A Weekend of Races

Released On 14th May 2023

Beer Blazer 5 & 10 Miler

From Rachael: A brilliant turnout for YTRRC at the Beer Blazer 5 & 10 miler! A great social run in the sunshine very tough and hilly with great views… finishing with an ice cream on the beach! Congratulations to Chris for being the first Yeovil shirt home shortly followed by Andy Farrant in 1:37 and then Robert & Helen for the 10 mile race. Well done to Dominic Berry first back for the 5 miles followed by myself, Alison, Sarah, Jo and Karyl all finishing together. Mel and Kay then appeared to complete the team for the 5 miler!

Weston-super-Mare Half

From Lesley: Well there were lots of races today and although I did one of the longer races of the weekend it was definitely the flattest at Weston-super-Mare half marathon. We arrived at 7.40 and met Colin and Cazz, running for the 401 Foundation, in the car park and made our way to Marine Parade. Tony & I had a coffee in Bistro Petite, where Paul and Rach joined us. We then all made our way to the start and waited for 'the off'. By this time we were freezing and willing the mist to go away. However, once we got going we warmed up quickly, the mist lifted and the sun tried to appear. Along the prom we went and then looped back along a parallel road just to loop back along the prom again, then onto a stretch of hard sand before leaving the beach behind and running a 4 mile loop inland, then back to the hard sand stretch again, along the prom and out to the other end. Then came 4 miles of undulations - up down, up down, repeat lots of times before a downhill stretch and along the prom to the pier and a small uphill finish. A stroll through town for well deserved Papa's fish & chips. Well done to Paul & Rach finishing in 01:54:11 and me in 02:00:19.

Runaway Train Race Report

From Matt: Warning - don't read if you get queasy easy...

Shepton Mallet is a drab old place, but with the promise of 2 viaducts, a tunnel, a hill fort, and a gorge, we set out in convoy ready to conquer 8.5 miles of Somerset's finest.

Registration was a mess - a bloke in a field with a table and stickers instead of numbers, and two start times depending if you were a social runner or elite. Obviously, we regarded ourselves as elite, but as the race start got delayed, and walkers could go at anytime, when the hooter went at 11:00, so did we!

Straight up a stupidly steep hill and we were warmed up! Down the road into Bowlish, up over a gentle hill and then a mile of downhill through the tree lined gorge of Ham Woods. Matt made good use of the downhill using the free-speed of gravity

Into Croscombe, and then a second stupidly steep track where the locals are campaigning for a chair-lift! Seriously!

From there the route was a good green track past Thrupe and onto the road with Maesbury Hill Fort looming on the horizon. Those defences really work as I wouldn't have been able to fight a fly once at the top! Disappointingly, the view to Bristol/Bath was still misty but the bluebells were gorgeous.

This was the five mile point, and now 3.5 of basically downhill, so time to push on. Overtaking and then stopping for photos meant Matt's pace was a bit varied, but the viaducts were nice. However, the tunnel was something else! So dark! And cool drummers at the far entrance made it quite special.

A last few technical bits (steps) and we were back into town and the finish in the market square! Done! Matt is first YTRRC!

We agreed the little wooden medal is quite cute for a relatively cheap event, but the "Boxty Feast" afterwards (extra cost) looked nasty! Boxty is apparently a potato and cheese pancake - for someone who doesn't like cooked cheese, it looked like a plate of vomit, much like a pizza!

Back at the car-park, I didn't climb on the wall - see photo!

Kingsbury Town Tree Trail Race

Wednesday 17th May, 7.00pm: YTRRC members are very welcome to take part - it is a club championship and Somerset series race.

Entries through Fullonsport or on the day.

However if you can't or don't wish to run we do need lots of marshals etc - please let me know if you can help

Also cakes etc needed for refreshment stall please

Thanks

Adam

The Lymington RNLI 10K

From Claire: The Lymington RNLI 10K……. Great event, 10K took us from Lymington out to Keyhaven and back along the sea wall, stunning views over the Solent towards the Isle of Wight. Great marshalling and support by the RNLI and Coastguards. Lots of water stops not just ‘official’ ones but ‘unofficial’ ones provided by the locals, very welcome in the unexpected heat! A lovely friendly event that will definitely be one to do again! And all for a great cause the RNLI, never know when you might need them!

