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.

What a week for RFRC runners – some incredible performances and some outright event winners!

First off was Ben Timpson way down at the other end of Cornwall in the Godrevy 10k, finishing the beautiful route which includes a decent stretch of beach running in a time of 47:22. Also in action were Sally Tuer and Simon Rowland taking part in the Cromhall Sprint Triathlon in S.Gloucs completing the event in 1h39 and 1h35 respectively.

The distances sky-rocketed from here on in. Taking the next ‘shortest’ race first, super speedy Dean Bennett took part in a one-lapper around a lake. Not just any lake though, it was of course England’s largest, Lake Windermere, which takes a very impressive 47 miles to circumnavigate. Dean grabbed 5th place overall and 1st in his age category in an incredibly quick time of 8h22.

Taking the distance up a notch and bringing it much closer to home, there were two 50-milers to choose from. The Albion Running ‘Westcountry Ultra Flat 50’ starting in Taunton and the ‘Hilly 50’ starting in Minehead. Completing either is an epic achievement, and especially so for the first timers who hadn’t managed a half century before.

For the ‘Flat 50’, which isn’t as flat as it sounds, Nicola Kelly was more than up to the task and had an amazing race to finish as 1st female in 9h34m. She was followed in by Andy Burgess, Georgina Brice, Rich Hill and Scott Weetch.

Over in Minehead the ‘Hilly 50’, which IS at least as hilly as it sounds, was the daunting prospect facing seven club members. A group of six made up of Ali Bisatt, Fintan Murray, James Lewes, Mercedes Thorne, Robin Upton and Sam Wharton stuck together throughout the race and got over the line in 12h25m, having climbed over 8000ft in the process. Ali was actually on his way to work when ‘luckily’ he found he wasn’t needed and so took the opportunity to sign up for the race at the last minute. I think many people would have rather done the day’s work! 100 marathon club member Peter Hall also completed the course, having alternately been baked and then drenched as the weather turned wetter towards the end of the day.

The thing with ultra running is that no matter how far you run there’s always someone who runs further, and this weekend that was Sandra Moffat. Not content with choosing between the Flat or Hilly 50 races, Sandra decided to do them both (!) immediately one after another (!!) by entering the Westcountry Ultra 100 miler, described as ‘one glorious weekend of trail running’, meaning literally the whole weekend. Sandra’s amazing perseverance to complete the event was rewarded with the trophy for 1st female!

Support over both courses was great, with RFRC members manning several of the checkpoints and various club members turning out to cheer the runners on. It was yet another reminder of what a great club this is.

After last weekend’s mass outing, it was a slightly more subdued weekend for RFRC athletes, though not for Sandra Moffat who took herself off to Wales for the HOWUM 30 completing in 7.46, apparently as a bit of gentle warm up for this weekend’s 100 miler!

Getting up and down and dirty was Chris Manley who took part in the Rat Race Dirty Weekend, a 20 miler with 200 added obstacles, finishing in 6.20 and slightly muddy.

James Palmer stormed the Ottery 10K, knocking out a 53.20 PB, beating a time set when he was in his 20s.

It was double bubble weekend Simon Rowland with the Waters Meet 10K on Friday evening, finishing in 59.35 followed by the the Exe Valley Sprint Tri on Dundsy where he clocked 1.32.

Helen Prescott also took part in the Exe Sprint Tri, her 1.34 earning a 3rd AG place.

On Monday Sally Tuer tackled the Berkley 10K and had s good start to the week with a 54.53.

Nick Brazier clocked a cracking 19.52 in the Exeter 5K series.

Our parkrun tourists went to Minehead, Grangemoor, Exmouth, Street, Belberry Down and Penryn Campus. Twenty for headed for Longrun Meadoen where Geri Fagan earned a PB.

Sunday saw an amazing Club turnout of nearly 40 runners take on the North Dorset Villages Marathon in support of Georgina Brice who was making a bid to be the second RFRC runner to join the 100 Marathon Club. Of course, Georgie stormed it and collected her coveted top and medal at a celebration in true RFRC style.

First time marathoners Rachel Nicholls & Darren Purchase enjoyed great runs and there were PBs from Mark Wilson, Ron Foord, Hannah Kirkman, Ann-Marie Crampton, Matthew Paul, Ian Bawler, Emma Perkins, Simon Denson & Emily Vining; plus several members clocked times which qualified them for Good For Age places for the London Marathon … looks like that could be another RFRC takeover Running 65 miles in Devon was Andy Burgess, who completed the East Devon Round in 16.31.

Andy Higham stormed home in 7.25 at the Pembrokeshire Endurancelife Coastal Ultra (name is nearly as long as the 35 mile race)

At the Uplowman 10K Simon Rowland was timed home in 49.05 and Sherri Dingle in 61.51.

Our parkrunners who ventured further afield went to Sandy Water, Blanford, Canterbury and Highbury Fields where all 4 of the Timpson clan ran the 5K.

Keeping it local this weekend, Chris Manley clocked a 2.09 in the Blackdown Hills Trail Half With our other entrant Dee Finch recording a 2.28 finish. Great times for a hilly trail event.

Taking the 10K option at the same event, Wayne Windebank was RFRC first finisher in 50.19; Tanya Herbison’s 60.07 earned her 2nd Female finisher. Helen Prescott (68.00); Tracy Marshall (72.36); Geri Fagan (85.55) completed the line up.

It was a case of to PB or not to PB at the Shakespeare Marathon for Scott Weetch who suffered the slings and arrows of pretty good fortune and finished in 3.53.

At the Sid Valley Half clocked a Andrew Saunders commendable 2.11.

Don MacPhail took part in the Clinic Maer 10K, which is a race not an equine veterinary surgery, finishing in 48.34.

Martin Webb allegedly completed a Tough Mudder. We hope it was tough because he wasn’t nearly muddy enough, I expected more filth from you …

Well done to all our parkrunners, both tourists and Longrun Meadow regulars, with a special mention to recent RFRC recruit (what took you so long) Ade Troake who did his 100th parkrun.

We’ll start off this week’s round up with a massive cheer for Georgina Brice who completed her Phoenix 10 marathons in 10 days challenge on Monday. Collecting 10 multi coloured medals and taking her marathon count to 99, Georgina was accompanied on the 10th run by Rob Murr. It’s going to be a huge Club turnout for her 100th event on the 1st May … and a big RFRC celebration afterwards.

At the Beyond Jurassic Trail Half Sally Tuer fought off the dinosaurs to clock a 2.29 finish.

Not one to take things easy on her holiday, Tracy Marshall entered the Hardman Ireland 10K and earned a souvenir holiday medal in 61mins.

Over at the Westonbirt Half Ray Tutton crossed the line in 1.39.

It was a speedy start to the week for Ben Timpson and Nick Brazier who sped through the Fast Friday 10K in 41.35 and 42.47 respectively.

Hopping over to Yeovil for the Easter Bunny 10K on Monday seemed a great way to work off chocolate overload. First home was Scott Weetch in 44.42. Hannah Kirkman finished in 48.08 with Flo Bridges not far behind in 52.12. Nigel Baker’s 52.47 earned him a 1st AG spot with Sandra Moffat, Paula Bisatt and Karen Chapman sporting bunny ears for a 70.21 finish.

Easter Monday is Marathon day in Boston Lincolnshire too, Helen Louise Phillips completing this fast Half in 2.04.

Quick, actually very quick, shout out to Sam Carden who’s SDW 50 miler in 7.09 the other week broke the Club record for the distance.

Our park runners were out in force, including a lucky pair who were in sunny Australia for their 5K.