Exmouth Harriers were out in force and in a hurry on Wednesday evening (13 March). The dozen club members (pictured above) who took part in the final race in City Runs' RunExe Exmouth Winter Series secured the Mob Match team title and several individual awards on their home ground in perfect racing conditions, with a gentle southerly breeze off the sea and a mild temperature of 12C.

The Exmouth Winter Series comprised a 5 miler on 6 December; a 5K on 24 January, and another 5 mile race on 13 March, with all races starting at 7:00pm. The Exmouth course is flat and fast and is run over two and a half laps of Exmouth promenade. The race had the added drama of a launch of the Shannon Lifeboat from the RNLI Lifeboat Station near the finish – thankfully only on a training exercise.
  
The early leader was Tavistock AC’s ultramarathon specialist Adam 'Tango' Holland who was soon joined by TORQ elite triathlete Donald Brooks and the local favourite Oliver White (Exmouth Harriers) who pushed on to claim his first victory in the series in 26:18. Brooks (M45, 26:44) was runner-up and Holland (27:35) third. After his victory, White said: “No idea where I got the strength for that from – especially after racing in the Bideford Half Marathon on Sunday”.

The women's race was won by Laura Fricker (Weston AC, 31:06 PB) from Exmouth Harriers' Cathy Newman who set a new W60 age group course record of 31:51. Third was W45 Melanie Brooks (Teignbridge Trotters, 32:33). Finishing in seventh place was Jenny Reay (Exmouth Harriers, 36:06) with a new W65 record and Taunton AC’s Christine Williams set a W70 best of 44:57.

Exmouth Harriers dominated the integral Mob Match team event. Based on the best four age-graded scores, with Cathy Newman achieving 100%, the home team scored 362% to defeat South West Road Runners (325%) and Axe Valley Runners (321%).

The individual Winter Series is also decided on age gradings with the best two performances to count. The top three were awarded coloured jerseys and the fourth to tenth a white jersey. Once the numbers were crunched, the overall leaders were Jenny Reay (195% - yellow jersey), Christine Williams (166% - red jersey) and Edward Pickering (South West RR 165% - green jersey). Everyone who completed all three races received a 'campaign medal'.

Link to the results at the runABC South race listing here.

Photo of Exmouth Harriers supplied by Des White