Ellie runs the Snowdonia marathon (in hurricaine-like conditions!)

On a very dismal day, Ellie and 2000 ish other runners lined up on the start line on the shores of Llyn Peris for the 29th annual Snowdonia Marathon. (Loving my lucky race number - is it to be my year? ... Read on to find out!)


To round of the half term week, I, Ellie Sutcliffe, headed off to North Wales to take part in the Snowdonia Marathon. This year was the 29th running of the event and over the years the race has built up a fearsome reputation for itself and is now dubbed as the toughest marathon in Europe. It gets this reputation not only from its hilly profile - you run 2400 feet of total ascent over the 26.2 miles - but also from the truly horrendous weather conditions that the race has come to expect over the years. In neither of these respects did this year's race fail to live up to its tough standards!

At 10.30am on Saturday 29th October, I and over 2000 other hardy and yet ever-so-slightly masochistic runners gathered on the start line on the shores of Llyn Peris (Lake) at the foot of the Llanberis Pass. Already soaked to the skin from the 10 minute walk in torrential rain from my friend's house in Llanberis where I was staying to the start line, my toes and fingers were numb and I had forgotten my gloves. Luckily I bumped into an old friend from when I lived in the area who was spectating and she lent me a pair!

Facing us was a nice gentle start to the race: just a 4 1/2 mile climb of around 900 feet to ease us in. Add to this that the gale force winds and driving rain that were totally against us and blowing down the pass to further hinder our progress and basically I was knackered at 4 miles in and my target for the race was beginning to change from competing to place top 5 to just completing the ruddy thing!

At the top of the pass my lungs were heaving but then came a lovely long descent of 7 miles to get my puff back and get into a good stride. The first off-road section came at mile 6 and was on a track of shingly slate - lethally slippery when wet! I had passed a couple of women on the climb but one of them came back at me on the descent and I found myself sitting in 2nd place at around 8 miles. This attracted me the attention of the S4C camera crews on their motorbikes who then rode just a meter in front of me for most of the race from this point on. Nothing like feeling rotten, looking like grim death, and wanting to wipe snot off your nose, all whilst having a camera permenantly thrust in your face to make you feel good!!

The road to Beddgelert, which sits at the halfway point, was winding but at least quite sheltered as down in the valley. Another couple of women passed me at this point but I didn't panic as I knew I would be strong on the last climb at the end if I just left something in the tank, so I let them go and sat in 4th place for the next 7 or so miles.

The climb out of Beddgelert is a long, slow drag that goes on for 4 miles. Despite the fact that we were going in the opposite direction to the pass we seemed to have attracted yet another headwind... just marvellous! I managed to pull back a female runner on this stretch and moved up to third. Though shortly after, another woman, being paced by a man from her running club, shot past me at an astouding pace. I'd no idea where she came from but obviously had found a second wind!

This next section of road that winds along the south side of Snowdon seemed to take forever. Normally there would be lovely views here as a distraction but today they were totally obscured by cloud! I plodded on, soaked to the bone and with my legs feeling heavy due to all the ran water my leggins had absorbed. I was actually looking forward to mile 21 and the turn up onto the mountain track just for a change of scenery and pace! I love hill climbing and as soon as we got onto this steep section I started to pick off loads of runners. Some male runners turned the corner, took one look at it and slowed to a walk straightaway without even giving it a bash... wimps!

About a mile up the hill another female runner came into sight ahead and I was gaining on her. My legs felt strong and I just kept bashing out small steps and I overtook her nearing the top of climb. I knew that another female runner, who has this year represented Britain at fell and ultra running, was somewhere behind me. Although I hadn't seen her the whole race I knew from previous years she has pulled herself up several places with her skills and experience on this last steep mountain section, so when it came to the downhill I knew I couldn't hang about. It was blowing a gale on the top of Moel Ellio - the mountain standing between Waunfawr and Llanberis, the finish, and I kept getting blown sideways into the puddles I was trying to avoid! I threw myself down the hill and put 3 minutes distance between the woman I'd overtaken at the top.


