200th parkrun
On Easter Saturday, Claudine Benstead reached an incredible ParkRun milestone, running her 200th ParkRun at Exeter Riverside. Conditions were wet and windy but Claudine enjoyed running with her son Sam and celebrated with coffee and cake afterwards!
Easter Bunny 10k
On Easter Monday, Steve Sincock ran the Easter Bunny 10k at Yeovilton. Organised by Yeovil Town Road Running Club, this race consists of a flat, fast course around the villages of West Camel and Podimore and is an ideal course for those looking to run a personal best. Steve just managed to sprint to the line to get under 40 minutes finishing in 39:59 improving on his club age group record that he set in Exeter a month ago.
Butcombe Trail Ultramarathon
On Saturday 26th April, Ian Duffield was in the Mendip Hills, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) to run the 50 mile Butcombe Trail Ultramarathon. Organised by Bristol’s Town & Country Harriers trail running club, the route which requires self-navigation, takes in some stunning running country with fantastic views as it cross-crosses the Mendips on trails, paths and quiet roads with approx 1900m of elevation gain along the way. Ian enjoyed running in the beautiful hills surrounded by history galore and lots of friendly runners and supporters. He had a great run finishing in 9hrs58 (official results pending).
Sid Valley Ring Half Marathon
Also on Saturday, Peter Roisetter was in Sidmouth to run Climb South West’s Sid Valley Ring Half Marathon. Back for its 5th year, this race follows the recently created Sid Valley Ring walking route.
With an uphill start, the route then takes the runners through quiet country lanes, footpaths, coast path, woodland and The Donkey Sanctuary and visits the pretty villages and hamlets of Sidbury, Harcombe and Salcombe Regis along the way. The route included plenty of hills giving runners a total elevation gain of approx 650m. Peter commented that on a better weather day the views from the coast path would have been fantastic! He also had a great race finishing in 2hrs40 (official result pending).
The Beacon Beast Half Marathon
On Sunday 27th April, Lou Duffield and Izzi Davison travelled over the border to Bodmin to run The Beastly Half Marathon. Also known as The Beastie McBeast Race, it is based on the second half of the Beacon Beast Marathon route and takes runners through the Lanhydrock Estate and Cardinham Woods. It’s a multi-terrain race run over tracks, footpaths and quiet roads and is a ‘generous’ half marathon at over 23kms with just under 500m of ascent. Izzi and Lou thoroughly enjoyed their race in the perfect sunny but cool conditions. They ran together finishing in 2hrs58 (official results pending) earning themselves beautiful finishers medals.
Dubrovnik Half Marathon
Carole Loader travelled the furthest afield this weekend to visit Croatia and run the Dubrovnik Half Marathon on the Sunday. The route is run entirely on roads and pavements and takes in the sights of the attractive Old City and views of the stunning Dubrovnik coastline. Carole commented that conditions were hot and sunny and that the atmosphere was amazing. Out of 971 runners, Carole placed 191st overall out of 960 runners and was 31st female out of 478 in a time of 1:55:23 also earning her a pretty special finishers medal.
TCS London Marathon
Last but not least, a small race was happening in London this weekend… the 45th edition of the London Marathon! Starting in and looping through the historic maritime borough of Greenwich, the course takes runners through Surrey Quays, Rotherhithe and Tower Bridge (the halfway point). From there, runners make their way to the Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf, Shadwell, along the Thames Embankment and onto the final, long-awaited stretch to finish on The Mall, just in front of Buckingham Palace.
Four ORC’s joined a total of 56,000 runners this year and all enjoyed soaking up the fantastic atmosphere and crowd support as they took in the sights in the sunshine along the way. First ORC home was Richard Davies in 2:57:12, followed by Jo Page in 3:26:29, Molly Marvin in 4:33:38 and Mike Westland, who despite suffering a back injury in the weeks before, still completed in 5:04:13 also raising funds for the Royal British Legion.
