Bravo Rob-air Or-tonne d'Exmoot 'arriers!

Rob Orton works in France for most of the year but is also able to spend extended periods in the Exmouth area where he has family connections and so this has made it worthwhile joining our happy band of Harriers. He ran well in races the last time he made an appearnce, back in May, on this side of the channel, but he has now added his name to a long list of Harriers who have run internationally without being clad in an international vest. In fact, in the scenic surrounds of Annecy in south-eastern France, Rob wore his Exmouth vest with pride in the 2000 strong Annecy 10K, which is a flat, fast 10k run around the stunnign Annecy lake. The race was won in an eye-catching time of 29:50 but Rob’s 33:09 for 15th place is as impressive a time for the distance that anybody from the club has produced in a while and that vest is sure to have produced a few second glances. It certainly presented the finish line announcer with some linguistic challenges as he struggled firth with the 'th' combination of sounds in 'Exmouth' and then with the 'H' at the start of Harriers: both of these are sounds which just do not exist in the French language! 

Rob, or 'Rob'air', as he was announced over the tannoy, will be back with us for a couple of weeks in October and we look forward to welcoming him and the vest back on to British soil and we wagerly await some more strong performances, which he undoubtedly has up his sleeve: put it this way - the other guys who are in contention for the 'Exmouth Harriers' Male Champion 2013' accolade are starting to get a little hot under the collar now after Rob's recent 10k performance! 

Bravo Rob: nous sommes fier de toi!

Harriers take centre stage at the Woodbury 10k

Report by Dave Eveleigh:

The Woodbury 10K road race was revived by the congregation of Christ Church in the village in 2010. It was held again last Sunday morning (22 September) when just short of 100 runners started the race. As might be expected most of these were local people but with plenty of entrants from Exmouth Harriers (who provide the technical know-how at no charge) and South West Road Runners. There was also a number from the Exmouth Belles Running Group. Other entries were from as far away as Germany and Dublin.

It might seem strange that a church should choose a Sunday morning for this event but they actually replace their service with what they see as Christian outreach which raises fund for the Tearfund Christian charity. Tearfund works globally, providing practical help to overcome poverty as well as working with traumatised children. The church members also want to be actively involved in their local community and the race is very much a local event with friends and relatives waiting at the finish by the Village Hall giving noisy encouragement. A typical entrant, keen also to be part of the community was local man, Richard Onley, from Woodbury Salterton who always enters. Despite poor health this year he managed to complete part of the run - a great achievement for him. So you end up with a local church congregation giving a dynamic demonstration of their beliefs largely on the roads and lanes around the village of Woodbury.

Local it may be, but the Woodbury 10K is still a race and very appropriately the first Exmouth Harrier home was Chris Dupain in 7th place in 40:51. The Dupain family have all lived in the village at varying points throughout their life and three more of them finished this race. Chris’ sister Hannah Bown was 10th in 42:48 and 2nd female, whilst recently married, younger sister Emma White was 35th in 47:59. Nigel-Pops-Dupain completed the family team in 50th with 50:58.

Not far behind Chris, in 8th overall and comfortably first woman, at the age of 51, was Harriers' Cathy Newman from Lympstone in a time of 41:08. Andy Johnson was next across the line in a swiftish 43:20. He was hotly pursued by Scott-2-Trigs-Jordan, who recorded a highly respectable time of 44:12 in 19th position. Roger Riggs was comfortably under the hour with 56:39 for 73rd place. 

A number of the Exmouth Running Belles female group have also joined Exmouth Harriers for the extra training opportunites that the club offers. Everybody seems pleasingly relaxed about which name they should run under and when and the nick-name Harribelles has recently been suggested for them as a 'catch-all' term. As far as can be told, at this race, Harribelles finishing were Lisa Broad, who was 56th in 51:40 and Alison Wilkinson in 75th with 56:52; indeed it was Lisa who coined the name “Harribelles”. 

Well done to all Harriers, Belles and/or Harribelles competing! A great course and always a hotly contested event too.

