With one week to go to the iconic Grizzly and six weeks to the London Marathon, it was another busy weekend of racing for Exmouth Harriers with twenty of them in action in four Westcountry events.

Bideford hosted one of the most popular Half Marathons with a record number of over 900 runners finishing this year. The race started and finished close to the organisers Bideford AC’s club house in the town centre and was run on traffic-free roads for the first seven miles and on the stunning Tarka Trail for most of the final six miles.

Results: 13th Oliver White 1:13:32 10th SM, 87th Langdon Williams 1:26:05 3rd M55, 102nd Dave Stone 1:27:11 6th M50, 122nd Craig Butler 1:28:35 9th M50, 148th Matt Harrison 1:30:16 74th SM, 153rd Hannah Bown 1:30:40 3rd F45, 155th Julian Nelmes 1:30:51 14th M50, 165th Mac McNaghten 1:32:07 3rd M60, 212th Dana Kalin 1:35:58 10th SF, 295th Steve Morgan 1:42:27 3rd M65, 400th Carrie Webb 1:48.20 11th F50, 414th Graham Mullin 1:49:57 42nd M45, 431st Des White 1:52:04 2nd M70, 569th Alison White 2:00:26 2nd F65.

In the Dartmoor Granite Way event, competitors tackled either one or two laps of the multi-use trail running between Okehampton and Lydford.

10 miles: 18th Jenny Reay 1.12.25 3rd Lady & 1st F65 in 1.12.25. 20 Miles: 130th Nick Ramm 4.04.10 10th M50.

The Grand Canal Canter (Tiverton) took runners along the picturesque Grand Western Canal starting at Tiverton Canal Basin towards Sampford Peverell for 6.6 miles to a turnaround point where all the runners headed back to Tiverton for the finish for the 1/2 Marathoners. The Marathoners had to turn again for a second lap before their finish. This was the 126th Marathon for Chris Murrin.

1/2 Marathon: 9th Douglas McCombie 1.36.27 4th SM. Marathon: 20th Chris Murrin 4.38.36 3rd M55

The Stoke Stampede is a lovely 10km race in the tranquil village of  Stoke St Gregory near Taunton: 11th Tom Packer 38.01 5th M40. And finally, a reasonably quick 10km run on quiet undulating country lanes in and around the beautiful Cotswold town of Minchinhampton: 17th Alice Thomas 53.51 3rd SF.

Exmouth Journal: Nick Ramm after the Granite Way 20 Miles