The Dupain clan tackle the Plymouth half

On Sunday 27th ApriI, five Exmouth Harriers were in Plymouth for the annual running of the city's Half Marathon. Now organised by Go2 Events (who also organise the Bath Half and, now, the Great West Run), this is by no means the fastest, flattest course ever, but it does showcase all the main sights and features of Plymouth, including the Hoe, the river, Saltram Park and the Barbican.

Having recovered from his record-breaking London Marathon performance 2 weeks previously, Dave Stone was back in his racing vest on this occasion and delivering a fine performance in it too. His solid time of 81:02 on this testing course was good enough for 24^th spot overall and a creditable 3rd spot and bronze medal in the ever-competitive MV40 section.

A little short of his PB but, again, not forgetting that this is not really a PB course, was Chris Dupain with his time of 90:34. More significantly, Chris position, inside the top 100 (89th), is perhaps a better indicator of the strength of his performance on this occasion. Chris has been on a half-marathon mission this year and has been running really well. A superb time of 18:10 at a recent 5k event shows that he has the speed and, if he can work on his endurance, then a half-marathon PB could well be forthcoming later in the season - perhaps at the Torbay Half?

Chris' sister, Hannah Bown, had to take 2nd in the family race-within-a-race. Sibling rivalry can only help to boost individual performances and, on this occasion, it helped Hannah to run a fine time of 92:47 for 191st spot overall and a well deserved top 10 spot in the female section overall (9th) and 2nd spot and silver in the FV35 category.

Questioning why she lets her siblings drag her into all these events - having initially planned to just go and support Chris and Hannah as she had a hockey match the previous day - Emma White nevertheless gave a good account of herself. Again, showing a remarkable ability to juggle two very different, but equally demanding, sports simultaneously, Emma finished in  time of 1:41. (Actual position unknown as she doesn't appear in the results, having taken the number last minute).

Despite both being septuagenarians, Mike Keep and Mick Allen were counted in the MF60 section in this race, as there wasn't a category for persons older than this: disappointing, considering the size of the field and the cost to enter it, really something that race organisers should be considering now that more and more people are taking such good care of themselves that they are still able to run competitively in this age bracket and want to have a good, fair race with people of their own age. Therefore, unsurprisingly there were no podium performances for the lads on this occasion. Mike was 1702^nd and dipped in under 2 hours with 1:56:59 and Mick placed 2858^th in 2:13:27.

The race was won by Exmouth based, second claim Harrier, Tom Merson, in 68:44, while there was an impressive performance by the first woman, Lucy McAlister, like Tom running for Bristol and West. Lucy was 10^th overall and recorded 78:02       

The Dupain siblings at the Plymouth Half: Hannah, Chris and Emma. 

Photo call over, time to head back to base for a Sunday roast and to mull over the race!

               

Jane's hearty effort pays off at Haldon!

On Saturday 26th April was the 4th running of the Haldon Heartbeat 8.5 mile trail race. Organised by the Haldon Trail Runners, this off-road event starts and finishes at Exeter Race course, on the top of Haldon Hill, and sees runners tackle some of the finest off-road running that the forest has to offer, with plenty of mud and a lot of hills thrown in too.

There were 4 representatives from the Exmouth Harriers on the startline, of which 3 were ladies, but, unfortunately, that left us one short to close in a team to wage our attack on the ladies' team prize. Nonetheless, all 4 of us had good runs with a little bit of individual glory thrown in.

I, Ellie Sutcliffe, was the first Harrier home. In my first proper race back since injury, I took this one extremely cautiously, as the last time I ran over 6.5 miles, let alone 8.5, was way back in January. The conservative start paid off as I was able to make my way through the field once I knew that my calf was behaving itself and slowly clawed my way up to 18th place overall and 3rd female, finishing just 1 place and 20 seconds behind 2nd in 60:13, though some way off the time of 56 minutes I ran in my first year of running in 2011: a reminder of how much fitness I've lost these past few months!

Next in, just a few places behind me in 25th, was Jon Croome. Great to see Jon well and truly over his injury of last year and enjoying his off-road running again. His time of 62:07 shows his fitness is almost back to where it was too.

The run of the day, however, came from Jane Macdonald. Jane ran a perfectly paced, strong race and finished in a time of 70:11 in 69th place overall. However, she took the top spot in the women aged 45 category: this is her second categroy win, following her first at the tough Haytor Heller race last summer. Jane clearly has a talent for these tough, hilly off-road races and her improving performances are just reward for all the hard work she's put in in training since joining the Harriers last year. Well done!

Jane's win unfortunately came at the expense of a victory for Lorraine Croome, who also runs in the FV45 category and narrowly missed out on the win, having to content herself with 2nd place on this occasion. Nevertheless, Lorraine still had a good run and posted a solid time of 70:43 for 72nd spot overall.

An unusual purple technical tee-shirt was the reward for the 197 runners who completed this race, and what a joy to have a selection of extra small shirts so us more petite ladies can actually wear it for a change and not have to use it as a nighty!