Leaving the rugged and treacherous mountain path to rejoin the tarmac with just over 1 mile left to go!

Turning into Llanberis High Street was a great moment. The crowds were out in their droves, despite the weather. I crossed the finish line in 50th place overall and 3rd female in a time of 3h13m50s. Us top 3 women were within 2 minutes of each other and the positions had changed throughout, making it an interesting race. My legs were shot to pieces, I was cold and knackered but thrilled. They had said that this year the competition was tougher than ever and so I had thought that 5th was the very most I could hope for, so 3rd hadn't really sunk in. Then when I went to the presentation ceremony I got announced as 2nd female. Very confused as clearly 2 women had crossed the line in front of me. Rumours abounded but upon further study it seems that the lady who finished 2nd was a V/40 and so got the prize for that instead, which moved me up to 2nd in the open. An old Bangor university friend of mine, Rob Samuel, won the race outright in an astounding time of 2h36m45m - thrilled for him!

No rest for the wicked though, a quick bath and some food and I was dropped at Bangor station for the 7 hour train ride back to Devon. There were times during this particular race when I questioned why I was putting myself through such torture, but you soon forget that after and I'll probably sign up for next year and try and better my performance... one thing's for sure, the conditions couldn't be any worse!



On Llanberis High Street and the finishline is in sight - thank goodness!

Caroline staggers into a staggering 4th place at the Exmoor Stagger!

Whilst there was action on Dartmoor in the form of the Tavy 7 on Sunday 23rd October, there was also action on Exmoor that same day with the Minehead Running Club's Exmoor Stagger 15 race. Billed as being 15.1 miles long, it was in fact nearer to 16 on Caroline's Garmin. Mind you, this running club also stage a race in the summer called the Seaview 17... this one is 21 miles long! You get the picture?!

Anyway, whether 15 or 16 miles, it is a tough, multiterrain race with plenty of ascents and descents thrown in to disrupt the runner's rhythm. With a route that passes through woodland tracks, fields and moorland and has spectacular seaviews in places, it is a favourite of the hard-core off-raoders fraternity and competition was correspondingly high.

The race was won by James Baker of Chichester AC (yes, the same James Baker that got beaten and has his course record pinched off him by our Ethiopian visitor, Berihu, at this year's Haytor Heller!) in a time of 1h52m06s.

The winner of the women's race was Emma Hitchens of South West Road Runners, in an impressive 8th place overall, in a time of 2h11m16. She was followed by Clare Prosser of Wells City in 2nd and Lin Lascelles of Maiden Newton in 3rd. All three of these ladies are established good runners across country, and so Caroline Pleaseance can feel very proud to have come a creditable 4th place behind them in such a quality field. Caroline clocked 2h28m26s and placed 40th overall out of 234 finishers. Very well done!

Caroline joked, 'Humph. I always come fourth', but then, so did Paula Radcliffe to start with, and look what she went on to achieve.....! :-)

Dave E. and Ellie tackle the Tavy 7

Harriers' Blog Meister Ellie and Press Guru Dave in a remote field on Dartmoor awaiting the start of the Tavy 7 mile race!


A race on Dartmoor in late October is never going to be run in the best of conditions but not even the race organisers of the Tavy 7 had predicted the strength of the winds that awaited them and the runners on Sunday 23rd October on Plaster Down, near Whitchurch, Tavistock. So strong were the gusts of wind that they were unable to errect any of the planned marquees. This meant no changing facilities, no baggage tent, no registration tent (just some very large rocks to stop the piles of race numbers from blowing away!) and so the whole event had a friendly low-key feel to it as all 400+ runners gathered in a field still inhabited by its usual dwellers - some hardy Dartmoor sheep - and waited the start of the Tavy 7 mile race. Amongst them were Dave Eveleigh and myself, Ellie Sutcliffe, for the Harriers.

The race was not run last year and this year its return saw a new venue and a change to the course: a very scenic 7 miles on what the organisers described as 'mildly undulating' country lanes... hmm, not too sure about the adverb "mildly" and "undulating" tends to mean a different thing on Dartmoor anyway!

