Exmouth Harriers’ recent National ‘virtual racing’ successes

Exmouth Harriers had 31 runners out of the 1,230 finishers in the 2021 British Masters Virtual 1 Mile Challenge that finished on Sunday, March 7 - this is almost a third of the membership of the local club.
Masters runners (Men & Women aged 35 and over) from all clubs in GB were invited to run over a measured mile and submit their times to the organisers at BMAF (British Masters Athletic Federation) in the period from February 24 to March 7.
Exmouth Harriers achieved a number of top 10 finishing positions, which is amazing in a National competition for such a small club.
Tom Merson was the overall winner of the event, plus he was the first M35 in a time of 4:21 in what was his first “race” as a Master, having moved into the M35 category just four weeks ago.
Another individual winner was Exmouth’s “vintage” athlete Ray Elston, who was 1st M80 in an incredible time of 8:02.
Also, Mick Allen was 3rd M80, Des White was 4th M65, Rob Ellis was 5th M35, Cathy Newman was 7th W55 and Mike Musgrove was 7th M50.
There was a team competition with the runners forming teams of three based on their times within their age-groups.
Exmouth Harriers “A” team of Tom Merson, Rob Ellis & Simon Minting won the overall team event and were 1st in the 35-44 age-group. The M75+ “A” team of Ray Elston, Mick Allen & John Goss-Custard were 2nd team in their age-group.
The M75+ “B” team of Tom Handley, Mike Keep & Les Turner were 3rd in their age-group and the W55-64 team of Cathy Newman, Nicola Kelly & Susan Hill were 4th in their age category.
It goes to show that when it comes to Masters running Exmouth Harriers are extremely competitive at the highest level in all age-groups.
The full list of Exmouth Harriers runners in the BMAF 1 Mile Challenge is listed below:
1st 4:21 Tom Merson 1st M35
5th 4:33 Rob Ellis 4th M35
12th 4:40 Simon Minting 10th M35
20th 4:44 Oliver White 14th M35
102nd 5:06 Adam Miller 31st M40
102nd 5:06 Mike Musgrove 7th M50
398th 5:48 Des White 4th M65
406th 5:49 David Snook 85th M35
464th 5:55 Hannah Bown 19th W40
473rd 5:56 Tom Packer 96th M40
501st 5:58 Craig Butler 70th M50
597th 6:09 Cathy Newman 7th W55
602nd 6:10 Chris Sharp 98th M35
657th 6:17 Steve Morgan 26th M60
767th 6:37 Kelly Thomas 47th W45
784th 6:39 Louise Hempstead 49th W45
800th 6:42 Nicola Kelly 17th W55
808th 6:43 Holly Clements 39th W35
818th 6:45 Paula Hawkins 43rd W40
933rd 7:08 Lisa Hatchard 71st W45
948th 7:11 Amy Tew 49th W35
999th 7:23 Kate Baker 59th W40
1030th 7:32 Susan Hill 21st W60
1044th 7:39 Amanda McCann 86th W45
1110th 8:02 Ray Elston 1st M80
1188th. 9:08 Mick Allen 3rd M80
1190th. 9:10 John Goss-Custard 12th M75
1198th 9:27 Mike Keep 14th M75
1198th 9:27 Tom Handley 13th M75
1219th 11:10 Les Turner 15th M75
1226th 11:40 Jim Wyatt 17th M75
The “final” placings and times for Exmouth Harriers 10 teams were:
W35-44
14th Exm-A (Hannah, Holly & Paula) 19:23
31st Exm-B (Amy, Kate & Amanda) 22:13
W45-54
19th Exm-A (Kelly, Louise & Lisa) 20:24
W55-64
4th Exm-A (Cathy, Nicola & Susan) 20:23
M35-44
1st Exm-A (Tom M, Rob & Simon) 13:34
21st Exm-B (Oliver, Adam & David) 15:39
49th Exm-C (Tom P, Chris & Steve M) 18:23
M45-54
22nd Exm-A (Mike M, Des & Craig) 16:52
M75+
2nd Exm-A (Ray, Mick, John) 26:20
3rd Exm-B (Mike K, Tom H & Les) 30:04