Tally Ho! Off to Westward Ho! we go!

Ten Exmouth Harriers were at Northam Burrows in North Devon for the fourth Brooks Westward League Cross Country fixture last week-end (12th January). The Exmouth senior men's team (this year’s “surprise package”, as they were described in the Cornish press) are hanging on to third place but have not been able to come up with a big enough score yet to make inroads into the scores of Cornwall A.C. and Bideford A.C. who are lying first and second respectively. Team captain, Adam Miller, had hoped that the Westward Ho! fixture would be the place to score valuable points as, due to its remote location and distance from some parts of Cornwall and Devon, there is often a much smaller field that turns out to this round, with runners opting for this one as their 'drop score'. This was in part the case, however, the men's team was not at full strength this time round with Tony Hatchard and Jamie Pearson unable to make it. That said, the Exmouth runners who did turn out all had great runs and finished higher up in the placings than in previous rounds, which certainly limited the points deficit. 

Tom Merson led the Harriers to his third victory in the league of the season in an 88 strong senior men’s race, covering the 5.5 mile distance in a time of 29:41. With Dave Stone finishing 12th overall and 2nd athlete over 40 in 32:32, both Tom and Dave now look set for a top 3 individual placing in their respective categories in the series overall.  

The course was flat but, unsurprisingly, very soggy with patches of standing water to plough through and muddy ditches to negotiate. Team captain, Adam Miller, was a solid 20th in 33:03 and was chased all the way by Marc Cox, 27th in 34:02. Jamie Palmer, making his first racing appearance after a truly nasty fall and ongoing injury sustained during a training run on Woodbury Common fought hard for 69th place in a time of 40:18 and made up Exmouth’s scoring five. Dave Eveleigh (over 55 category) and Jim Wyatt (over 60) finished 84th in 43:58 and 88th in 54:28 respectively.

Dave Stone (far right) and Adam Miller (far left) in the opening stages of the race.

Marc Cox tackles a boggy ditch crossing - one of the very few features on an otherwise flat course.

The inclusivity of athletics was demonstrated in the senior women's race by Exmouth’s former international and super-star vet 50 athlete, Cathy Newman, finishing second overall to under 17 runner, Emily Ackford, from Plymouth A.C. In a race covering about 3.5 miles, Cathy worked her way through the women’s field of 46 and was closing on the winner when she ran out of distance, clocking 23:00. With her highest individual placing of the season, Cathy too looks to be heading for a top 3 place, but in her case both overall and in the over-50s section. Captain Carly Miller’s performances are still on a steady upwards curve as she continues to gain in confidence at cross-country, this being her second season of the Westward League and now having the benefits of some familiarity with the courses. Here she was 17th of 46 finishers in 26:27, having finished 27th at the equivalent fixture a year ago. Dawn Teed, racing on tired legs after a long, hard Grizzly training run the previous day, was 31st in 29:29 and is not out of the running for an over 50s category medal herself at the end of the series.

The next round is local, taking place at the Parke Estate in Bovey Tracey on February 9th. If you're not racing elsewhere that weekend, the teams would appreciate your support: you don't need to complete the series to gain points for the team as every run by every athlete counts.

The not quite 10k First Chance 10k...

Whilst the main event of the weekend in the region was the South-West inter-counties cross country at Killerton House (see previous post), for the mud-dodging, tarmac loving contingent, there was another option on offer in the form of the South West Road Runner's organised First Chance 10k. So called because it offers runners the "first chance" of the year at running a 10k race (if we gloss over the Chard Flyer 10k on New Year's Day...), for those looking to avoid mud and water, this year's event was sadly not the one to sign up for. It became the latest victim of the flooding and recent tidal surges, like its bigger bother, the Exeter Half Marathon was the previous year. Due to the course location, on a flood plain, sandwiched between the River Exe and the Exeter canal, it would appear to be ever thus. However, SWRR did their best to come up with an alternative route, to allow the race to go ahead and to avoid disappointing the 500 or so runners, although it measured in short of 10k (approx. 9.6km / 6 miles). You would typically look to add on 90 seconds to the times for an indication of a 10k time.