It's 'girl power' at Dornafield!

For those lady Harriers not wanting to travel up the M5 to a half-marathon this weekend, there was the shorter and more local option of a ladies only 10k race, held at Dornafield Caravan Park, near Newton Abbot. Organised by the Teignbridge Trotters, this race represents one of a very limited number - and perhaps the only option in the local area - of opportunities for women to have their own race and cross a finish line in pole position overall. 

The course, held on quiet country lanes around the villages of Ogwell and Denbury, is an undulating one and, for the past two years, it has not been blessed with the best weather conditions. This year it at least remained dry, but was very blustery nonetheless, but the runners did not have to paddle their way through two 20m long, knee deep swimming pools that had formed in the lanes as we did last year! But, as we know, us females are made of stern stuff, and the Harriers ladies in particular were not going to let a few puffs of wind stop them from racing hard.

Start of the Dornafield Ladies 10k, with Cathy to the fore (front right)

(C) Pete Newman

When it comes to running and 'girl power', Exmouth Harrier's Cathy Newman is perhaps the best example we have of a 'tough and talented cookie'. She has been in this running game for longer than most members of the club and has seen massive success and recorded some incredible times and performances over the years. Perhaps even more impressive is that, at 51, she is still doing so. She is still placing in the top three outright in races and still setting some times that many senior athletes could only dream of! In Sunday's blustery conditions, she clocked a time of 41:05 to take 2nd place behind runaway winner Serane Stone from Tiverton (40:00 flat), so she of course ran out a comfortable winner of the FV50 category.

Cathy pushing on through one of the villages on the undulating, rural route

(C) Pete Newman

And with her unique prize for placing 2nd lady: a commissioned print by a local artist

(C) Pete Newman

The next Harrier home was Julie Gellender, who finished 15th overall, 2nd woman aged 40-44, in 46:11. If that name sounds familiar to any Harriers, Julie used to run with us a few years ago until she went to Germany to live for a couple of years. She's now back and training with us again and so it was great to have her back racing with us - and racing so well - on Sunday. Welcome back Julie! 

Carly Miller, boosted by her fine run at Yeovilton on Wednesday, placed 17th in a time of 46:42. This was her second PB of the week, carving 20 seconds off her previous best, set at Ivybridge in May. Carly prefers undulating to flat courses but admitted that she could still feel Wednesday's efforts in her legs on the hills, and so this time is all the more promising in light of that.

The clock doesn't lie: it's another PB for Carly!

(C) Pete Newman

Carly and Lisa Hatchard are pretty evenly matched over the 10k distance. At the last couple of outings Lisa has gotten the better of Carly, but sadly for Lisa, she did not quite manage that today. However, she was not really running on her preferred surface, so ran well to place 21st in 47:42 and score some vital points for the ladies team: Cathy, Julie, Carly and Lisa all made up the Exmouth 'A' team, which came a very close second behind the host club, Teignbridge, who had 30 member in the race. Normally it is not easy for organising club to turn out such a good team because help is needed on race day, but at this event the men step up to provide that help, enabling the women to run.

3 of the 4 members of the successful ladies team (Julie missing).

Put some clothes on Lisa: Tilly looks horrified!!

(C) Pete Newman

Exmouth women’s captain, Dawn Teed, was a highly respectable 29th overall in 49:04 and 5th Woman aged 50-54: a very strong category on the day, headed up by our own Cathy Newman; while Joan Mason made a welcome return to racing after illness forced her to withdraw from the Torbay 10k at the last minute. Joan finished one place inside the top half of runners, placing 81st of the 164 finishers in 56:09 and, in so doing, totting up some useful points for herself in the Exmouth Harriers club championship.

All of the participating Harriers ladies

L - R: Julie, Dawn (captain), Joan, Cathy, Carly, Lisa - and mascot, Tilly!

