Harriers are here, there and everywhere over the past week!

The week of 5th - 12th May was certainly a hectic one for the Exmouth Harriers, who were participating in no less than 8 different events in 4 different counties!

NORTH DORSET VILLAGES MARATHON
Kicking them off on Sunday 5th May was Dave Wright who headed to Sturminster Newton in Dorset to take part in the North Dorset Villages Marathon. Dave has a soft spot for this event, despite it's rather insalubrious start time of 8:30am, as this is the third year in a row he has set his alarm clock for 5am to get up there  in time to toe the start line. It is a great little event with a friendly, low-key feel, yet with top notch organisation - runners can even deposit their own personal drinks out on the course, giving them the feeling of being an elite marathoner!

In finishing the 26.2 miles in a fine time of 3:18:53, Dave made it a dozen marathons completed this year by members of the Exmouth Harriers. This time gave him 29th place overall out of 294  finishers. He was 5th in his 50-54 age category. This is impressive indeed as Dave has to fit his training in around his long work hours as a maths teacher at the local secondary school.

DEVON OPEN 1500M, BRAUNTON

On the same day and at the extreme other end of the spectrum in terms of distance covered was Dave Eveleigh, who took part in the 1500m race at the Devon Open Meeting in Braunton, north Devon. He finished in the middle of a field mixed in age and gender but was satisfied with a time of 5:37 for a distance he favours and, in so doing, added yet another fine string to his championship bow.

YEOVILTON 5K SERIES, ROUND 2

Midweek saw the second round of the Yeovilton Summer 5k series take place on a pancake flat course at RNAS Yeovilton, in Somerset. With most of the first round Harriers who ran unable to take part, it was left to Jon Garrity to fly the Harriers flag at this event, and he did so in style. In much more favourable conditions than greeted him in the first round (the wind being in the right direction, providing some welcome assistant on the out and home stretch), Jon stormed around the course in a time of 18:12, over a minute quicker than his time from the last round, and a new PB for the 5k distance. This gave him 22nd place overall and 3rd MV40. As Jon continues to sharpen up over the coming months, a sub 18 minute time is looking like a highly realistic possibility.

IVYBRIDGE 10K

A dozen Exmouth Harriers were at the Ivybridge 10km Race on Saturday evening. Opinion was divided on the speed of the course which has a very steep, but short, uphill section between 3km and 4 km but is then mostly downhill for the latter half of the race. The event is very popular though with over 600 entries and is always competitive.

Adam Miller had an extremely impressive top 10 position (10th exactly), though his time was a fairly modest 35:41. Adam did not see this as a course for a personal best, and perhaps he was still feeling the effects of having the efforts of his London Marathon performance in his legs, but on the right course, on the right day, he will surely chop at least 2 minutes off that time in the not too distant future.

Marc Cox is a name that has not appeared in local race results a lot recently but here he was back with a bang. Marc was 16th in 36:44, which represents a massive new personal best for him, carving 20 seconds off his previous 10k best, set at the local Woodbury event last September. 

Mike Musgrove would have expected to finish in around 36 minutes but he cut a rueful figure pedalling back to the Race HQ on a bike lent by a helpful marshal, having had to bail out with a calf injury. 

On paper, Richard Hawe’s time of 39:38 does not indicate an exceptional run and was some way outside of his personal best - again, perhaps fuelling the argument that this is not the fastest of courses - but his 60th position in a field that size, as a runner in the MV45 category, would suggest otherwise. In that category itself Richard was 9th out of 68 runners. 

Four minutes passed before the next Harrier finished, with Andrew Johnson (another MV45 contestant) crossing the line in 43:35, giving him 127th overall. 

The ever-improving Lisa Hatchard was the first Exmouth woman to finish and very pleased to come away from the event with a new personal best of 46:35, in 206th place. Just behind her was Carly Miller in 47:02, another personal Best, but by the tightest of margins (1 second); however, Carly did not feel great on the night and came down will illness the day after, so once she is back to full fitness and can find another fast course, a sub 47 minute clocking will be there for the taking.

Phil Bater was our next man across the line, in a fine time of 47:41 in 236th place overall. Phil races very rarely but he proved here that it's quality and not quantity that counts as he scooped himself 4th spot in his MV60 category; a category that is very well contested at this highly competitive race.

Dave Eveleigh would have expected to finish in around 45 minutes but was forced to walk some sections of the last two miles of the race and was apparently looking so bad that a marshal tried hauling him out of the race. However, nothing if not determined, our Dave stuck to his task and finished the race, impressively about half-way down the field (356th) but, frustratingly, almost 10 minutes slower (52:06) than he recorded for the 10km distance in March. You know with Dave though that he will not let this below-par performance deter him from coming back stronger than ever next time. 

