassic Coast Marathon which he finished in 4h40m. Eliza Brodie was over in Berlin running in the footsteps of the great Eliud Kipchoge around the Berlin Marathon which she completed in 6h40m.

That leaves the other 5 marathons for Georgina Brice who in another mammoth effort completed the Phoenix Running 5 marathons in 5 days challenge to take her overall marathon tally to 113!

The Bristol Half Marathon often draws in a number of runners from the club and this year we had better than average participation thanks to a bit of a club trip for some of our Group 7 regulars as well as a few others. Ali Bisatt produced a great run on a decent course to finish in 1:28:32. Next back was James Palmer in 1:53:49, and then Chris Adams was over line in 2:01:12. After Lauren Clarke’s time of 2:18:23 the results came thick and fast as Charlotte Donegan (2:20:54), Emma Salter (2:23:32), Lucy Stancer (2:24:18), Rachel Nicholls (2:27:04) Craig Moore (2:31:45) followed her in. Last back for the club but very much not least was Sherri Dingle in 2:43:06.

Also in action in Bristol only this time over the 10k distance were Paula Bisatt finishing in 1:14:07 plus Lisa Windsor and Sarah Holloway crossing the line together in 1:23:12.

We had an absolutely whopping turnout for the annual and always fantastic Taunton 10k on the Sunday. Fully 39 RFRCers pounding the roads of the circular route from Blackbrook Leisure Centre out to Stoke St. Mary and back in. Full details of the excellent individual performances below, but a particular shout-out for Vicky Hanna, Sarah Capstick, Bev Collins and Sally Tuer who completed a bit of a grand slam of age-category wins for 45+, 55+, 60+ and 65+ respectively. Home support was also great around the course, helping our runners to give their best.

Complete listing: Andy Saunders (39:41), Matt Paul (42:55), Nick Brazcliffe (42:57), Vicky Hanna (44:14), Ross Jenkins (44:57), Don Macphail (45:59), Sarah Capstick (46:16), Damian Lake (46:31), Hannah Kirkman (49:11), Pat Date (49:19), Nigel Baker (51:22), Bev Collins (51:25), Chris Manley (52:05), Richard Mackrory (52:21), Arthur Lewis (52:28), Andrew Phillips (53:21), Marcus Blackburn (53:53), Sally Tuer (55:34), Peta Aspden (55:43), Jennifer Chambers (55:44), Steph Andrews (56:13), Adrian Troake (58:47), Tracy Marshall (58:53), Paula Mcshane (58:54), Sean O’Sullivan (1:02:27), Dan Devlin (1:02:37), Charlotte Sargent (1:02:47), Wendy Fincher 1:03:00), James Fincher (1:03:01), Rosie Bennyworth (1:04:06), Peter Stretton (1:05:04), Karen Chapman (1:05:05), Lin Lewis (1:08:40), Gerri Fagan (1:10:10), Rachel Reid (1:14:06), Teresa Cheetham (1:18:14), Kate Mackenzie (1:21:21), Sarah Reed (1:21:42), Claire Loader (1:22:01).

We also had 23 runners at Longrun Meadow parkrun, several using it as a warmup for the Taunton 10k the following day. Tourist numbers were down a bit but club members still managed to get out and about to Berkeley Green, Exmouth, Itchen Valley, Killerton, Penryn Campus and Richmond.

A definite triathlon vibe to this week’s results. First up was Sally Tuer taking part in the 5th of the summer Cromhall Sprint Tri Series and finishing in 1h36m. This one was the first of the season that finished in the dark so we are very much heading towards shorter days now. Get your headsets charged and your hi-vis at the ready!

We also had representation at the Langport Sprint Triathlon where Rosie Benneyworth completed her first triathlon event in a great debut time of 1h:49m, followed home very closely by Elizabeth Williams in 1h51.

Simon Rowland, a triathlon regular throughout the year, also debuted at the Half Ironman distance in Weymouth, completing the tough event in a very good time of 6h50m.

We also had members at three running events. At the Glastonbury Levels 10k Nigel Baker was first back in 51m21s. Sally Tuer, not content with just a single event during the week also ran this race in 54m17s, just one second ahead of Chris Adams who was sporting the number 1 bib for the second race in a row. Ray Tutton was over in Chippenham where he completed the half marathon course in a pacey 1h38h17. Finally, Huw Vaughan-Jackson got around the Relish Races Cheddar Gorge 10k in a fabulous time of 39m26s.

Our parkrun representation was widespread this week. We had runners at two events in Wales, a quartet at the Eddig course in Wrexham and one runner at Hafan Pwllheli. The furthest afield this week was Hackney Marshes. We also had good representation at various parkruns within the South West region and just outside, including Minehead, Seaton, St Mary’s Bridport, Marlborough Common, Salisbury and the somewhat legendary Woolacombe Dunes. Longrun Meadow had a pretty standard showing of 23 runners.

The past weekend was quiet for RFRC as befitting the national mood and just three races had club participation. Nigel Baker and Dan Devlin ran the 10k distance at the Wells Festival of Running, finishing in 53m24s and 1h04m10s respectively. Rob Murr was over in leafy Surrey at the Hurtwood Park Polo Club for the multi-lap Dragon’s Eye – Red marathon, which he completed in a solid time of 6h25m. Tanya Gault completed the Great North Run.

The club also had representation at a variety of venues, including the home of parkrun at Bushy Park, Cardiff, Hastings, Haverfordwest, Marine Parade in Western-super-Mare, Minehead and last but not least Nose Hill in Calgary. We also had a healthy turnout of 25 runners at Longrun Meadow.

