Harriers' Talbot and Turner perform well in Sheffield

Exeter Harriers

TWO of Exeter Harriers' up-and-coming athletes returned from the National Indoor Combined Events Championships triumphant.

Sam Talbot and Anya Turner, both 14, competed in the under-15 pentathlon at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield.

Talbot, fresh from his win in the South of England Championships, took the silver medal and Turner claimed fourth place.

Incorporated into the competition was the Midlands & South West Regional Championships, with Turner and Talbot both taking gold.

Talbot ran 9.02secs for the 60m hurdles, had a best of 5.50m in the long jump, set personal bests in the high jump and shot putt with 1.66m and 11.76m respectively and ended the competition with 2.21.24 in the 800m for a final points score of 2,760.

Going into the final event third in the standings, Talbot said: "When I started the 800, I knew I wouldn't be able to beat the leader but knew I had a good chance of coming second."

Turner ran the 60m hurdles in 9.79secs, set a PB of 4.74m in the long jump, threw 8.24m in the shot putt, had a best clearance of 1.48 in the high jump and ran a new best for the 800m of 2.49.72 for a new best tally of 2,722 points.

"I was a little disappointed with the hurdles as I didn't match my PB from Birmingham but third place was a good start," said Turner.

"The long jump was the highlight of my day as I was watched by Jessica Ennis. I was very excited as I got a PB.

"I was so pleased with my time of 2.49.72 (in the 800m), a new PB, but I know I can do much better as I was boxed in at one stage but managed to run the rest of the race as planned."

The outdoor season starts on March 25 with Exeter Harriers' first monthly open meeting at Exeter Arena. For a timetable, contact 01392 460960.

south west road runners

Twenty-Three South West Road Runners took part in the Bideford half marathon on Sunday.

Matthew Bellamy led the club home in 18th place in a time of 1hr 20mins 50secs.

James Reeves recorded a new personal best to finish 34th in 1:23.13, with other PBs falling to Martin Tucker, who was 467th in 1:53.00, and Heidi Simms, who finished 651st in 2:02.50.

Other SWRR finishers were: Stephen King 54th in 1:25.50, Mark Rice 56th in 1:26.10, Jody Bee 72nd in 1:26.59, Adrian Davey 88th in 1:28.36, David Balch 97th in 1:29.20, Lisa South 104th in 1:29.59, James Robson 112th in 1:31.20, Lee Rowe 146th in 1:33.52, David Moulder 169th in 1:35.49, John Kavanagh 181st in 1:36.32, John Caswell 185th in 1:36.34, Anni Vanhatalo 212th in 1:38.38, Julie Hedges 249th in 1:40.32, Robert Scovell in 1:42.07, Clare Suss 299th in 1:42.58, Paul Madge 438th in 1:51.25, Hilary Collins 483rd in 1:53.34 and Jayne Lockwood 544th in 1:56.28

Three Road Tunners took part in the Bath half marathon also on Sunday. Graham Reynolds was 515th in 1:29.32, Jimmy Kelly finished in a PB of 1:40.05 and Graham Partridge was 2,102nd in 1:44.11.

Michal Lesniak recorded a new PB of 1:19.16 in the Paris half marathon, finishing 199th.

Jim Durston also ran a new personal best in the Duchy marathon, taking five minutes off his previous best to finish in 3:28.55.

Alex Cutts was the first woman home in the Combe St Nicholas 10k.

The previous weekend, six members ran the Dalwood Three Hills Challenge.

Shaun Parkin led the club home in ninth place in 1:17.03, with Nicholas Einchcomb 14th in 1:19.38, Stephen King 21st in 1:22.38, Steve Rosser 35th in 1:26.49, Vanessa Smith 88th in 1:50.17 and Giles Chabrier 93rd in 1:52.23.

exmouth harriers

Adam Miller was 69th out of 11,000 and reduced his personal best to 1:14.38 in Sunday's Bath half marathon.

Mike Musgrove was 130th in 1:18.38, Richard Hawes clocked 1:29.10 on his half marathon debut to finish 512th, Jane MacDonald was 3,680th in 1:52.22, Martin Richards 7,288th in 2:04:30, Diane Richards 7,645th in 2:07.08 and Nicola Musgrove 8,341st in 2:11.34.

Cathy Newman was the second woman overall and first in the over-50 category at the Bideford half marathon on Sunday.

She clocked 1:25.50 to finish 54th overall and was one of six Exmouth Harriers in the race.

Dave Stone was 13th overall in 1:17.32, which put him third in the male over-40 section.

Lisa Hatchard ran a personal best of 1:39.57 to finish 241st overall, Dawn Teed was 312th overall and second female over-45 in 1:43.44, Joan Mason ran a PB of 1:53.21 for 475th overall and Roger Riggs was 576th in a PB of 1:58.31.

axe valley runners

In preparation for next Sunday's Grizzly, Dave Kelf ran the Gorleston Cliffs 5k Park run near Great Yarmouth, finishing 103rd in 29.46.

Emma Kiernan completed the Bath half marathon in 1:41.32.

Harry Moore finished the Combe St Nicholas 10k in 1:36.38.

Richard Easton and Luke Reed took part in the Spring Ballbuster Duathlon at Box Hill, Surrey on Saturday.

The race saw them make the two-mile climb of Box Hill five times in all, with a 24-mile bike ride sandwiched between two eight-mile runs.

Easton was 21st in 2:59.21 after completing the first run in 49.50, the bike section in 1:13.08 and the second run in 54.54.

Reed was 42nd in 3:08.04, taking 49.59 for the first run, 1:18.42 for the bike and 57.15 for the second run.

Haldon trail runners

Nathan White completed the Bideford half marathon on Sunday in a time of 1:30.04.

Nicki Ashworth was the first woman home in the Burgess Park run in London on Saturday in 23.26.

University of exeter

The University of Exeter's athletic club returned from the British University Athletics Indoor Championships in Sheffield as the most successful track and field team the club has ever seen.

Head coach Sonya Ellis took 28 students to the event and even reached semi-finals.

Exeter Harrier Tyler Johnson reached the semi-finals of the 60m with a season's best performance and, in the 800m, Steve List qualified comfortably for the semis.

Three out of Exeter's four athletes in the 400m – Chris Churcher, Sarah Kearsey and Abbie Rudd – qualified for the semis.

In the heats of the 4x200m relays, the men's and women's teams both smashed the club records but missed out on places in their finals. The men's team of Ian Whittaker, Joe Houston, James Clayton and Johnson ran 1.32.49, with the women's team of Becca Jones, Laurence Thill, Rudd and Kearsey finishing in 1.47.4.

In the 200m, Jones and Thill reached the semi-finals with personal best and season's best times in their heats respectively, while Johnson qualified for the men's semi-final.