The ladies reported great cameraderie at the event and great cakes afterwards (even Hugh indulged!). It is superb that we are getting so many ladies teams out to local races now and every time we do, we seem to come away with something. We must thank team captain, Dawn, for motivating all of us ladies and encouraging everyone to try out new races. Lots more opportunities to field teams at events this Autumn, with the cross-countries, the Templer Ten, the Drogo 10 and the Tavy 7 all coming up. Come on ladies - give them a go!!

Half-marathon fever hits the Harriers!

This weekend it was all about the 13.1 mile half-marathon distance as, in addition to the iconic Great North Run, three other large half-marathon events took place in the south-west, with Bristol, Cheltenham and Chippenham all hosting their events on the same day (22nd September). Exmouth Harriers had representation at two of those three events, with the Harriers men heading to Bristol and the ladies to Chippenham.

BRISTOL HALF

Bristol saw in the region of 11,000 runners toe the start line of the race that was celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. First home for the Harriers was Tony Hatchard, who placed a spectacular 55th of those 11'000 in a time of 75:57. Tony has really rounded into form this summer and was chasing the very tough London Marathon Championship qualifying mark of 75 minutes. He will have been disappointed to have missed out by just 57 seconds and, perhaps given an extra month of training under his belt, he may have achieved it, as he said he felt strong for the first 10 miles but just lacked the endurance to see the pace through to the finish and he dropped below his target pace in the last 3 miles. It was nevertheless a strong performance and he can take encouragement from that as he heads into the cross-country season.

Marc Cox is another athlete who has really found a solid vein of form this season and has been obliterating his PBs with every outing. He set an already impressive mark of 80:29 at the Torbay event and was chasing a time in the region of 76-77 minutes at Bristol. Like Tony, he perhaps just lacked that necessary speed-endurance to hang on in the closing miles but he fought hard to cross the line in a massive new PB of 78:40, giving his a top 100 finish (84th), which puts him comfortably in the top 1% of runners: not a bad result for Marc, who has only been running competitively for 2 years!

Dave Wright was our only veteran representative in Bristol and he ran a solid race for 668th in 91:54: an ecellent time for someone in their 50s. Dave may well be using the race as part of an autumn marathon build up, as he did last year. Dan Morley, making a rare appearance on the race circuit - only his second outing this year, after the Yeovil Half in March - was also well up the field with 1469th place with his time of 99:18.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that Exmouth Harrier member, Cathy Newman, is a two-time former winner of this event, in 1991 and 1999, highlighting what a formidable talent she once was (and indeed, still is). This year the female race was again won by a south-west runner, with Cornish veteran runner, Emma Stepto, taking the win in a superb 73:40. 

CHIPPENHAM HALF

Just a little way east of Bristol, three female members of the Exmouth Harriers mirrored the men's success in Bristol and had a good day over the 13.1 mile distance at the Chippenham Half, in Wiltshire. In a smaller field than Bristol (just over 1300 runners contested the race), all three runners returned home to Exmouth with sparkly new Personal Bests.

Jane Macdonald was 353rd in 1:42:35, Susan Hill was 359th in 1:42:47 and Lorraine Kirby placed 394th in 1:44:03. As anyone trying to clock a sub 1:45 time will tell you, it is not easy. You cannot hang around, you have to keep pushing on the whole way, and you certainly cannot "jog" it. All 3 ladies are now proud members of that exclusive sub 1h45 club: great work ladies, very well done! A testimony to their increased training efforts over the past few months and perhaps a sign of greater things to come?

Mike and Dave's dizzying medal dash

There was mid-week action on the track this week as Exeter Arena played host to the Devon County 10'000m championships. With the county championships having seemingly died a death at road events in 2013 (Plymouth Hoe and Torbay Regatta normally play host to the 10 mile and 10k championships respectively, but sadly not this year), opportunities to gain county glory and win county medals are becoming few and far between in Devon. The county 10'000m, held annually in September, provides one of very limited opportunities to run this popular distance on the track. And make no mistake about it, running 10k on the track is much tougher that running the same distance on the road. Although the surface is even and totally flat, making it slightly less physically demanding, running 25 laps of the 400m oval taxes the runners mentally. On the track there is no where to hide and you cannot focus on the next landmark up the road to keep you going. That said, Exmouth Harriers have never been a club to shy away from a challenge and this year two of them stepped up to take 2 of the 40 places on offer across 2 seeded races.

