It was a one, two, three for Axe Valley Runners' male entrants at the Exe to the Axe event on Sunday.

Although a sunny day, the recent heavy rain made it a very muddy and tough course throughout the 22 miles of the South West Coast Path, from the Exe in Exmouth to the Axe in Seaton.

Axe Valley Runner (AVR) Matt Clist took the win, finishing in an amazing 3:05.26, with fellow members Tim Lenton in second, finishing just a minute behind in 3:06.27, and James Green in third, springing along the seafront to finish in 3:15.09. 

Emilie Brock was the first AVR woman home in an excellent fifth female place and first F40 in 3:52.07. Eleanor Wood came home in 4:04.28 and first F60.

Vicki Wraight and Stephen Grigg decided 22 miles wasn't quite enough so ran the full marathon option with an additional loop around Otterton to make up the extra four miles.

Stephen was a brilliant fifth in the marathon, 2nd M40, in 4:38.22, with Vicki 26th finisher in 5:56.58. Just 39 completed the marathon distance event.

Other AVRs among the 119 who completed the gruelling 22-mile event were Richard Jackson, 24th in 4:03.24; Jason Potter, 50th in 4:26.04; James Hawker, 71st in 4:50.59; Henry Smith, 72nd in 4:52.21; Jeremy Slade, 78th in 4:56.56 and Dan Clist, 79th in 4:57.02.

Kevin Feeney and Ron Seward ran it as a relay coming in sixth from 13 teams with Kevin completing Exmouth to Sidmouth where Ron took over to run the second leg through to Seaton with a combined finish time of 4:33.20.

Powering on at Powderham Castle

Four AVRs travelled to Powderham Castle on Saturday for the second edition of the 10-mile Power Run set within the beautiful private estate.

The multi-terrain course provides a mix of fields, trails, woodland paths and short tarmac sections. The runners experience a tough climb in the first mile but are rewarded with a great view at the top.

The two-lap race starts and finishes in the castle's courtyard and takes in the estate's gems, such as the Deer Park, Belvedere Tower, American Gardens and The Old Plantation.

The recent wet weather made the course very muddy and this was reflected in the slower times although, thankfully, the heavy rain forecast for the race itself did not materialise.

First AVR home, fourth woman finisher and first F45 was Kerry Board in an excellent 1:25.36.  Andy West finished in 47th place 1:33.58, second M65. Next AVR was Suzi Blackett who finished in 67th place in 1:38.40 with Sarah Herfet dipping under the two hours to finish in 1:59.55 taking third F55.

The race was well organised by City Runs and was in support of the Force Cancer Charity.

Revelling in Reading

Marathon training is clearly benefiting Haydn Boehm who smashed out a personal best for the half-marathon in Reading on Sunday. His 1:32.00 represented a huge six minute personal best – next stop London!

Capital Gains 

Already in the capital, Susan Wall completed the London Landmarks Half Marathon in 2:26.36 smashing more than seven minutes from her previous best over this distance.

Paris in the springtime

David Cull travelled over to France to join the thousands running the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris. His time of 3:40.46 placed him 14,646 out of more than 50,000 finishers.

David is recovering from a long spell of injury and paced a friend in Paris so was very pleased to come away with a solid run.

Pacing successes at Seaton parkrun

Back at home, it was pacing week at Seaton parkrun with Lee Moran celebrating reaching his 50th milestone with a perfectly paced 23:58 helping a couple of runners to their sub-24 time.

 Max Richardson was thankful for an early football cancellation this week to secure a big personal best finishing in 19:39.