Exeter based Exmouth Harrier, Andrew Johnson, lives only a convenient warm-up jog away from the start of this race. It is a firm favourite of his and he consistently runs it year in year out, and his times and performance match that consistency. He continued his good form since turning 50 with 3rd place in his age 50-54 age group with a time of 41:08 for 83rd place overall. Nicola Musgrove was making a rare racing appearance, often allowing her running to take a back seat in a family in which both husband and wife enjoy the sport, and she placed 298th overall in a time of 53:57. Super-Veteran Jim Wyatt (Over 70) was 352nd overall, finishing comfortably under the hour in 57:05.

This event was the first of 10 in the new InStep Devon championship. As such, Andy Johnson finds himself leading the MV50 section and Jim Wyatt the MV60. They will now need to plan their other 4 races carefully to try and keep themselves in contention. For more information on the championship go to: http://www.instepdevon.org.uk/instep-championship.html

Harriers do Devon (and the club) proud at Killerton

Sunday 5th January offered the first opportunity for Harriers to stretch their racing legs in 2014. The South West region inter-counties cross country championships took place not at its usual venue (Bicton College) but at Killerton House this year. To many Harriers, this location is not unfamiliar, it being the venue of the weekly parkrun that has now been sampled, at least once, by over 30 Harriers. However, for those familiar with parkrun's gently undulating, predominantly down hill course, the routes devised by the organisers of this cross country championships would come as a bit of a shock... not least to the legs!

Harriers members have been embracing the cross country circuit a lot more this year, thanks to the efforts of team captains old and new to encourage more members to have a go. It was good to see so many of the royal blue and yellow vests on display at the event, despite the fact that it had competition for attendance from the ever popular First Chance 10k, being held on the same day. It was also fantastic to see some cross country debutants giving it a go for the first time: Jane MacDonald and Susan Hill sure picked a tough event for their first go at cross country; talk about in at the deep end, they were in it up to their necks.... mud that is, glorious mud, as much of the stuff as you could shake a stick at! A handful of Harriers had been selected to run for Devon and so were to be seen sporting the blue and white county vest; although athletes running for their county could also score points for their respective club teams, so they were clad in the Harriers blue and yellow still in spirit!

The course had been thoughtfully designed to incorporate some of Killerton's finest (and steepest) terrain, taking runners from an initial lap (or 2, depending upon the length of their race) of the flat starting and finish field, in front of the house, up the short, sharp hill to the start of the parkrun, through the gates, into the next field, and all the way down to the bottom of the valley, only to have to turn around and head straight back up again. There were 10 races throughout the day, covering all age categories from 11 years up to masters, and with men and women running separately this represented a superb opportunity to line up against a fair but highly competitive field. In the week preceding the event, it looked increasingly doubtful as to whether or not it would go ahead, with torrential rain and high winds threatening health and safety issues on the course; however, luckily the forecast for the day was a calmer one, yet still very wet and grey.

Although we didn't manage to come away with any team glory, the team spirit was certainly very high with all the runners supporting each other on the course, and we did scoop a few individual medals and one inter-counties title.

In the senior men's race, the 7th race of the day, there was an extremely competitive line up in a decent sized field of 136 runners. The men had to complete 2 extra large laps, involving 4 substantial hills, which amounted to just short of 9k in distance. Our second claim star athlete, Tom Merson, was running for Bristol and West, his first claim club, at this event, but was a little under the weather, suffering the after effects of a cold, and so valiantly fought his way around the course for 5th place. Behind him, the Exmouth talent was packing tight, with a few familiar inter-club battles waging away for added competition. Marc Cox found himself out front, leading the field, in the opening few meters, showing that he's a fearless runner ready to attack a race, but also, perhaps, that he had underestimated just how tough this course is in comparison to the other Westward League events!

Dave Stone: 35:28; 36th overall, 3rd MV40 (bronze medal in vet 40 section)
Tony Hatchard: 35:28; 38th overall, 6th MV35
Adam Miller (Captain): 36:10; 47th overall
Marc Cox: 39:16; 76th overall
Jon Garrity: 42:26; 99th overall
Chris Dupain: 44:20; 113th place overall
Dave Eveleigh: 49:58; 131st place overall, 3rd ? MV60 (so it says on the results, but Dave reckons not!)