Solid runs for the Harriers at the Bampton-Tiverton 7

The Harriers unfortunately didn't manage to put a couple of teams together for the Bampton to tiverton 7 mile road race which, this year, incorporated the Ross Shield team competitions within it, in addition to it being one of the counting races in the InStep Devon Championship race series.

Men's and ladies' team captains, Adam and Carly Miller, had hoped to get a couple of teams together for the race, but due to the event taking place on Easter Monday, many people were either away, recovering from the London Marathon, or out with injury. That said, a few Harriers did toe the start line and all gave good individual accounts of themselves.

Leading the team by example, Adam Miller was the first Harrier home, in the unlucky position of 4th overall (a.k.a., first one back to not get a prize), missing out on 3rd spot by just 21 seconds with his time of 40:41.

In 43rd place with a time of 50:03 was Andrew Johnson. Andrew is a big fan of historic  road race events such as these and always doles out some consistent performances, year after year.

Next, and coming in in quick succession, were our super-vet duo of Roger Rowe (97th in 60:28) and Mike Keep (98th in 60:37). After 5 knee operations and a life-time mileage count in the region of 50'000 miles, Roger has had to reign back his ambitions in recent years and just be content to be able to enjoy the sport at a more leisurely pace. Mike, however, is still running strongly for his age group and took a well deserved top spot in the over 70s category here - great work!

170 finished the race. Perhaps the being bused out to the start and/or running along a busy road that is not closed to traffic have led to a dimished uptake in numbers at this race. It would be a real shame to see it drop off the race calendar though as it is one of the longest standing races in the county.

The one that got away....

Scott-2-Trigs-Jordan was keen to text me and point out that I missed the poor chap's performance at the Exe to Axe race before Easter. My apologies Scott - you slipped through my net - so here's to rectify that and give you the mention your performance deserves!

In his heyday Alf Tupper was known as the “Tough of the Track”. The emphasis now in amateur running circles is much less on multiple circuits of the 400m oval so perhaps we could use the sobriquet “Tough of the Trail” for our 2 Trigs, as he is rapidly carving out a reputation for himself in the club for his strength in long distance, tough, off-road races.

His superb performance at the 4 Trigs event this year was, as you know, very well documented. He backed that up with another solid run at the infamous Grizzly race at the beginning of March. Clearly showing no ill-effects or signs of tiredness from what were, already, 2 very hard runs and perhaps the equivalent of a road marathon in terms of how much they take out of your legs, Scotty boy bounced back with fresh legs to tackle the Exe to Axe race. Normwall 20 miles long, diversions in both Sidmouth and Beer due to cliff landslides meant that the race was in fact nearer to the 22 mile mark this year. In light of this, Scott's time of 3:38:57 is very good indeed. He finished in 30^th position in a field of 171 runners: the largest field assembled for some years, showing an ever-growing popularity for these types of tough challenges.

Club-mate Nicholas Brown, making one of his few but meaningful appearances on the race circuit, placed inside the top 50% of the field in 82^nd with his time of 4:12:4.

Well done to both runners.

Fast Friday flew by

Again, thanks to Dave Eveleigh for the following report on a new event, organised by the Iron Bridge Runner brigade on those all-too familiar paths and tracks around Flower Pots Fields in Exeter. A special mention to the first Harrier home, donning the blue and gold for the first time, our latest recruit, Pete Fletcher: welcome to the clan Pete! After this debut, we expect great things from you.... no pressure!! ;-)



In Exeter, on Good Friday 18th April, four Exmouth Harriers were taking part in the Ironbridge Runner Events ‘Fast Friday' 10K. Making his debut for the club and at the distance was Peter Fletcher. The field was 105 strong (around 49 being women) and rather spread out at the front, over 5 minutes (more than 3/4 mile) covering the first ten home. Peter would have been pleased to finish in that first ten, he was 6th in 38:07, but in a bigger field with more athletes around him to work off he could expect a big improvement on that inaugural Personal Best. Next in from the Exmouth club was Dave Eveleigh in 57th place, in a somewhat disappointing time of 50:51. Roger Rowe was 68th in 53:04. There was a time when Roger would have expected to be in front of Dave, even with the younger runner at his best. Hard to say whether various sporting activities over the years have contributed to the problems which restrict his running these days but it would be hard to imagine Roger having too many regrets as he enjoyed the event a whole! Also at this new 10K was Mike Musgrove in the demanding role of Guide Runner to a visually impaired athlete.

London calling....

And thanks to Dave Eveleigh for producing the following report on what was yet another extremely successful London for the Harriers clan. Well done to everyone on your superb times, performances, PBs, world records (that man Stoney's been at it again....!) and on all the hard earned money you raised for your respective charities.


With extensive television coverage you could hardly be unaware of the London Marathon taking place last Sunday (13 April). Among over 22,000 running were several participants from Exmouth.