417 runners started the race and of those 380 completed it. The very strong headwind (at times it felt as though you were running into a hurricaine!) in the last mile and a half may have finished some of those 37 DNFers off. The winner was the very in-form Jim Cole from the host club, Tavistock AC, in an impressive time of 37.16. This was over 2 minutes clear of fellow club mate Adam Holland.

The women's race was won by, er... me, in a time of 45.49. The first 5 miles went fine but the last 2 were a struggle as my legs started to feel heavy with the 10 mile race from the previous day in them and then as I turned the corner into the last mile and a half I was hit by the monstrous headwind. I battled hard not wanting to be caught by a chasing group behind me and managed to increase my distance over the last mile. I finished in 11th place overall. The next woman was over 3 minutes behind me, so I was very pleased with that run.

As the course changed this year, both Jim and I are the proud holders of the new course records... for a year at least!

Dave Eveleigh also found the going tough with the strong wind and he also felt that the uphill stretches far outnumbered the downhill... we'll overlook the fact that it was a circular course and just nod in agreement! He was aiming for a time under the hour and would most certainly have got that in better conditions, but with the wind being as it was he just missed out by a mere 19 seconds, clocking 60.19 for 187th place - putting him inside the top 50% of runners - and in 11th place in his V/55 age category.

We both agreed that the race was well organised with a good, friendly vibe to it and the quality of the cakes in the refreshments corner was superb! We left windswept but giving thanks that at least the rain had held off and we didn't get a soaking!

Dave finishing strongly at the Tavy 7

Wey-hey for the Weymouth 10 mile!

It's half term and this means only one thing: I, Ellie Sutcliffe, am free from work for a whole week and so let the racing commence!

I decided I could fit a cheeky 10 miler in on my way home from Dorset so headed down to the coast to Weymouth to run in the golden anniversary Weymouth 10 mile race.

With the race celebrating 50 successful years since its inaugural run, the race organisers - the Egdon Heath Harriers - decided that it would be a fun idea to issue the momento golden anniversary bright yellow tee-shirt at registration and make everyone not competing as part of a team wear it for the race. The result: a sea of bright yellow making its way along the promenade!

The race started and finished at the Pavillion at the south-western end of the promenade and the first and last 2 miles were on the total flat stretch of the prom. At mile 2 we climbed up a rather nasty hill and then dropped down the other side into Osmington. We then headed back to Weymouth and tackled the same hill for the second time (albeit at about 1/2 a minute mile slower than the first time!) and repeated the loop, then headed back along the prom.

With not having raced for 7 weeks (what felt like an eternity to me!) I was totally fired up mentally for this one. Physically, however, I was getting over a kidney infection and still on antibiotics. The question 'should you even be running?' had been asked by many but I was so race-starved that I thought I'd give it a try and see how I felt on the day. It's amazing what a strong cup of pre-race coffee and adrenaline can do for you on the day!

I started out far too fast, as per usual. Why I thought I could feasibly keep up 5.20 m/m pace for 10 miles I'll never know! By the end of the 2 mile stretch on the prom all the 400 ish runners had settled into place and I could see 2 females about 20 meters in front of me, one of them being from Poole Runners and who, at 10 years my junior, had previously denied me victory at the Blandford Bridges 10k race back in June... she's fast becoming my Dorset nemesis! The other female started to pull away up the steep hill climb but I managed to keep the young Poole athlete in my sights.

The last 2 miles back on the prom were into a very strong headwind and I began to pay for my early pace and flag a little. Because the bay curves so much, the finish looks pretty close 2 miles out, but it seems to take forever to get to it! The girl who beat me in Blandford extended her lead to about a minute at this point and I remained in 3rd place in the female race and finished in a new PB time of 65.18, in 30th spot overall (out of 372 finishers). Quite chuffed with that time considering the 2 hills and the headwind. Also quite chuffed with the M and S voucher as a prize: not just any prize, an M and S prize!

Both the male and female winners set new course records. The winning male, Chinhanhu Williard of Poole Runners, ran 53.03 and the winning female, Emma Dews of Littledown Harriers, clocked 62.57. Competition was tough this year!