Jurassic Coast 100k

From Lindsay: Well he did it, and I’m beyond proud, Yeovil Town Road Running Club Chairman and my partner Stephen @rabbitspawsw did the Jurassic Coast 100k challenge. We were set to do this challenge together last year but someone decided to break their femur in 3 places a couple of months before meaning I had to do it on my own, which I did with lots of support from Steve, club members and family and friends. Anyway this time it was Steve’s turn and, hoping that he was fully recovered, he took on the challenge starting at 9am at Corfe castle yesterday. His chosen charity was macmillan and he looked great in Green and off he set. I think some of the words he would use to describe this challenge would be hot, very hilly, muddy, crampy, exhausting, challenging, a long way, and rewarding. He ended up meeting up with Martin Alderman from our club, just after Weymouth (58k in), along with some other friends and they made a posse which would see them through all the way to the end. They had a great group and kept each other going thru the night and the darkest times and as you can see from the video at the end they were not only pleased to get over that finish line but that they got over it together, it was quite emotional, well done Team. The 100k consists of running/walking from corfe castle all the way to west bay (bridport) all along The coastal path which, as some of you know, has some superb hills (mountains/walls) chucked in, oh and a lovely 3k of beach shingle about 10k from the end. This challenge is not for the faint hearted but they did it. Steve completed it in 21 hrs 39 mins in 175th place at 6.39 this morning. Absolutely amazing well done you, you did it with a smile on your face and chatting all the way.

Bristol 10k

From Kevin: Up at Bristol 10k this morning. Great run by William 55.22 PB

Plymouth Half Marathon

From Margarita: Well it started grey and cloudy, perfect for a half, but it soon turned sunny and hot. Today's race was Plymouth Half Marathon, a good event with a few surprising inclines and the finish was just after a long hill. Bumped into Trevor Strelley in Plymouth yesterday, nice to catch up. Mat Sparkes was running for Yeovil as well, saw him at the half way point disappearing into the distance, but he is a much speedy runner than myself so didn't see him after that. May's half marathon complete.

Saints Hill 10k

From Sue: A lovely morning out for a number of club members. The Saints Hills 10k in Montacute. Mainly off road with lots of great scenery, hills and a fair amount of mud. A well deserved first lady for new club member Harriet Munday in around 56 minutes (unfortunately not wearing club colours, she wasn't aware), not sure about male contingent but Natasha was first club colours female in around 1h 9m, Linda Membury made her come back and finished smiling in no more pain than when she set off. Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to all the marshalls and the very tasty bacon butties at the finish

From Sandra: Yeovil Town contigent at Saints Hill 10k this morning. Great support for the event.

Westcountry Ultra Hilly 50miler

From Mags: Westcountry Ultra Hilly 50miler yesterday was the most brutal challenge so far for me and Leigh, also the longest distance ever ran for Gareth Davies . We all were aiming for sub 12hrs and are very chuffed to have smashed our goals! We couldn't have asked for a better weather to enjoy such a stunning route with one of the most amazing views. The hills were something else... specially one that we will remember for a while.

Park Runs

From Paul: Burnham and Highbridge parkrun for Rach and me this morning, followed by seafront walk and full English breakfast; well, rude not to. Also just received my London Marathon T-shirt and medal. Tomorrow Weston super-Mare half marathon.

From Jo: The breakfast makes it all worth while . Great turn out at Weymouth parkrun today.

SOCIAL HIKE NO 7 - LYME REGIS (UNDERCLIFFS ADVENTURE) - SATURDAY 3RD JUNE

From Mark: This social hike will be different, firstly because it is on a Saturday (3rd June), and secondly because it will involve a short bus ride.

We will meet at the other big car park (Holmbush car park) which is at the top of Cobb road. We have walked through it on previous social hikes. The meet up time is no later than 10:30 am. From the car park we then catch the bus to Seaton (Devon) at 10:58. The cost is £2 per person. From Seaton we walk by road to Axmouth bridge and pick up the coast path. From here it is a six mile walk through the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs National Nature Reserve. It is a walk of around 6 miles along a path through woods. When we reach Lyme Regis we go for refreshments as usual.

It will be a fairly tough walk, off road with some climb, and hopefully there wont be too much mud. If there are problems with the bus, or there are too many of us to all get on the bus, then we will have to go to Plan B which will be a simple circular walk instead.

I've just thought of an alternative to using the bus. We meet in Lyme Holmbush car park, and go to Seaton using half the cars. So half the cars stay in Lyme and Half go to Seaton. At the end those with cars in Lyme take the others back to Seaton. What do you think? What do you prefer?