TWO HASLEMERE BORDER ladies ventured on a road trip to Wales to take part in The Beast of the Blacks, a 20-mile trail race organised through Limitless Trails who focus their events within the Welsh countryside only.

The start and finish of the race on March 25 was held in the village of Llanbedr, on the cusp of the majestic Black Mountains.

The route then takes runners up, up and away into the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park, with approximately 4,553ft of elevation, and being treated to some of the glorious views of the stunning countryside, including river trails, an old medieval church and wonderful scenes of early life with the spring lambing season having just begun.

The race began at 9am the next day, and both ladies woke up to sunshine and blue skies, together with a light breeze – perfect running conditions.

A rather more wet and rocky terrain appeared later....

Philomel Bennett was first home in 3.35, and to her delight also finished second lady, with Susie Adams finishing shortly after in a superb time of 3.50.

All that was left was the long drive home and time to rest their weary legs!

At the same time as Philomel and Susie set of on their mountainous trail run, the latest group of runners to take part in the club’s Get Up And Run course were setting off on their 5km graduation run.

The venue was the scenic setting of the Punchbowl and the conditions were just perfect for their successful completion of the course.

Anna Alexandar had led the group during the ten-week course, with a band of helpers from the club and previous GUAR runners.

Anna was immensely proud of all the runners who completed the course and Haslemere Borders AC look forward to welcoming them all to the club’s training sessions.

Running is not the only passion shared by fellow runners within the club, as part of the fun is the camaraderie and meeting like-minded people, as well as exploring new trails within the wonderful countryside we are privileged to live in.

This has certainly been an incentive for one HBAC runner, Lari Williams, who has embraced the opportunity by joining a group of ladies who run various distances.

They recently embarked on a 26.2-mile route along the glorious Serpent Trail, which for Lari was not only a personal achievement but one that will inspire others too!

With the start of April, Haslemere Border athletes were out in force and kicking off proceedings on a crisp, Saturday morning was Steve Taylor who took part in his first ultra, competing in The Fox Ultra Marathon, a 62km race starting and finishing from Godalming Church.

The route takes runners through some of the glorious countryside surrounding Guildford, with a mixture of terrain of sandy heathland, plenty of hills, riverside tow paths, woodland and road with a total elevation of 2,484ft.

Steve, who is primarily a sprinter, embraced the challenge and finished his race in a splendid time of 9:37.20.

A little later that morning, Philomel Bennett pitched up at Worplesdon to take part in the Fox half-marathon, hoping to perhaps catch a glimpse of Mr Taylor to wish him well – but alas, he was too far up the road!

The route joins the Ultra path and takes runners to the finish at Godalming.

Philomel ran an impressive time of 1:45.19 and, for the second week running, finished as second lady and claimed another podium spot.

In another part of the country, Steph Moss was taking part in the Shropshire Way 80k Festival.

The route took runners through some of the most iconic Shropshire hills, summits and iron-age hillforts, and delightful market towns.

This was most certainly a challenging venture, encompassing an overall elevation gain of 8,632ft.

With this in mind, fuelling was an essential part of their quest and runners were treated to some local culinary delights at the checkpoints including fidget pie, beef stew and the famous bara brith, as well as a ‘free’ breakfast at the end!

Steph completed her epic run in a fantastic time of 12:35.18 and so well deserved her breakfast and goodies along the way!

A little closer to home, was the popular Bolt Round the Holt, the annual fundraising run in association with GUTS, fighting bowel cancer.

With races ranging from a 1km, 5k and 10k and a half-marathon as well, each route – aside from the 1k – took runners around a 5k undulating course.

Haslemere Border athlete Paul Fleming opted to run four laps of the course to complete the half-marathon in a time of 1:58.04 and secured third place.

On Sunday, April 3 a group of Haslemere Borders took part in the Goodwood running grand prix held at the iconic motor circuit.

With the option to run varying distances from 5k, 10k, half-marathon, 20 miles and a marathon, it is always a great event for supporting other club members, as all events are run at the same time.

First up was Sarah Smith competing in the full marathon and having to complete ten laps of the circuit.

Sarah finished in an excellent time, securing not only a personal best but was also the third lady and first in her age group.

Paul Croad had entered the 20-mile race, but having only just recovered from Covid knew this might prove a difficult ask.

He put in a great effort and managed to complete a total of five laps (20km), before calling it a day, but is hoping to be fully recovered to compete in the Milton Keynes marathon next month.

Peter Varnes was the sole HBAC runner in the half-marathon and had set himself a target of achieving a sub two- hour time.

In ideal running conditions he achieved his target, finishing in 1:57.48 and first in his age category – and clocked a PB as well.

The 10k race saw six HBAC runners taking part. First home was Dudley Walker achieving a PB with a time of 52.02 and second in his age category.

Hesta Gilham was the first lady home in 54.07 in yet another PB, followed by Gemma Reeder (56.30) and Sam Walker (57.45).

Sarah Barnett narrowly missed a sub 60-minute time, finishing in 1:00.51, and Ann Varnes completed the course in 1:37.37.

It was a fantastic day out, with many personal achievements, together with a great camaraderie among the team.

A little further afield, the Manchester Marathon was the setting for some of the club’s faster runners as they lined up on the start line with 20,000 other runners.

First home for the group was Luke Brocks in a personal-best time of 2:40.44, followed by Dave Jarrett (2:41.46), Luke Sherring (2:52.45), Jon Fairs (2:53.30), Tom Millns (3:02.03) and Katy Ward (3:08.55).

With the lighter evenings and hopefully warmer weather to come, the twice-weekly training sessions will now take place at the Woolmer Hill sports track on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

For anyone interested in joining the club – or to try out a training session – do please get in touch by emailing us on [email protected]

By Philomel Bennett and Ann Varnes