We’re almost out of holiday season now and that was reflected in the number of events with RFRC representation last week with a total of 8 races, although that includes doubles at Bridgwater (half marathon and 10k) and the Albion Running Mendip Marauder (30 and 50 miles).

The last few years have seen a big increase in the number of ultra marathons that club members sign themselves up for, sometimes very quickly regretting having done so! Races of any distance are tough in their own way but ultra marathons by virtue of their extreme duration offer a really ‘special’ level of pain and suffering. The challenge is also usually amplified by choosing difficult terrain. We had representation at four ultra events last week. Two in Somerset and two in Wales. Neither are known for their flatness.

Starting with Somerset, the Mendip Marauder is a combined 30 mile and 50 mile event organised by the club’s own Dave Urwin under the auspices of Albion Running, who offer a hugely popular set of races across the year. The ‘shorter’ race saw four of our ultra marathon regulars taking part, all making good time and led home by Andy Burgess in 6h02m, then Mercedes Thorne in 6h44m, who just nipped across the line ahead of Dave Loader in 6h45m, and Peter Hall completed the set in 7h34m. The sole club entry in the 50-miler was Matt Blee who finished the epic undertaking in 11h58m.

Over in Wales, Andy Higham ticked off another national park in his ongoing quest to run an ultra in them all. The Ridum ultra is a 32-miler over hilly terrain with a punchy 6,000ft of ascent, which Andy got around in 7h21m. Dean Bennett, who is on a really impressive string of wins and high placings, took on the frankly scary GB Ultras Snowdon 50-miler. This is a mountainous route with terrain which is at times un-walkable let alone un-runnable, and has a total ascent of over 13,000 feet. Dean quickly established himself amongst the front runners, which he maintained throughout the race to finish in 5th place with a time of 12h06m.

Richie Hill was also in action over in Hampshire taking on the Andover Trail events ‘On Trails’ marathon, completing the distance in 6h05m.

Darren Purchase was in London taking on Mo Farah and a few thousand others in the Big Half. At one stage (well, the start) Darren was within 30 minutes of Mo, but the gap extended a little more once Darren actually stated the race! Nonetheless he completed the course in a very creditable 2h04m.

We had 6 runners at the combined Bridgwater half marathon and 10k, split evenly between the events. Both courses are largely quick and flat on country roads well suited to road running. In the half, Emily Macaulay was first back for the club in 2h02m, followed by Chris Adams wearing bib number ‘1’ (no pressure Chris!) in 2h08m and then Paula McShane in 2h17m. Over the 10k distance our first finisher was Kevin Garner who took the age category win in 46m05s, with Pate Date not far behind in 50:54 and Dan Devlin just over the hour 1h00m56s.

Numbers at parkrun were also up compared with August where we had 28 RFRCers at Longrun Meadow, as well as travelers to Minehead, Lanhydrock, Penrose, Tewksbury, Worthing and Aberbeeg.

Over the bank holiday weekend club members were involved in some truly epic events including a race across a whole country (well, principality), another taking in not one but three countries, and an old and a new Somerset Series race.

For the second year in a row RFRC had representation at the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) series of races. Following in Robin Upton’s footsteps from last year, Sam Carden ran a hugely impressive 17h48m in the 100km CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix) race, starting in Italy and traversing through Switzerland into France across incredibly challenging terrain totaling over 20,000ft of climbing.

The longest races of the weekend were the combined offering from Raidlight Trail Running of the King Offa’s Dyke 185-miler and Mercian Challenge 100-miler. The distances are already scary enough but with both races being largely in Wales there were also plenty of mountains and hills to negotiate. Given the challenge, Ali Bisatt doing the King Off’s Dyke route and Sandra Moffatt taking on the Mercian Challenge, did fantastically to get through the majority of each course but both withdrew, much to the relief of their support crews!

Marathon addict Georgina Brice was in back-to-back marathon action completing numbers 107 and 108 this week. With her incredible persistence it won’t be long before Georgina hits her double century!

Regular racer Sally Tuer was the sole club participant at the Severn Bridge Half Marathon. The multiple crossings of the bridge makes this a deceptively hilly event but Sally was on good form and finished as age category winner in 2:01.

The Somerset Series is the backbone of many runners race diary for the year and it’s great to have it back almost at full strength in 2022. The weekend had races on the Sunday, the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k, and Monday, the Baltonsborough 5 miler. Unusually for the series these were both road races which offered the chance of some quick times for club members.

We had 10 entrants for the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k, and first back was Wayne Windebank in 41:39. He was followed in by Don MacPhail (48:42), Simon Rowland (50:06), James Palmer (51:43) and Richard Mackrory (52:40). First club lady back was Katie Baker who cracked the one hour mark in 59:54, with Dan Devlin (1h03:45) crossing the line slightly ahead of Tracy Marshal (1h03:50). Rounding out the combatants in this battle were Richard Hill 1h05:17 and Rachael Jones (1h22:04).

The Baltonsborough 5 miler is new to the Somerset Series this year, but we still managed to have a trio of competitors taking part. Ben Timpson lead the club members home in 32:06. Kevin Garner was age category winner in 41:27, and Sally Tuer got around in 44:25, a solid effort the day after her Severn Bridge race.

It’s still holiday season and we had quite a variety of parkrun locations this week – including Ashton Court, Minehead, Killerton, Fell Foot (Cumbria), Swansea Bay, Drumpellier (Glasgow), University Parks (Oxford) and Frogmary Green (Ilminster). Back in Taunton we had 20 runners at Longrun Meadow.