Exe-rated: The Blog of Exmouth Harriers: 20 Harriers take on (and take over!) Killerton Parkrun

On Saturday 15th December, 20 Exmouth Harriers headed to Killerton House to participate in the weekly Parkrun that is staged there. Many members have already been seduced by the charms of this fun, friendly and FREE weekly run, but other Harriers had yet to give it a go. So our newly elected men's team captain, Adam Miller, suggested at the AGM that we all target the run en masse this week, and so a date was set and it proved to be a very popular idea with 20 members all pitching up, armed with their barcode and ready to run!

The route is an undulating 5k through the grounds of Killerton that includes some fields, a wooded section and some farm tracks. We were hoping at the start of the week that a spell of dry weather would dry up the course and that seemed to be the case... until the 24 hour-long downpour that occurred yesterday totally saturated it again. So the Harriers had to contend with a lot of mud on the route, particularly on the 2 field sections at the start and finish of the race, which were extremely boggy.

Despite these conditions, however, some good times were still posted and there was even the odd PB set by runners who had participated before. Adam Miller, recently crowned as the Harriers Male Athlete of the Year at the Harriers' annual award do last week AND also recently crowned as Parkrunner of the month for November 2012 by the Parkrun organisers, proved his worthiness of both these titles, finishing as first Harrier and 4th overall on the day in an exceptionally high quality men's field. Guest Harrier, Berihu Tesfay, won the race overall, just out-sprinting Exeter Harrier James Denne at the very end. These were everyone's times and placings (first timers indicated F.T. and new Killerton PB as PB).

Berihu Tesfay: 1st in 17:09 (F.T.)
Adam Miller: 4th in 18:29
Tony Hatchard: 7th in 19:25 (F.T.)
Ellie Sutcliffe: 8th (1st female) in 19:36 (PB, by 1 second!)
Andy Johnson: 15th in 21:54
Roger Rowe: 22nd in 23:09
Terry Oldham: 24th in 23:18 (F.T.)
Dave Eveleigh: 25th in 23:20
Bob Keast: 26th in 23:28 (F.T.)
Carly Audritt: 31st (8th female) in 24:00
Lisa Hatchard: 36th (11th female) in 25:09 (F.T.)
Dawn Teed: 38th (12th female) in 25:19 (F.T.)
Lorraine Gilson: 39th (13th female) in 25:21 (F.T.)
Finn Musgrove: 42nd in 25:31 (F.T.)
Mike Musgrove: 43rd in 25:33 (running with son Finn)
Alison Milborrow: 52nd (15th female) in 27:21 (F.T.)
Nicola Crook: 53rd (16th female) in 27:33 (F.T.)
Diana Richards: 36th (18th female) in 27:53
Les Turner: 62nd in 29:20

81 finishers. So Harriers made up 1/4 of the total field today!! Go us!