Exmouth Harriers achieve personal bests at Run Exe 5km race

Run Exe 5km.

On Tuesday 2nd July, at the Run Exe 5km race, newcomer Simon Aplin made his debut for the Exmouth Harriers, setting an impressive time of 21.48.

He was among 11 Harriers members who raced around the enchanting paths alongside the River Exe at the Flowerpot Playfields in Exeter.

Fellow Harriers, Josh Sale and Jimmy Joy maintained their excellent run of form by notching up personal bests of 17.23 and 20.54 respectively.

Two Harriers, Jenny Reay and Steve Morgan, each took home the column for their respective age groups, with Jenny coming out as the 1st W65 and Steve the 1st M65.

The race also made up the 11th contest in the 2024 Instep Devon Championship series.

Balmy Bicton 10km.

Moving on to Balmy Bicton 10km held on July 7, another proud Harrier, Josh Sale, faced a challenging terrain of tarmac and unmetalled roads in the grounds of Millwater School within the grounds of Bicton College.

Braving the tarmac and unmetalled roads, Josh accomplished a great run by finishing 9th, with a time of 38.58.

Josh striding out in the Balmy Bicton 10km (Image: Des White)

REDs Ice Cream Challenge.

Team Harrier also marked its presence at the REDs Ice Cream Challenge held on the same day.

Chris Murrin ran his 135th Marathon on home territory, conquering the Run Events Devon Ice Cream Challenge on the Exmouth / Budleigh Trail.

He proved a champ by completing eight laps of the tarmac course in preparation for his next challenge - The Hope Trail Festival in Newnham Park which lies five miles outside Plymouth City Centre and features a 130-mile course (26 laps of the 5-mile multi-terrain circuit) to be covered in 36 hours on July 12 at 9pm.

Chris with his hard-earned ice cream at the finish of his 135th Marathon (Image: Des White)

The club is always open to new members and they train Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, usually from the Tennis Centre in Exmouth.

For more details see their website.

Cosden Fell Race.

Meanwhile, three other Harriers - Anthony Hatchard, Hugh Marsden, and Dawn Teed took on the 7th race in the 2024 Dartmoor Fell Race series - The Cosden Fell Race.

This challenging contest started on the village green in Belstone on Dartmoor's northern edge as runners headed for the beacon on Cosdon Hill before returning to finish on the village green.

Considering the 300m climb over rough, open terrain and some self-navigation by the runners, the times were slower than usual.

However, Harriers weren't deterred and Anthony secured the 13th spot, while Hugh took 1st place in the M60 group and Dawn finished 2nd in the W60 category.