Due to the small entry numbers, competition across the age group categories was fairly limited, but runners still had their own personal goals to do battle against, with PBs and SBs all up for grabs. Mike Musgrove picked up a silver medal in the men Age 40-44 category and, in so doing, trimmed around 10 seconds off his PB with his superb time of 35:45. This is all the more impressive when we consider that Mike is in the throes of a tough training regime for the 3 day, 78 mile multi-stage Atlantic Coast Challenge in October, and so has not been focussing on speed over the shorter distances. 

Dave Eveleigh was pleased to run an even paced race and remain focussed throughout - not easy over 25 laps of the same circuit! - to finish in just under 45 minutes (44:51) and receive the County Gold for Men Age 55-59.

Well done to both our guys: we hope you weren't too dizzy after!!

Harriers go out with a bang at Yeovilton!

The Exmouth Harriers ended the Yeovilton Summer 5k series on a real high last Wednesday, 11th September, as the 4 participating Harriers on the night came away with 3 personal bests and a season's best between them. As an additional bonus, one of them won the ladies race on the night, whilst the other got a prize for 2nd senior female in the series overall.

The fast, flat Yeovilton 5k series has seen the emergence of a new Harriers starlet, in the form of Carly Miller. Last month, Carly smashed her PB for the distance by well over a minute when she ran a superb time of 21:35. She was paced around on that occasion by experienced veteran athlete and local running legend, Gordon Seward. Nevertheless, Carly still had to run it herself and push her body way beyond its comfort zone to get that time. In this final round, Carly was totally on her own and wanted to prove that she could run a sub 22 minute time on her own. Knowing how hard now she needed to push herself to achieve this, she set out hard from the gun and dug in deep all the way to the finish. To her sheer delight, she not only bagged herself another sub 22 clocking - something which, until last month, she had been chasing for ages - but she knocked yet another 10 seconds off her time from August to register a fantastic new PB of 21:25. She placed 9th female and 76th overall. It seems that Carly has found her specialist distance in 5ks. As just reward for her efforts, her 5 accumulative performances secured her the 2nd senior female prize for the series overall. Fantastic work Carly: very well done!

Carly's was not the only outstanding female performance of the night, as Cathy Newman made her debut appearance at Yeovilton for this 2013 series and made her one appearance count by storming to a win in the ladies race and placing 32nd overall in a time of 18:32. This time is not only a season's best for Cathy but it also beats her best performance from last year too - she recorded a time of 18:42 at the September round of the Yeovilton 5k. Whilst this is a long way off Cathy's astounding PB of 16:14, it comes in at a whopping 91.6% on age-graded calculations and puts her as 2nd in the UK for her age group for the 5k distance this year. Amazing stuff indeed!

Not to be outshone by the ladies, the two male Harrier representatives stormed their way to new 5k PB times on the night too. When you are at the sharp end of the race at Adam's Miller's level, it becomes harder to carve large chunks off your time and you find your grappling for precious seconds. Everything has to come good on the night - the weather, your fitness, good health, fresh legs - in order to clock a new PB. Luckily for Adam, everything did come together and he was rewarded with his 3rd PB of the series with a superb time of 16:37. This gave him 13th place overall in a very tight race, in which just 10 seconds seperated the runners who finished 8th through to 13th. 

The biggest improvement curve of the series in terms of times, however, has come from Jon Garrity. Jon opened up his Yeovilton campaign back in April with a modest 19:16. One month later he improved upon this by a whole minute to run 18:12. In July he dipped under 18 minutes for the first time ever with 17:51. August saw him post a consistent 17:52 and then, to finish the series in fine style, he knocked another 6 seconds off his time and posted 17:45 to claim 22nd place overall and 6th in a very competitive MV40 category on the final night.  

