City to Sea marathon and Dartmoor in a Day

The route followed the estuary, on flat, paved surfaces through Starcross, Dawlish to Teignmouth, then wiggled around the town and, finally, joined the SE Coast Path climbs from Shaldon to Babbacombe Downs.

Honiton Running Club’s Jennie Sleeman was running well for the first 18 to 20 miles. Suddenly, the heat was ramped up, the shade disappeared and the climbs turned serious. Jennie staggered up the hills and wobbled down the final descent to reach Babbacombe Downs and the finish in 87th position (out of 175 finishers) in 06:19:33. The winner was Edward Hillyer in 03:24:16 and the first Female was Hannah Dunn in 03:57:54.

HRC member Paula Ferris embarked on Dartmoor in a Day, which is a 50km Ultra Marathon challenge. With the temperatures rising quickly, the 8.30am start was welcomed and 74 runners left Okehampton heading along the river and up onto the clear open moor.

With clear views and climbs the first part of the course heads along the East Okement Valley and Hangingstone Hill towards Postbridge, this was a welcomed stop after 20km of running in the heat of the day.

Fellow club runner Nick Couch joined Paula for the middle section, lifting spirits and morale, with Bellever Tor and West Dart Stepping Stones a highlight. The last leg of the course and Paula was back running solo for the last 20km tackling Ryder’s Hill, Clapper Bridge, Dartmoor Volcano and the final stretch towards Ivybridge, with a view of the Erme Valley. Crossing the finish line in 7 hours 26 mins. Paula was the 4th lady out of 28 and 24th of 74 runners to finish.

This is one of the toughest challenges Paula has accomplished and could not have been done without the help and support of her husband, Adam, and Nick with their support around the course, especially on the last leg of the course where they helped 5 or 6 other runners who were struggling with no water reserves.