Sea breezes, sunshine and the pulse-raising spirit of competition were the hallmarks of LM Events' promotion of the Bradleys Exmouth 10K on Sunday (27/09). The East Devon resort has rarely looked better as 129 runners were corralled into pens with four occupants for a COVID-secure start, with the men preceding the women by five minutes.

Among the starters were your correspondent, Alan Newman, who had made the trip down from Kent for his first race since lockdown. For the most part, runners remained within their start ‘bubble’ but there was plenty of room for overtaking, or being overtaken, as in the case of this reporter.

A feature of the route was the four turn round points on the pancake flat promenade course – that unfortunately measured about 300m over distance – which facilitated plenty of supportive exchanges between clubmates.

A five-minute opening mile saw local favourite Rob Ellis and Adam ‘Tango’ Holland break clear and Ellis was asking all the right questions at the Exmouth RNLI station at quarter distance (pictured above). Ellis, of Exmouth Harriers, soon forged a winning lead to finish two minutes clear in 33:51 from Holland (Tavistock AC, 35:50) and Hayden Bond (Okehampton RC, 36:09).

The women’s race was won by W40 Amy Jones (South West RR, 39:35) from the exceptional W60 master Claudine Benstead (Okehampton RC, 42:49) and the unattached Anna Whittaker (44:48). All finishers received an unusual carved wooden medal and no prizes were awarded on the day to comply with the current restrictions.

Many competitors had left the venue shortly after finishing but there was time for Alan Newman (2nd M60, 48:35) and his partner Sue James (4th W60, 56:01) to share a seafront cappuccino and post-race banter with old friends Des White (1st M60, 42:12) and Alison White (3rd W60, 52:28) plus first M50 Mike Musgrove (37:24) and partner Paula Hawkins (2nd W40, 45:04) – all of Exmouth Harriers – seated outdoors as per the rule of six!

Overall impressions of Alan’s first race for six months? Windy conditions and extra metres prevented any fast times being recorded but LM Events showed smaller scale road races can go ahead with a few adjustments and it is even possible, and extremely enjoyable, to socialise safely with fellow runners. There is a post-COVID future for us all!

Results will be available on Wednesday 30/09 at LM Events here

Image courtesy Scott Jamieson, Exmouth Harriers