At the prize giving, there was yet more good news for the Harriers as I, Ellie Sutcliffe - although having only managed 2 of the 6 races due to injury - managed to post the fastest female time of the series (in the June round; 18:15) and picked up a £50 cheque as a nice little bonus. Second claim Harrier, Tom Merson, also did the same for the men's race. 

About 170 runners contested each race, with as much as 40% of the fields being female. Competition at the top end is usually very high and so these are good races in which to tuck into a pack and have the benefit of other athletes to pull you along to a PB. All of us who participated would recommend any 5k PB seekers to give the event a go next year!

Harriers super-vets on tour!

The Exmouth Harriers super-vet contingent were on tour last weekend, Saturday 7th September, when three of them made the 120 mile trip eastwards to Overton, in Hampshire, to tackle the Overton 5 mile race.

There were nearly 500 competing including 13 men over 70, making this a very strong and competitive category on the day and our local lads were very much in the thick of the action. 

Just a few weeks ago Ray Elston missed out on an age group win by 3 seconds. At this event he again just missed out on second place by 3 seconds but managed to secure himself a podium position in his category (3rd MV70). In so doing he left nearly 170, mostly younger, rivals trailing in his wake as he finished in 315th overall and comfortably inside 8 minute mile pace with a 39:21 clocking. 

Mick Allen was still recovering from a heel injury but finished 405th overall and 7th in the same MV70 age group in 43:41. Just one category place behind him, finishing 8th MV70, was Les Turner who was 412th overall in 45:24.

This is a fast, flat road race where PB times are very much up for grabs in the right conditions. The race was won by Chris Powner in a time of 25:16 and the top female was GB international athlete, Lousie Damen, in a swift 26:59. 482 finishers.

Harriers are a 'Force' to be reckoned with

On Sunday 8th September, 3 Exmouth Harrier members were amongst the 324 strong line up for the 'Force 10k @ Powderham Castle'. This is a charity event, organised by and to raise funds for the Exeter based cancer charity, Force, and incorporates a 10k and 5k bike ride, a 10k and 5k run and a fun run for children, so it really is a great event to bring the whole family to. The set up, on the grass in front of the castle, with catering tents, free massage and also with Heart FM doing their live broadcast from there, alongside the race, led to a superb 'big but friendly' event atmosphere on the day.

As it is a charity event, you get a less than average proportion of club runner in attendance and more fancy dress, fund raiser runners and people attempting a run for the very first time. As such, the overall standard of competition is a little lower than at club organised races, but a field of 324 finishers, of which more than half (around 180) were female, still meant a good race was had by all.

I, Ellie Sutcliffe, had an unexpectedly good race. For the first time since my injury in February I felt strong, flowing and had no pain from my left achillies. What a joy! I had began to give up hope that I could ever have a pain-free race again. I managed to tuck myself in behind a couple of guys, who were lying in 2nd and 3rd place overall, and, although I was gaining on them on the hills, I couldn't hang onto them on the descents, and so I remained in 4th place to the finish. My time of 39:15 was surprisingly faster than last year and good enough for 1st female ahead of talented local veteran, Karen Cook of SWRR.

Also well-up up the field and having a good race was John Lambert. John ran a fine race to claim 40th place overall in 45:33: a decent time on this multi-terrain course that features a mile-long hill from miles 3.5 - 4.5. However, John was more chuffed with the performance of his son, Jeremy, in the 5k race. Actually, the race measures in at over 5k and Jeremy, at just 10 years old, was the youngest competitor in the field, so he showed tremendous talent to finish in 5th place overall out of 43 runners - many of whom were adults, and all of whom were older than him - in a time of 28:48. He really is one to watch for the future!

Continuing her come back from injury was Alison Milborrow. In her second race in just over a week, Alison showed no ill-effects from her efforts at the Forest Flyer and ran strongly to finish in the top half of the field, in 156th place overall in a time of 56:38, which is believed to be an inaugural PB for the distance. Alison now looks to tackle the Newton Abbot Ladies 10k next Sunday, where she will no doubt be looking to improve upon this time. 

