Its been an action packed summer for the Harriers, here's a round up-of June and July
Dartmoor Summer Solstice Fell Race - Simon R
What with Covid and lockdowns, I'd forgotten just how hard fell races are.....and a hot midsummer's evening made this one even more challenging. Luckily, I chose to carry some water with me as otherwise I think I would have evaporated.
The Dartmoor summer solstice fell race is one of a series , I'd missed the first three but was determined to get to a few this year, as it is probably my favourite type of running, all off road on rough moorland with a lot of technical challenges . Lots of picking your way through rocks, tussocks, bogs, streams and tors....and that's without a mention of the hills, that are just as tough to descend as they are to climb. An indication of what this does to your running (or quite frequently walking!) can be seen from my fastest and slowest kilometres, the fastest being twice as quick as the slowest!
The Solstice race was around five miles, with 350m of climb. The first thing they did was take you up a stonking great hill up and over a tor.... (just to make sure your lungs and legs were nicely burning!) then it was down up, down up, over a few more tors with a stream crossing thrown in for good measure along the way! (...no bridges here).
Turnout was the best of the series to date, with over 120 runners.
Torbay 10k 26th June
A dozen harriers took park in the Torbay 10K, here still looking quite fresh before heading to the start line..
A well attended race in the heat of summer (as can be judged by the scorched grass on Paignton sea front). Well done to David for coming first in his age category, and a special mention to Sarah, who completed the run, despite twisting her angle ..... Glad to hear it has recovered now.
Snowdon Trail Marathon 11th July
After her fantastic achievement at the Innsbruck Trail Marathon in May Hilary took to the hills again, this time a marathon race up Snowdon. All that training paid off and Hilary, took first place in her age category. Well done from us all... we find that it does help to enjoy running up hills if you live in Brixham!
And finally a rather large trophy for David!
A trophy to Rival the FA Cup is adorning David's Mantlepiece this month as he won the Research Councils Monthly Handicap Race. David is a member of the RC's running group, having worked there before his retirement, each month the group run a handicapped 5k(ish) race. Since joining the Harriers David's running has gone from strength to strength, and this month he beat his old work mates into a cocked hat!