The senior women ran one extra large lap, tackling 2 of the big hills, covering a distance of approximately 6km. In this race, Cathy, Hannah, Alice Kelly (U20) and myself were all running for Devon. I fluffed up spectacularly and managed to miss the start (don't even ask how, I can't quite fathom it myself...) and so found myself playing catch up for the early part of the race and then paying for that catch up in the later part. Cathy had a truly outstanding run, arguably the Harriers' performance of the day, as she not only finished as a comfortable winner in the FV50 section, but she beat all the FV40s and 45s and the majority of all the other athletes, as she placed 9th overall. She was also the 2nd counter (of 6) in the Devon team. Phenomenal! Alice Kelly had a strong debut for Devon in the under 20s section and Jane and Susan showed true grit and team spirit to give this tough event a go without the best footwear (whilst trail shoes are fine for the parkrun course, this route was literally a bog by the time it got to the ladies race (8th of the day) and so anyone not in a 12-15 inch spike did well to stay on their feet, let alone get round!

Cathy Newman: 24:26; 9th overall, 1st FV50 (gold medal vet 50s section; 2nd counter and silver medal in Devon team)
Ellie Sutcliffe: 24:31; 10th overall, 2nd Senior female (silver medal senior female section; 3rd counter and silver medal in Devon team)
Hannah Bown: 26:26; 25th overall, 7th FV35
Alice Kelly: 29:22; 57th overall, 11th U20
Emma White: 29:28; 58th overall
Carly Miller (Captain): 30:01; 59th overall
Jane MacDonald: 32:35; 67th overall
Dawn Teed: 32:55; 70th overall, 5th FV50
Susan Hill: 33:20; 71st overall, 6th FV50

Well done to all the Harriers who gave it their best in miserable, muddy conditions. If this isn't tough winter training, I don't know what is!

Start of the senior women's race; where's Wally? Er, I mean Ellie... well, no wally! Not there!

Cathy (left): truly superb performance, county gold in the FV50 section and top 10 place overall

(Both photos (C) Pete Newman)

Christmas racing round up

For your average Joe Public, the festive period is a time to be lazy, stay indoors and avoid the harsh weather, and over-indulge on mince pies, pudding, chocolate and alcohol.... well, the Harriers do that too, but in our case it's totally acceptable as we counteract it with running! Christmas might be a time for winding down but there are still plenty of races on in the region for those who want to work up an appetite for the turkey and stuffing.

OTTERTON REINDEER RUN

The festive season kicked off with that good old local favourite, the Otterton Reindeer Run. Being held in the neighbouring village of Otterton, by our good friends, the Sidmouth Running Club, this event is always popular with Exmouth Harrier members. This year was no exception with 10 of the royal blue and yellow vests on display at the event which is billed as 10k but in fact measures in at just short of 6 miles. Of those 10 we had victory in the women's race, courtesy of Hannah Bown, victory in the women's team competition, with Hannah, Carly Miller and Lisa Hatchard all scoring valuable points. We also bagged 3rd spot overall, thanks to Adam Miller, 2nd MV40 (Mike Musgrove) and 3rd female team with our next three scoring ladies - Lorraine Croome, Dawn Teed and Nicola Kelly. We also had a first in terms of prizes won in the club: Adam and Carly took the honours in the 'first married couple' contest! What a novel idea and with so many married and/or cohabiting couples now within the club, it's a shame that more races don't offer this fun yet mildly competitive incentive. Who knows, it could strengthen the marital bond... but then, if the couples weren't as successful as Carly and Adam, it could have the adverse effect!

