Yet more relay success for the Harriers!

The Exmouth Harriers are garnering quite a reputation for themselves in the area for consistently being the top act to beat when it comes to off-road relay race events. Having come out as top dog in the past two years at the Autumn Parrett Trail Relays and having taken a comfortable victory in last summer's East Devon Way relay, this week they targeted an event for the first time: the Woodland Relays in Colyton, near Seaton. Staged by the Axe Valley Runners, this is an invitation only event and teams are made up from the local clubs of Axe Valley, Sidmouth, Honiton, the met office and our good selves.

As the name suggests, these relays were run off-road in some woods. There are three legs, so each team consists of 3 runners who each run the same 2.2 mile circuit. The legs were basically downhill with a very steep uphill towards the end which was very difficult to run due to the steepness of the gradient and slipperiness of the terrain, although some managed it (including Marc Cox!).

We had 8 runners representing the Harriers on the night, and a quick calculation revelas that 8 does not divide by 3, and so one runner had the pleasure of going round twice. This pleasure fell to Scott-Two-Triggs-Jordan, and quite right too! Call it karma: doubling up to compensate for cutting in half the required distance on a certain other recent race...! ;-)

Our men's A team, consisting of Afam Miller on leg 1 (13:19), Mike Musgrove on leg 2 (13:37) and Jamie Pearson on the third and final leg (12.42), secured victory in a cumulative time of 39:38, with a winning margin of 1 minute 13 seconds from the Axe Valley Runner's mens A team. Jamie Pearson also has the honour of running the fastest leg of the evening! Well done lads!

Axe Valley Runners Mens B placed 3rd, then our Harriers B team came in 4th, with Scott Jordan taking the opening leg (15:19), Dave Backway the middle (14:49) and Marc Cox the anchor (14:14). This gave them a total accumulative time of 44:22.

Our final men's team, Exmouth Harriers Sore (not sure how that name came about!), had Jon Garrity opening up the proceedings (13:48), Mark Thompson filling in the middle slot (15:00) and Scott Jordan running again to complete the sandwich (15:58). This gave the team an amassed time of 44:46 and placed them a well earned 6th.

There were 26 teams in total who participated and so the Harriers flew the club flag with pride, occupying 3 of the top 6 finishing spots! Unfortunately we had no ladies team, neither did many other clubs, so this will be something to aim for next time.

The event had a lovely low-key friendly atmosphere and the Harriers greatly enjoyed their evening... so much so that they might have agreed to stage the next round of the relays. (Each participating club takes it in turns to stage a similar event throughout the year). So, get your thinking caps on as to where and when we could hold it!

All 8 Harriers who participated in the Woodland Relays in Colyton

Our victorious men's A team: Jamie (fastest leg of the night!), Mike and Adam