The event raises around £15'000 for the charity and so runners knew that their hard efforts were going towards helping a well-deserving course.

Start of the 'Force 10k' on the Powderham Castle estate. 

Lisa doesn't Hanger-round

On Sunday 8th September, Lisa Hatchard was over in Ivybridge, West Devon, for a new race: the Hanger Up and Down. This race, which replaces the Ivybridge Beacon Challenge, is just short of 12k (approx. 8 miles) in length and involves a climb up to the Ivybridge Beacon above the town. Although it starts with a very steep hill, it is generally easier than its predecessor with less ankle-twisting terrain to negotiate, but challenging nonetheless.

Our Lisa is never one to shy away from a tough challenge though and she relished the hilly multi-terrain conditions to run herself into 7th female spot overall and first female in her vet 35 age category. Her time was 68:57 - very respectable on such a tough course. She celebrated her category win at the event with a few lengths of the pool, as a free dip in the local leisure centre - where the race started and finished - was included in the race entry fee.

Lisa explained that she faced “eight hilly miles in mostly a torrential downpour and it was brilliant! A great route, well marshalled and a lovely atmosphere. Even got a free swim after so I did another 1/2 km in the pool.” When the going gets tough Lisa sure gets going!

Well done Lisa - this sets you up nicely for the autumn trail racing and cross country season!

There were only 77 finishers, which is a shame but perhaps a reflection on it being a new race and in competition with the nearby Powderham 10k and 5k races, the Siblyback 10k and the Bridgwater Half. Hopefully the event will continue to grow and be better supported next year. 

The winner was veteran Stuart Hall, from Plymouth, in a time of 50:43, whilst top woman was Heidi Tregenza of Cornwall AC in 57:40. 

Harriers end the Run Exe 5k series on a high

This year’s Ironbridge Runner 5km Series came to an end last week on Tuesday 3rd September. After 5 rounds over 5 months, the only hindrance to good times at this final round on the virtually flat course at Exwick in Exeter was a slight breeze, so it was disappointing that there were only 73 finishers. However, “you’ve got to be in it to win it” as they say and consistent performances over the summer enabled Exmouth Harriers Nigel Dupain (Men Over 60) and Dawn Teed (Women Over 50) to pick up first place prizes in their respective age categories.

Making his debut appearance at the event and, indeed, over the distance, at this fifth and final race was Marc Cox. Marc set an impressive inaugural PB over the 5k distance of 16:41 in finishing 3rd and you get the feeling that the steady increase in the quality of his performances will not be levelling out for a while yet. 

Further down the field Chris Dupain was 19th in 18:59. Chris has consistently dipped under the 19 minute barrier this season and was rewarded with a very commendable 5th place in the senior men's category as a result. Richard Hawes was 21st in 19:14 and this gave him 3rd Man Over 45 in the series overall. Both Chris's and Rich's times were a little outside the PBs they set recently but the slight wind and a smaller field than usual could be enough to account for that. 

Dave Eveleigh’s PB days are long behind him (his own words!) but he was happy enough with a time of 21:11 in 47th place and 3rd Man Over 55 on the night. Indeed he should be as it's not too far adrift of the times he was running there last year and is well up on the times he was recording 2 to 3 years ago.

Nigel Dupain (Men over 60) was 60th overall on the night in 22:54 and Dawn Teed (Women Age 50-54) placed 64th overall in (23:29) but both were first in their age group on the night and for the series.

The winter equivalent of this Series, over 3km on the track, starts on 28th October at Exeter Arena. It's a good leg sharpener to keep the speed ticking over during the winter months and also counts for the 1st category on the club championship. Why not give it a go?!

Harriers scoop the prizes at Dartmouth Regatta race

There were just a handful of Harriers on the start line at the Dartmouth Regatta 5.1 mile road race, held on Saturday 31st August, but it was certainly quality and not quantity that mattered on this occasion as between them they had 3 members in the top 20, 2 in the top 5, a third place overall and 2 category wins: not a bad tally at such a competitive event.