Well done to all the Harriers who ran and got into the festive spirit. The Harriers results were as follows:

Adam Miller, 3rd (37:24)
Mike Musgrove, 7th (39:58)
Hannah Bown, 15th, 1st lady (43:20)
Carly Miller, 36th, 9th lady (47:24)
Lisa Hatchard, 49th, 14th lady (49:18)
Lorraine Croome, 58th (50:26)
Phil Bater, 60th (50:38)
Dawn Teed, 78th (52:19)
Nicola Kelly, 84th (53:33)
Claire Baxter, 117th (1:00:53)

177 finishers. There were also lots of "mini Harriers" strutting their stuff in the 3k Junior race and fun run. It's good to know that the future of the club is looking promising in their hands / feet!!

Start of the Otterton Reindeer Run, with Lisa, Carly and Phil tackling the first hill.

WELLINGTON MONUMENT RACE

On the Sunday before Christmas (22nd December) Dave Eveleigh took more than a minute off his 2012 time at the challenging Wellington Monument Race, held mostly on roads, over the 10km distance, and requiring an ascent to the highest point in the Blackdown Hills: the monument hitherto mentioned in the race title! For some reason, this event always attracts a competitive field and this year was no exception, so Dave ran exceptionally well to complete the tough, hilly route in a time of 52:35 for 130th place overall and 5th in his MV60 category. 199 runners completed the race which was won in a time of 34 minutes by Phil Burden of Taunton AC.

STOKE STAMPEDE 10K

Just the 2 Harriers on the start line for this undulating 10k race staged on the country lanes around the village of Stoke St. Gregory in Somerset. Held on the 29th December, it represented the last chance to post a decent 10k time in 2013. For myself, Ellie Sutcliffe, it represented a last desperate stab at clocking a much covetted and seemingly elusive sub 38 minute PB. After not the most ideal of build ups, involving months of colds, coughs, mild food poisoning and a family death, I was amazed that today, of all days, should be the time that I finally cracked it! I ran a time of 37:43 which, in a highly competitive field, was only good enough for 19th overall and 3rd female, but that was irrelevant: it was seeing that magical '37' on the results next to my name that was the best prize ever!

Dave Eveleigh followed up his run at Wellington the previous week with another fine performance, clocking a time of 46:45 for 101st place overall, putting him comfortably inside the top third of the 322 finishers. 

Harriers celebrate the end of a successful year

On Friday 6th December, it was time for the Harriers to swap the lycra for their party gear, their trainers for their high heels (and that was just the men!) and their usual red-flushed, sweat-encrusted look for a rather more beautifully made-up one (again, just the men)!! It was party time at the club's annual dinner and awards presentations.

This year it took place in a new venue - kindly organised by Terry Oldham - the Beacon Vaults pub, in town. Although lacking the dance floor and the karaoke of the Rugby Club, which, let's face it, was only really put to good use by Dave Stone anyway!, the venue certainly provided a cosy charm and a nice relaxed atmosphere in which to chat to fellow club mates about the year gone by and plans for the year to come. One of the hot topics of the night was "who will win the awards". Traditionally, there have just been the 3 awards up for grabs - male athlete of the year, female athlete of the year, and the president's award - but this year, the introduction of the new club championship meant that many more Harriers were in the running - literally - for prizes.

It was hard to gauge this year who the winning recipients of all the prizes would be, as 2013 has been such a successful year for the club with more and more members both actively competing and also getting involved with more social events on offer. In terms of competition for the male and female athlete award, that meant that there were many members all vying for the glory, for many different reasons. In the end though, the votes spoke for themselves and the members voted Dawn Teed as the female athlete and Adam Miller as the male.

In Dawn's case, this was the 4th time she has received the trophy: a record in itself as no other athlete - either male or female - has received it more than 3 times. It was richly deserved though as Dawn has had an amazing year. Since turning 50, she has seemingly defied the ageing process by setting some of her fastest times ever in many of the races that she has been running every year for the past 10 or so years. The highlight of her year had to be her triumphant Falklands Marathon win, back in March, but there have been many other noteworthy performances, including a swift 1h44 half in Bideford, a 1st place category win in the high-standard Torbay Half in June, and a 5k PB of 23:27 at Run Exe in August, this latter showing that she has speed as well as endurance. However, most impressively, she has managed all of this whilst concurrently managing the ladies' team as a whole. Dawn has put a huge amount of effort into motivating us ladies this year and giving people the confidence and support to try out races that they would normally shy away from. We have all awaited with eagerness the arrival of one of her legendary, intricately crafted spreadsheets into our in-boxes, in which Dawn has recognised everyone's individual performances whilst also attempting to coordinate our racing plans so that we have been able to get teams out to many events. In so doing, we have wiped the proverbial Devonshire floor this past year as far as team prizes are concerned. So, in terms of both personal achievement and for her team-playing ethos, she is a worthy winner of this award.

