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.