Off back home to Exmouth afterwards for a good night's sleep as on tomorrow's agenda is the Tavy 7 mile!


Finishing the 10 mile race on the Weymouth sea front in the special issue golden anniversary yellow tee-shirt!

Meanwhile, across the river...

On Sunday 16th October, energized by the club's success at the Parrett Trail event the previous day, 4 Harriers crossed the River Exe to Newton Abbott where they tackled the Dartmoor Vale races. Fortunately for them, none of them opted to run in the 10k event as this apparently went slightly awry with marshalls misdriecting runners, with some ending up completing 12k and finishing a good 8 - 10 minutes down on their usual times... ooooops. Our four runners though were entered into the marathon and half marathon events and managed to escape this fiasco!

In the full marathon - which forms 2 loops of the half marathon course, around the Teign Valley - David Wright stormed home in 31st position overall but, impressively, taking 2nd place in his male V/50 category in a time of 3h26m10s. A new PB for David on what is an undulating course: very well done!

The second Harrier home in the full marathon was Nicholas Brown. Nicholas ran 4h25m29s to claim 97th spot. There were 132 finishers and the race was won by Alan Ryder of Erme Valley Harriers in a time of 2h53m35s.


Meanwhile, in the half marathon event, Dennis Gildea was making a rare appearance on tarmac - off-road trail events usually being his preference. This did not seem to bother him though as he cruised around the course in a new PB time of 89.21 and claiming 18th place in the process.

Caroline Pleaseance was there to make up the female Harriers contingent. Caroline has been running very well of late and was clearly not feeling the effects of having run a strong 2nd leg in the Parrett trail relays the day before as she tore around the course in a time of 92.59. This was good enough for the 4th female spot and 31st place overall. There were 318 finishers and the winner was visiting runner Benjamin Mukherjee of Scarborough RC in a time of 76.24.

Harriers storm to victory setting a new course record in the Parrett Trail Relays

Our victorious men's team with their prizes, L - R: Mike Musgrove, Dave Stone, Adam Miller, Jamie Palmer, Hugh Marsden, Jamie Pearson

It was a very busy weekend for the Harriers with 24 of them (that's 1/4 of the club's overall membership, to put it in perspective!) heading up to Somerset to take part in the Parrett Trail relays. Armed with a minibus and their own personal chauffeur - massive thanks must go to Paul Champion here - they between them ran the length of the River Parret, from its mouth at Bridgwater, Somerset, to the source at Wynyard's Gap, Dorset. Terry Oldham gives the following report:

'The Parrett Trail Relay event, (53 miles along the trail from the sea at Bridgwater to Wynyards Gap in Dorset, split into 6 legs organised by Crewekerne RC since 2003), has been a ‘happy hunting ground’ for the Harriers over the years, with all three prizes having been at some point scooped up by the club; i.e. the Mens, Ladies, and Mixed teams. Last year was another successful year, with the Mens and Ladies teams coming away with first place in their respective categories. Was it going to be another year of success?

Not entirely. The major success was the Mens team once again, with a superb example of competitive running from all six members of the team. This event is very much a favourite of Hugh Marsden and he not only galvanised the club over the last 3 months to enter and recce the various legs, he lead by example with a first place on the first leg. Jaime Palmer repeated that on Leg 2 with a blistering finish on this short but sharp leg, and a not unexpected result given he has the course record for this leg.

Next off on Leg 3 was Mike Musgrove, and a tough challenge for him, given that he had one of the fastest runners in the event to keep at bay, and although coming in second to him, he kept the all important time difference to an absolute minimum. Leg 4 was a chance for Adam Miller to show his mettle, and he duly did, for although he also came in second this was just a few seconds behind first place. The clock was in our favour and just two legs to go.

Well, if you need to make it a sure thing who better to have running the last two legs, but Dave Stone, in fantastic form at the moment, and the newly returned Jamie Pearson, who has the course record for Leg 6. Any doubts? Well, if there were doubts, they were quickly dispelled as Dave left the pack ‘eating dust’ on the first meadow from the start and not to be seen again until the finish, given that he did so some 4 minutes ahead of the second placed runner. This was a 2 minute improvement on last year’s time. Can he get any better?