In Adam's case, he became the first Harrier male, in the history of the trophy, to successfully defend it in consecutive years. Although some other men have ran strongly this year and might have put themselves into contention, they have not demonstrated the consistency that Adam has throughout the entire year.... oh, and none of them have run a sub 2h40 marathon this year either! Without a doubt, Adam's 2h38 run at London in April that was the performance of the year by any male athlete in the club, and it came off the back of a string of solid build-up races that saw him set PBs at the First Chance 10k (35 mins), the Bath Half (74 mins) and the Yeovilton 5k (16m40s). It is interesting that our male and female athletes of the year have one key thing in common: like Dawn, Adam has also done a sterling job of captaining the Harriers' men's team over the past 12 months. He has rallied interest in the Westward League cross-country, boosting our participant numbers from his solitary, lonesome self at the first fixture last year, to turning out a fully fledged, firing-on-all-cylinders team, to all the fixtures so far this year. As a result, he has ensured that our men's team in now sat in a solid 3rd spot in the league overall. He has also put in many hours of work in putting teams together for relay events, such as the Erme Valley Relays, where he captained the 4-strong team to victory, assisting Hugh with the Parrett Trail Relays, and, more recently, has gotten behind a new idea of a 24 hour relay and camping weekend for 24 members that he is organising for May 2014. The other thing that both Dawn and Adam have in common is that they are both jolly nice people and so, like Dawn, Adam is a popular winner among club mates for this award.

The president's award, unlike the athletes of the year awards, is a little more subjective as it is chosen, as the name suggests, solely by the president, Bob Keast. This award is designed to recognise an individual's contribution to the club throughout the year. Of course, there are many ways in which a person can contribute to the club, the most obvious being by going out on the race circuit, running your socks off and doing your club vest proud, but there are many other, often far more understated ways, in which a member can help to make the club a success. This year's recipient was chosen for being the backbone of the social-side of the club and for taking time to organise many events for members, outside of the racing calendar, that bring the club together as a cohesive whole, in a social, non-competitive setting. This year Terry Oldham has organised the Coast to Coast Relay, for the second year in a row, and also a new weekend on the Harriers' social calendar, in the form of a trip to a bunk house on Exmoor. Oh, he also booked the venue foe the Christmas awards do too! Add in to this that he is the chief marshal for both the club's races - hard work as a stand alone task - and that he is a regular on club nights, always ensuring that everyone is coping and nobody gets left behind. The Harriers, unlike many clubs, don't have an official "social secretary" committee role, but Terry has quietly but effectively been fulfilling that role, with ultimate commitment, all year. All of these things make Terry the ideal recipient of this award.

In addition to these 3 annual awards, this year we had the added excitement of the announcement of the club championships. 17 Harriers in total, 10 men and 7 women, completed the full set of required races and each had their commitment rewarded in the form of a small memento. In addition, the top 3 men and top three ladies received trophies recognising their achievement. In the men's championship, Dave Stone came out on top, with Mike Musgrove a close second and Rob Orton an even closer third. Adam Miller was unfortunate to have just been dislodged late in the game, as the top 4 men all finished within 2% of each other! In the women's, the top three were set in place from early on in the year and from then on worked to consolidate their positions. Cathy Newman took the victory with a whopping average percentage of 89%, followed by Ellie Sutcliffe in second and Hannah Bown in 3rd. Dawn Teed was not too far adrift of Hannah and so will be looking to improve on her 4th place finish next year. Well done to all who completed!

The Harriers' prize winners 2013

L - R: Adam Miller (Male Athlete of the Year), Dave Stone (Male Club Champion), Cathy Newman (Female Club Champion), Dawn Teed (Female Athlete of the Year), Terry Oldham (President's Award Winner)

Harriers land 6 county XC titles!

