What could be even better than a half marathon that takes a scenic route along Exeter’s historic Quayside and around the beautiful Riverside Valley Park? Two half marathons, of course!

Exeter City Community Trust – Exeter's leading health and wellbeing charity working in partnership with Exeter City FC – are the organisers who have come up with a solution for those runners who prefer to race on Saturday or Sunday by promoting the same two-lap half marathon on both days.

The format is successful as both events were fully subscribed with more than 600 finishers. Exeter City Community Trust employs more than 30 full-time plus more than 70 casual staff and around 25 volunteers, spending around 22,000 hours out in the community every year striving to improve life chances for all, often in the most deprived areas of Greater Exeter.

Football may be the beating heart of Exeter City Community Trust but running plays a huge part in their charitable work as they also promote the Granite Way 10 and 20-mile races; Exeter Live Better Marathon and Community 5 miles; Exeter 10K River Run; and the Halloween 5 and 10 Mile races.

Saturday's Exeter Half Marathon (10 February 2024) was enjoyed by 320 finishers in 3:03:39. The top three men were M40 Tom Grange (Clevedon AC, 1:19:11), David Withers (Southville Running Club, 1:19:33) and Tom Davey (CD Performance, 1:19:37). Leading ladies were W50 Alison Thorn (Erme Valley Harriers, 1:24:38), Hollie Fitzgerald (Run Fit Run Fast, 1:27:06) and Maya Williams (unattached, 1:27:56) – pictured above.

The following day there were a further 307 finishers in 3:26:45. Gwylym Gibson (South West Road Runners, 1:16:45) was a swift winner from M50 Simon Denson (Running Forever RC, 1:28:02) and Edward Stephens (South West Road Runners, 1:28:38). The women's race went to Rachel Sanders (South West Road Runners, 1:33:56) from W45 Sam Wharton (Running Forever RC, 1:36:36) and Susie Pathmanathan (unattached, 1:38:15). 

Piazza Terracina, Haven Banks on Exeter Riverside provided an impressive setting for the start and finish of both races and the events ran smoothly despite the wet and windy weather conditions. Among the Exeter City FC staff taking part was Assistant Manager Kev Nicholson, who said: “We had the pleasure of doing it last year and it was an incredible event, really well run. It was the first time I'd done a half marathon distance with a group of people and the atmosphere and environment were brilliant".

Full results are available via runABC South race listing for Saturday here and Sunday here.

Photos courtesy Exeter City Community Trust on Facebook