So with the clock very much in our favour, what happened on Leg 6? Jamie knocked out a 60 minute Leg is what happened and came in a comfortable first place. He may not have looked comfortable when he finished, having to ascend a very long hill to the finish, but it provided the seal on the event for the Mens team. Not quite his course record of 57 minutes but more than enough to put the team back into possession of the rudest trophy on the running circuit, and a bottle of wine each as well.

Next team to finish for the Harriers was the Mixed Team. A tactical change with emphasis on this category rather than on the Ladies team was hoped would bring further success. Unfortunately, there was stronger competition in this category than expected. Having said that there was not much to choose between the first three teams, however, and just 5 minutes between them after 53 miles of running is an achievable target for next year.

The Mens B team came in a creditable 10th place overall. There were no prizes for this team, but there was plenty of rivalry going on within the club, and Leg 4 made an interesting competition between Scott Jordan of the Mixed team and Dave Backway of the Mens B team. Despite a lot of beer riding on the result, Dave decided to stop to speak to Hughie and Scott shot past to take the spoils with just 13 seconds to spare. The Drogo 10 should be an interesting race!

The Ladies team were third in their category, and given it was touch and go as to whether we could find 6 ladies willing to take part, this was a worthy result. Sue Wilkins, in particular, should be mentioned for the courage and commitment she showed to take on Leg 3, given the long and very painful recovery she has had from her shattering (in both senses of the word) ankle injury some 2 years ago.

That’s the report on the event, but it should also be noted that this is a ‘cracking day out Grommet’. The club provided a mini bus and Paul Champion drove it manfully around the narrow lanes of the Somerset levels to get runners to and from the end and beginning of the Legs. The camaraderie was self evident and the support for the runners as they arrived and or left to start their Legs was fantastic. I did not notice another club with the same sense of fun or fervour. Let’s keep it that way.

Finally, a big thank you from the club to Hugh Marsden, (and Dawn Teed), for getting us all there on our respective start lines and for making sure that the Harriers were ‘on tour’ successfully once again.'
Terry Oldham.

In the build-up to the race, Mike Musgrove had been scouting out the competition and had deemed the Running Forever contingent, from Taunton, to pose the biggest threat. Mike adds:

'Once again we were blessed with wonderfull weather, although it did get quite warm as the day went on. From the men's team point of view, we knew the main opposition was the Running Forever team. I am good friends with their team captain, so after much friendly banter and the gaining of some insider info on their runners, we knew we were going to have to go out hard again this year as they shipped in a couple of very good runners. However, they were not quite up to the task as we all ran strongly beating them by 7 mins and beating the record by 11 mins.
The mixed team came in a close third although Scott Jordan and Dave Backway did have a few problems crossing a part of the river which involved losing a shoe(!) but they had a great race coming 15 seconds apart with Scott taking the honours this time.
The mens B team came in 10th with some very strong running also.
The ladies team came in third in their category.'
M. Musgrove

Well done to all the runners and their support crews. Terry tells me that the club has a real "buzz" about it at the moment so let's keep this up!!

Results and individual split times can be viewed on the Crewkerne website, here:
http://parrettrace.btck.co.uk/

Dave ups the distance and tackles the Bideford 10 mile

Also on Sunday 9/10/11, on what proved to be a busy day on the South West running calendar, Dave Eveleigh had headed across the county to run in the Bideford 10 mile race. Billed as a super flat course, possibly one of the flatest and fastest in the region, this tempted Dave who wanted to up the distance in early preparation for tackling the Great West Run in Spring.

Somewhat bemused by the labels 'flatest' and 'fastest', but not to the point that he demanded a refund of his entry fee due to the course contravening the trades despcriptions act, Dave ran well nevertheless and finished in just over 90 minutes, finishing 99th out of 173 finishers and 4th man over 55. A good result indeed and confirmation that a half marathon in 2012 is more than within his capabilities. Very well done!