The 1st day of advent, Saturday 1st December, was a highly successful one for the Exmouth Harriers. Fueled up on the first chocolates of their advent calenders, no less than 8 women and 10 men from the club made the trip to Exeter Arena for the 3rd round of the Westward League Cross-country, which, this round, also incorporated the Devon County Championships. This meant that the standard was high across all the different category races as Devon runners who haven't raced in the previous rounds turn out especially for this one to try and achieve county glory, either as an individual or for their club's team. With a smattering of Cornish runners added into the mix, this meant that all the fields were of a reasonable size. 

The course is on the sloping Eastern Fields, adjacent to the Exeter Arena. The basic lap for the event measures in at about 2km,  but loops in such a way that there were two climbs in each 2km long circuit. The women’s race took in two and a half laps of this circuit for just 5km of racing. This is compared to nearly 9km for the men and the question has to be asked, why this inequality? It has been scientifically proven that women often perform better at longer distances and, in the case of ultra running, often win races outright. Perhaps one theory is that it is likely that the longer the race is, the fewer women will contest it, though that theory would probably not hold water in our club where most of our women would consider a 5km a sprint and barely worth muddying the spikes for!

In the senior and masters' women's event, Exmouth certainly made their mark in the team contest. There were 2 team medals up for grabs, one for the first female team over all, comprised of the clubs first 3 runners across the line, of any age, and the other for "masters" teams, i.e. only including the first 3 women age 35 and over. Exmouth cleaned up with gold medals in both these competitions.

91 females finished the Senior Women’s race, with our Exmouth winning team of last year comfortably retaining our team champion status. The first counter for the team was myself, Ellie Sutcliffe, in 6th place overall in 17:74, closely followed by Cathy Newman, 8th overall in 18:01, and Hannah Bown, 19th in 19:16. Individually, I picked up the championship silver medal for the senior women, Cathy claimed the golden honours with a huge winning margin in the women over 50 section, and Hannah scooped a silver medal in the FV35 section. In the separate master's (Over 35) competition, Cathy and Hannah were allowed to score again, and they were joined by Lisa Hatchard (55th in 22:13) to make up the 1st placed team. A little younger, but no less gutsy, was Alice Kelly, who - making her first appearance in a Harriers vest and following in her Mum's footsteps - showed great promise in 39th overall in 21:00, bagging a well deserved silver medal in the under 20 women's competition. New women’s team captain, Carly Miller was 45th in 21:18, taking one for her team and turning out to run despite having been ill with a cold all weekend. Meanwhile, Carly's predecessor, Dawn Teed, was 63rd in 32:51 with Nicki Kelly, starting alongside daughter Alice, 67th in about 34 minutes.

Latest recruit and promising under-20 athlete, Alice Kelly.

Alice's Mum, Nicki Kelly, keeping running in the family!

The successful Exmouth women's team - 2 county team titles!

In the men’s race the Masters' team title was also won by Exmouth Harriers. That team was comprised of Tony Hatchard, 27th in 30:05, Dave-Sparrow-Legs-Stone, 32nd in 30:10, and men's captain, Adam Miller, 41st in 30:49. There were high hopes too for the Exmouth men’s team too, but the forecasters had forgotten how strict the 'First Claim Rule' is in athletics. So Tom Merson won the race in 27:13 and new Exmouth recruit and last year's defending county champion, Andy Chambers, was 3rd in 28:04, both second-claim members and both sporting Exmouth vests, but while they could score for Exmouth in the incorporated Westward League (via special permission), they could only race in the county championships as individuals. There was the small consolation of the team remaining in 3rd position within the league.

The first of 3 closely fought intra-club battles in the men's race, this one between Tony and Dave.

Further down a highly competitive field of nearly 200 runners, Marc Cox (74th in 32:30) finished just held of Mike Musgrove (76th in 32:32). Some way behind, another intra-club battle was playing itself out, with Dave Eveleigh (167th in 42:09) gradually pulling himself back to a fast-starting Lee Russell (166th in 41:43), but Lee fought back hard in the closing stages for a first win over Dave in a long time. Jim Wyatt, a veteran of cross-country in more ways than one, battled round the course in a time of 48:54 to take the County Over 70 Gold medal, making that 6 gold medals for the Harriers: 3 in the team competition and 3 individual wins.

