Two Exmouth Harriers travelled 115 miles along the south coast to Chichester to take part in one of the premier UK road races that also held the British Masters 10km Championship.
Cathy Newman and Jenny Reay ran superbly finishing in 39.11 and 41.56 respectively; Cathy was 1st W60 & Jenny was 1st W65.
As it was the British Masters Championships they are both British Masters champions and received Gold BMAF medals.
261st Cathy Newman 39.11 1st W60 & BMAF 10km W60 Champion; 371st Jenny Reay 41.56 1st W65 & BMAF 10km W65 Champion.
A small band of Harriers competed in a night race on home ground over a couple of short laps of the Exmouth seafront in probably the best weather conditions that any of the City Runs Exmouth events have been run in over the past two years, i.e. no wind, no rain and a relatively warm evening. A number of other Harriers marshalled and supported on the night.
Results: 58th Douglas McCombie 20.29; 61st Jenny Reay 20.48 1st W65; 73rd Steve Morgan 22.09 1st M65; 87th Des White 26.14. 2nd M65; 89th Alison White 27.07 2nd W65.
Bob Keast took part in a 30-mile challenge event that started and finished in Leatherhead and was organised by the Surrey LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Association). Bob finished in 7 hours 19 minutes & 36 seconds and he said afterwards: “It wasn’t as wet as last year but the thaw made for muddy conditions.”
Eleven Harriers raced in Honiton Running Club’s Blackdown Beast; a popular, social, self-navigated run that started at the Skydive Centre on Dunkeswell Airfield. The route initially followed a picturesque cross country run of 7.6 miles on footpaths to Smeatharpe where the runners enjoyed a hot pasty and mulled cider at Smeatharpe Village Hall as a reward for their hard work.
The next leg of the run was 2.8 miles on lanes and country paths that dropped down to the Sidmouth Arms in the village of Upottery.
The final stages took the road to Rawridge where they crossed the river Otter and climbed to the top of the ridge to the viewpoint above Luppitt for a spectacular panorama of the surrounding countryside before running the remainder of the run via Luppitt Village Hall and across country over Luppitt Common back to Dunkeswell Airfield for a well-earned drink and hot food at the Aviator Cafe.
Congratulations to: Simon Minting, Dave Stone, Anthony Hatchard, Scott Jordan, Craig Butler, Anthony Lees, Amanda McCann, Louise Hempstead, Susan Hill, Kay Douglas and Lisa Hatchard.
Sam Kelly, James Kelly, Anthony Hatchard, Scott Jordan, Lisa Hatchard, Nicola Kelly, Amanda McCann and Kay Douglas took part in the Sidmouth 4 Trigs Challenge.
This self-navigation event covered approximately 28 km with a huge amount of climbing with controls at four of the trig points surrounding Sidmouth. The route started and finished at the Sidmouth Sailing Club and took in the coast path, the Donkey Sanctuary and was mostly-off road with some great views. Sam Kelly repeated his victory in last year’s event, finishing the 28km in 2024 in 2 hours 10 minutes 48 seconds.
Two Harriers ran in the February Challenge hosted by Running Events Devon on the Budleigh Trail with Laura Walton in the 1/2 Marathon and Chris Murrin finishing his 124th Marathon. 1/2 Marathon: 4th Laura Walton 2.11.12. Marathon: 7th Chris Murrin 4.49.42.
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