The Dartmouth Regatta brigade: Adam, Carly, Dawn, Hugh, Dave

The first Harrier to finish, in thrid place overall, was Dave Stone. Once again, showing that as the years pass he is not getting any slower or less competitive, Stonie finished as top in the vet 40 section as well in a time of 30:35. He would normally run around 26 minutes for a five mile race such as our own, flatter Fulford 5, which just highlights how hilly this course is with a long, steep climb in the first half as runners ascend the road up and out of the town.

Dave collects 2 prizes - for 3rd overall and for 1st MV40

Stonie was no doubt spurred on to finish as top Exmouth runner, knowing that he had men's captain and current male athlete of the year, Adam Miller, on his tail. Continuing his good vein of form this year, Adam ran a strong, well-paced race to finish 5th and put himself in amongst all the strongest runners from the nearby Torbay AC and some other visiting clubs. He was timed at 31:14.

Hugh Marsden, running his first race of the weekend, was the next Harrier home in a time of 33:34 for a very respectable 15th place overall. However, the male vet 50 field at this race was astoundingly competitive, with 7 men over the age of 50 all inside the top 20 finishers. So on this occasion, Hugh had to settle for a 4th spot in his category, despite having a solid run.

Carly Miller brought our ladies home, having a fantastic race to place 6th lady in a competitive field and 55th overall. Carly says that she was somewhat misinformed about the length and gradient of the hill. Ignorance could well have been bliss and helped her on her way to her time of 40:10 as she pushed hard up the hill, not knowing just how long it really was!

Dawn Teed certainly made up for her partner, Hugh's, disappointment at not placing in his vet 50 category by winning her FV50 category outright! She finished top lady in that section and 77th overall in a super time of 42:03. A commemorative mug was her reward for her efforts... as was a well deserved ice-cream as a 'cool down' method!

Dawn picks up her prize for first FV50

Well done to all the Harriers for once again representing the club so well.

The race was won by Simon Longthorpe of Torbay AC in 28:48. The winning lady was Jo Meek of Tavistock AC in an impressive 32:26. 139 finishers.

This was Carly and Dawn's 'cool down' technique!

3 Harriers fly around the Forest!

On Friday 30th August, 3 Exmouth Harriers made the short trip up the estuary and then up the hill into Haldon Forest to take part in the Dawlish Coasters' organised 'Forest Flyer 5' race. Measuring in at 5 miles, this race is all off-road on compacted, highly runable forest tracks and throws a couple of very steep climbs in to test the runners.

Just the 3 Harriers were up for the challenge this year and although all 3 performed well, finishing well up the field, all three were perhaps slightly hampered by various recent injuries and niggles and so were not quite at their best.

First home was Scott-2-Trigs-Jordan. The steep climbs and descents will have suited Scott, who is always strong on technical, off-road descending. However, a slight flare up of a hip injury that caused him grief back in the spring may have effected his race slightly. He nevertheless did well to finish well inside the top half of finishers; 44th overall in a time of 37:05 for a tough 5 mile course.

Lisa Hatchard was also not at her best on the evening, but not due to an injury. An untimely trip to the dentists just a couple of hours prior to the race left her dosed up on a mouthful of novocaine and not feeling at her best for the race. She did well just to turn up and race, even better to get round, and better still to finish just outside the top 50% of runners in 67th place overall and 17th woman in a time of 39:24.

Alison Milborrow was using this race as her first come-back race after a long injury lay off. Alison was running really strongly in the early part of the year before being struck with injury in the spring. It's great to see her back on the race circuit and her time of 47:38 and 107th place finish will be a massive confidence boost for her and give her something to build on as we head into the autumn trail running season, which Alison really enjoys.

The race was won by Arran Tocknell of Torbay AC in a time of 28:30. Top woman was Jane Allison of Plymouth Harriers in 33:41. 131 finishers.