And the second Exmouth battle, between Marc and Mike.

Just some of the 10 strong Harriers' men's team.

A successful day for Exmouth Harriers and impressively the team from Erme Valley Harriers, who are responsible for the over-seeing and managing of the Westward League, had those results published in detail within 24 hours. While acknowledging their hard work and commitment, it was unfortunate that the County officials chose to make the presentations to the Female medallists during the men’s race. This meant fewer people there and no male club-mates to offer their appreciation of their women club-mates. In fact this timing meant that the Exmouth women were not there either as they were course-side, cheering on their male club-mates and showing what the spirit of being in a club is all about: supporting your fellow club runners. This, combined with the shock of seeing the size of the men's team trophy compared to the complete absence of trophy available for the women's winning team, left us with an interesting debate about continuing gender inequalities within the domain of athletics. Well sorry guys, but we're here to stay, so invest in a trophy for us for next year please!

So, the Senior Men missed out, but three out of four senior team titles available were won by Exmouth Harriers, ahead, let's not forget, of teams from much bigger towns throughout Devon. Most importantly, all those who took part thoroughly enjoyed the experience and, in particular, appreciated the support from their fellow club-mates on the multi-lap course. For those us us who placed in the top 6 in the race over all, a Devon vest awaits us to be donned at the inter-counties event to be held at Killerton on January 5th. However, for those who aren't selected for Devon, this event is still open to everyone and the Harriers will be looking to defend, in the case of the women, and challenge, in the case of the men, the mob-match titles on offer within this event.

Nigel is crowned 3k category king in a thrilling series finale!

Report kindly composed by Carly, with minor input from Ellie.

This year, the Ironbridge Runner Winter 3k Series has proved very popular with the Exmouth Harriers with several members, including some who had not run on the track for many years, turning up to join our small band of track stalwarts to have a go at running seven and a half laps of the track as quickly as they could. Over the 3 events, a total of 15 Exmouth Harriers ran. Some of these completed the series, while others decided to do just one or two of the races.

Martin Richards and Neil Whittock were among those who decided to tackle just the one event, both choosing to race in the second race of the series, which was held on Monday 11^th November in surprisingly warm, still conditions. Neil, a recent recruit to the Exmouth Harriers, ran in the B race and finished in 12 minutes exactly. Martin Richards had found it difficult to know what to put down on his entry form as a predicted time, having not run the distance before, but, urged on by Mike Musgrove, he put down 12:45 and found himself in the E race with no idea whether this was the appropriate race for him! However, it proved to be a great race for him as he found himself running round in a group that pulled him to a fantastic 12:46; just one second shy of Mike's prediction!

Les Turner and Lisa Hatchard had both missed round 1 of the series but decided to run in rounds 2 and 3. Les is no stranger to running on the track, so knows exactly what he can expect of himself in a 3K race. He does, however, have the challenge of running in the first (least fast) race of the night, which often encompasses runners with a wide range of 3k times (for example, in round 2 the times in the F race ranged from 12:00 to 18:20). With runners so spread out around the track, Les can find himself isolated, with nobody to chase. It can also be difficult to keep track of how many laps you have run, as inevitably, with a spread of 6 minutes, much lapping of other runners occurs. He nevertheless always seems to put in a good performance. Les ran an excellent time of 15:04 in round 2 and a slightly slower 16:33 in round 3.

Lisa was rather nervous about her first track outing since her school days, but soon relaxed when she saw just how informal the event is and how much support you receive from your clubmates cheering from the side of the track. Lisa predicted a conservative 14:00 for her first ever 3k, but then stormed round the track to finish 2^nd in the F race in a fantastic 12:53. Another great performance in round 3 saw her knock 8 seconds off that time, to finish in 12:45.