Ray Elston was 289th in 49:47 and 5th MV65: a category in which there were 17 finishers. However, Ray is in fact well over 70 and he and all those others (just) able to remember the Second World War surely deserve a category of their own! Mike Keep and Jim Wyatt were also septuagenarians running in the MV65 category. Mike clocked 54:48 in 439th place and Jim 56:06 in 475th place. Hopefully it will only be a matter of time before race organisers cotton onto the fact that these athletes (because they do not walk around, they RUN!), are highly competitive and deserve a category of their own!

BLACK DEATH 10 MILE RUN

The Somerset based Black Death Run is named because of a local historical event (namely, the Black Death wiping out the entire village of Coombe Syndham, where the race starts and finishes), rather than for its harrowing effect on participants, but it is tough enough anyway to warrant the name for that reason too!

Hugh Marsden and Dawn Teed have just returned from a tour of New Zealand but the land of the long white cloud is very conducive to outdoor activities such as running and the pair seem as fit as ever. There were over 300 finishers in the 10 mile cross country race, of which around 90 were female. Hugh was 20th and occupying his usual slot of first MV50, timed at 85:40 for this gruelling and very hilly 10 mile multi-terrain run. Dawn had a strong race too and finished in 127th place overall, 3rd in her FV50 category and 8th woman overall in 1:44:54. Joining Hugh and Dawn was Susan Hill who was 192nd and 29th woman in 1:55:01.

BEER BLAZER 10K
Yet another local event held on the weekend of the 11th / 12th May was the Beer Blazer. The best way to describe this 10k run is to call it a 'mini-Grizzly', as it is organised by Axe Valley - also the Mothership of this epic 20 mile multi-terrain race in March - and it is run over some of the same terrain as the Grizzly too, i.e. pebble beach, insanely steep cliff paths and jacobs ladders, mud and rivers. Perhaps the only thing than does not feature in the 10k race is the infamous bog! Nevertheless, it is a tough, hilly multi-terrain event which attracts those members of the hardcore off-road contingent.... and the Dupain clan!

Once again, our Exmouth Harriers running family were out in force and all had excellent runs. Hannah Bown (or Brown, as she once again appears - INCORRECTLY, I'm sure she'd like it to be reiterated! - in the results), had a superb race to come out as top woman, 3 full minutes clear of the 2nd placed female, in 17th place overall in a time of 47:47 (not forgetting, this is no flat, fast road 10k!) from a field of 94 finishers.

Hannah will have been pleased to get the better of her brother, Chris, on this occasion, who finished as 2nd Dupain and 2nd Harrier, 29th overall, in a fine time of 51:19.

Ben White was extremely close behind, pushing Chris all the way to the line, posting a time of 52:14 for 32nd place overall, whilst his bride-to-be, Emma Dupain, was just slightly adrift of him in 49th place overall and 8th female in 54:32. Not forgetting that Emma also plays hockey to a highly competitive level and so she spreads her talents across two sports whilst also juggling a hectic job as a PE teacher!

KILLERTON 10K

Killerton is better known for the weekly 5k parkrun event; however, on May 12th it played host to Relish Running Races series of 5k, 10k and half-marathon races. Following a twisty, turny and insanely hilly course around the grounds and parkland (1200ft of climb over 10k - brutal!), I, Ellie Sutcliffe, opted for the 10k distance, which was run over a tough but beautiful one lap route. I was the lone Harrier on the start line and fought hard around the interesting course to post a time of just over 44 minutes. 3 men shot off at the start but I found myself in a chasing group of myself and 2 other blokes. I managed to ditch one of them but the other stayed on my shoulder to the end. Approaching the finish, he took a wrong turn and almost carried on for a second lap on the half-marathon route, until I sportingly shouted out to correct him and get him back on track.... only for him then to out-kick me in the sprint to the finish line: the sod! So I finished in 5th place overall and 1st female. It was a well organised event with a fantastic atmosphere and hopefully the races will take place again next year - I'd urge all the off-road contingent to give it a go - it's tougher than parkrun but a lovely route, running through bluebell woods and fields of buttercups!

Ellie on one of many steep downhill sections at the Killerton 10k. What goes down....

BOSWORTH HALF-MARATHON

Joan and Stan Mason meanwhile popped back to the Midlands to complete the Bosworth Half Marathon in just under (1:59:47) and just over (2:07:13) 2 hours respectively. It's great to see Stan back competing after a testing few months on the health and injury front and good to see that he has not lost too much fitness, if this time is anything to go by. Good to have you back Stan.... just in time for the relays season!! :-)

Joan, Stan and friend after the Bosworth Half: where are your vests guys? Tut tut!!

Well done to all the Harriers who raced last week and represented the club so well in such a variety of different events. Good luck to any racing this weekend!