Best placed of these overall was Dave Stone who was 569th (putting him in the top 3%) and 107th Man Age 40 – 44 in a time of 2:49:51. Dave was attempting to claim a World Marathon record for a runner dressed as a television character and to this end was dressed as Virgil Tracy of Thunderbirds fame. Given his time though it can be assumed that Dave was not adopting the persona so enthusiastically that he moved like the puppet Virgil was. This is the fourth time Dave has done the London race in costume. This year Dave has used his participation to raise funds for the St John Ambulance, deciding on this cause after they came to his aid when he fell at a recent race. I wonder if Dave can recall which Thunderbird Virgil flew though?

Mike Musgrove was raising funds for Whizz-Kidz. The recurrence of a calf injury did not stop him finishing and he was still comfortably inside 3 hours but he would have been hoping for a much better time than the 2:54:16 he recorded. He was 813th overall (top 4%) and 91st Man Aged 45-49.

Over 70 Veteran Mike Keep is another who has had to overcome injury recently so he would have been happy to complete the course in 4:14:17 in 15,029th place, leaving a third of the finishers behind him. Impressively there were 20 runners in his age category ahead of him.

Jane MacDonald was 8712th overall and 232nd Woman Age 45-49 in 3:48:49, a minute faster than in Amsterdam last year and believed to be a new Personal Best. Jane’s performance was particularly even paced and she used her participation to raise funds for Diabetes UK.

Amanda McCann finished 11,414th in 3:58:41, so just inside 4 hours but just outside the top half of the field. Amanda was 480th in her Women Aged 40-44 category and she was raising funds for Cancer Research UK.

Lorraine Kirby was not far behind Amanda with a time of 4:01:37 for 12,127th place. She was 356th in the female 45-49 age group

Virgil flew Thunderbird 2, the green one!

PBs and podium placings for the Harriers at Taunton

Howdie all. Apologies for the lack of activity on the Harriers blog for the past few weeks. Yours truly, the only person with access to the blog, has been away on her travels and without internet access. However, Carly Miller very kindly responded to my call to be a guest blogger for the day and has compiled this following report about the Taunton half and full marathons, which took place on April 6th. Thanks a million to Carly for this detailed account of what sounds like a superb day at the office for all the Harriers representatives on the start line.


On the 6th April, 6 Exmouth Harriers travelled to Taunton to take part in the marathon and half marathon races. The predicted rain held off, leaving the runners with almost ideal cool, dry conditions in which to take on the route. The half marathon is raced over one lap, through the streets of Taunton and out into the Somerset countryside. The race organisers describe the course as undulating, with runners having to contend with a rather large hill at 11 miles. For those competing in the marathon, the hill must be faced twice, as runners complete 2 laps of the half marathon course.

Tom Merson was a last minute entrant to the half marathon, having managed to get a race number from an injured Anthony Hatchard. Following recent controversy over Tom’s choice of racing gear, he decided not to wear his favoured Exmouth vest, and instead opted for one which clearly showed him to be a Bristol and West runner (although not official B&W kit –setting us all a bad example, once again, tut tut!) Despite having raced hard the previous day in the 12 stage road relays, Tom had a fantastic run, winning the race in a time of 1:08:55.

Just behind him (well, 7 minutes), came Adam Miller, finishing second in a time of 1:16:05. Adam had been battling with Torbay’s Arran Tocknell around most of the course, but after climbing the hill together at 11 miles, Adam managed to pull away from him on the long downhill stretch, and open up a 50 second gap. Adam was over the moon with his second place, and, having won his first ever cash prize, tells me he is planning to go professional.

Making her debut at the half marathon distance was Alice Kelly, who set herself a relatively conservative target of 2 hours, which she absolutely smashed, coming home as 7th senior lady in 1:37:19. Alice clearly enjoyed the race, as anyone could see by her beaming face as she completed the last mile. Alice seemed to be running very comfortably, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to improve on that time quite considerably in the future.

Mick Allen also ran the half marathon race, and this year was able to compete in a vet 70 category – a category in which he managed to finish 3rd, in a time of 2:01:44.

Two brave souls, the husband and wife team of Ben and Emma White, chose to take on the marathon. Ben had been struggling with allergy problems leading up to race day, and was therefore not feeling at his best, but chose to give the race a go anyway. It must have taken a lot of grit and determination to turn away from the finish line at half way, and set off on that lonely second lap, but Ben kept going, managing to complete the course in a time of 4:11:50.

His wife, Emma, had a fantastic run, but finished feeling very disappointed after missing a ‘Good for Age’ London qualifying time by less than 90 seconds. After running most of the first after alongside Alice Kelly, and going through halfway in just over 1:40, Emma found the second half tougher, and struggled to stay on pace to achieve her target of a sub 3:45 marathon. Despite this, she finished in a new PB time of 3:46:21, and was the 9th lady home. Hopefully, on reflection, Emma realises what an achievement that time was on a testing course.