Seven Exmouth Harriers completed all 3 races, to compete for prizes in the series. For the ladies there was myself (Carly Miller) and Dawn Teed. Dawn, keen to have a go at improving her standing in the club championship, set her sights on the 3k distance in the hopes of getting a good age graded score. After just missing out on a sub 14 minute time in round 1, Dawn made big improvements to record times of 13.42 and 13.21 in rounds 2 and 3 respectively. These performances left Dawn in second place in the F50 category, with a cumulative time just 33 seconds more than the category winner.

I myself went into round 3 knowing that I only had to complete the race to be awarded the senior lady prize as, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!), no other senior ladies had completed both the previous races. This left me without the motivation of competition, but I did want to improve on my disappointing round 2 time of 13:10, and maybe even improve on my round 1 PB of 12:37. I set off at 12:30 pace, determined to stick to it and, with a bit of helpful pace-making from a fellow Killerton parkrunner, managed to finish in a very pleasing new PB time of 12:25.

Andrew Johnson also completed the series. Unlike most runners on the track, Andrew manages to start off steadily and gradually work his way through the field during the race, as his rivals start to suffer from running a fast early pace. This makes for an exciting race for clubmates watching from the sidelines. Andrew managed to improve his times in each round of the winter 3k series, running 11:52 in round 1, 11:46 in round 2, and 11:36 in round 3. He finished 2^nd M50 in the series.

Dave Eveleigh and Lee Russell both competed in the M55 category (although Dave did have a significant birthday to lift him into the next 5 year age band during the series). Lee had been pleased with his first round time of 12:58, as it was quicker than the time he had predicted for himself, but he hoped to improve on it in subsequent rounds. Unfortunately this was not to be, as Lee recorded times of 13:00 and 13:09 in rounds 2 and 3, but he can be pleased to have put in 3 consistent performances. Lee finished in 3^rd place in the M55 category. One place ahead of Lee in that category was Dave Eveleigh, who couldn’t quite match his round 1 time of 12:05, but worked hard to finish in 12:12 in round 2, and 12:20 in round 3.

Richard Hawes is known amongst the Harriers for his speed over the shorter distances, so a target of sub 11 minutes for the 3k seemed very realistic. In the first two rounds Richard was tantalisingly close, clocking 11:05 and 11:04. In round 3, Richard found himself in a competitive position in the race, running in a group and using those ahead of him to pull him on to a faster time. His blistering speed in the final 100m enabled him to overtake a couple of his competitors, finish second in the race and bag himself a new 3k PB of 10:55. Richard was rewarded for his impressive performances with a M45 category win.

Unbeknown to the organisers of the series, the main event of the final night (for the Exmouth Harriers at least) was not the super speedy A race, but the E race, for on the start line were Nigel Dupain and his rival for the M60 title, Keith Anderson of the Teignbridge Trotters. Nigel was just 10 seconds behind Keith in the standings, having run 13:17 in round 1, and 13:05 in round 2. Earlier in the week, Dave Eveleigh had thrown down the gauntlet via Facebook, urging Nigel to ‘step forward’ and take down Anderson in a ‘last lap burn-up’. Nigel showed up to the Arena on the night, having been teased by his family about the Facebook comments the night before, exhibiting his usual calm, relaxed demeanour. This was soon belied, however, by a steely look of determination in his eye, as he steadily tracked his rival round each lap of the race. A crowd of Exmouth Harriers watched, waiting for the moment he would make his move. Lap after lap was completed, and still Nigel stuck on Anderson’s shoulder. Would he have time to create a 10 second gap?  Suddenly, with a lap and a half to go, Nigel made his move and stormed off ahead. The Harriers watched, as the gap got bigger, all trying to count how many seconds there were between them. By the time Nigel came onto the finishing straight, it was clear that he had done it, and he was cheered home to a fantastic time of 12:49 and a category win. It's surely moments like that, where a stalwart member of the Harriers who is always quietly there in the background but never one to hog the limelight, that sum up the true essence of the club. Well done Nigel, we're all thrilled for you!

In fact, well done to all the Harriers. Whatever the distance, whatever the terrain, we continue to show that we are not only willing to have a go but we are a force to be reckoned with to boot!