RIOT R12

The first weekend of February started off with the RIOT R12, a running challenge and fundraising event for Pancreatic Cancer UK in memory of Claire Ridge. Members were challenged to run or walk a minimum of 1 mile on the hour, every hour, between 7am until 7pm.

39 runners completed almost 800 miles between them, most fueled by cake and finishing with a beer mile. Completing this kind of challenge is hard enough, especially getting out every hour on a winters day and there were numerous achievements, with people completing their furthest distances from 13 to 46 miles. Shout out to Simon Hill who took the mileage top spot with 46 miles, closely followed by Andy Mutter, Mark Brown and Paul Burrows who all ran over 40 miles, Penny Atkin, Emma Parker, Sam Trim and Wendy Britton who covered 30 miles and Mike Lamb, Reni and Alistar McPhail who completed the challenge solo on different days.

It wasn’t all about running either, it was about cake, good deeds and fancy dress with themed miles throughout the day. Well done to Nigel Atkin for winning Best Baker, Eden de Long and Andy Mutter for Best Fancy Dress and Dee Brooks for Best Good Deed. A huge thank you to Kerri Oliver who played a huge part in organising the event, the Dorchester Rugby Club for hosting us and all those involved in helping the event run smoothly. Importantly, we are pleased to say the R12 event and fundraising for the winter 10k raised over £1100 for charity.

If you need another RIOT challenge to help motivate you with your running and get you meeting other RIOTers, then keep your eyes peeled for a team challenge announcement coming soon!

RIOT Road Racing

A team of RIOT runners swapped blue for purple to pound the streets of London in the Winter 10km Run to raise further funds for charity. The group supported each other through the run and training, whatever their goal. Some used the 10k and fundraising as motivation for their return to running, whilst others wanted to test their pace after months of training. Meanwhile some members of the group even ran this on tired legs having completed the R12 the day before. A special mention to Frankie Daly, Emily Coplestone and Adele Elliot for their 10km PBs achieved on the day and to the group for their efforts in fundraising.

February saw the second Dorset Road Race League event of the year, the Lytchett 10 – 7 hilly miles finishing with 3 miles down hill to the cake. The RIOT male and female teams were out in force, representing the club and also coming away with personal achievements from furthest distances or breaking down personal barriers. Congratulations to Leighton Smith, Wendy Britton and Tim Rogers for their 10 mile PBs and to Karen Mitchell and Eleanor Rollett for their course PBs. The next DRRL event is the Marnhull 12km in April (http://drrl.co.uk/).

RIOT members were also busy with the half marathon distance this month with Louise Fox, Emily Stephens and Cendrina at the Exeter half and Karen Mitchell achieving a sub 1:41 half marathon PB at the hilly Blackmore Vale half. Lastly, congratulations to Leighton Smith for his sub 1:30 half PB and Sadie Laker for taking over 5 minutes off her half marathon PB at Brighton half marathon as part of their Manchester marathon training.

Taking on the trails

Trail running is highly popular amongst the club members, even in the winter when it means wading through mud and puddles, so it is no surprise RIOT members have been busy at different trail events.

Locally we have no shortage of hills, with the coastal path offering some of Dorset’s most challenging climbs. Anne Saunders and Karen Croad completed the technical and hilly Bustinskin Portland Coastal half marathon, enjoying the views along the way whilst earning their chunky medals. Whilst Andy Mutter took on two laps of Portland for the marathon for his 8th marathon in 52. Impressive enough, but he ran this on tired legs having done marathon number 7 to Lulworth and back the day before and on a full stomach having polished off a full English just before the race start. 

Elsewhere in Dorset, Malcolm and Louise Curtis ran the Jurassic Express half a one way half marathon from Swanage to Corfe with the novelty of a trip back on the train, with Malcolm placin 7th in his age category – showing that mountain training is paying off.  Well done also to Karen Lewis for running the Trail Events Lulworth 10k, especially in bitterly cold winds.

Further afield, if running across Dartmoors’ technical terrain, bogs and hills in the day was hard enough, try running it at night! A great result from Graham Smith who achieved 8th in his age category in the Dartmoor Wild Night Run. Slightly less boggy, but no less technical, Virginie Morris took on some huge climbs with ease in the La Petitie Sauta Roc in France.

Parkrun update

Well done to those that ran parkruns near and far in February with El Rollett, Rebecca Bradley, Clare Lane and Emily Coplestone achieving parkrun PBs at our local Great Field parkrun.

We must also mention Andy Mutter’s spectacular Great Field parkrun PB which he achieved in the last 3 miles of marathon 9/52 (when he had “just a parkrun to go”) with 23 miles and a 5am start in his legs (and that’s not mentioning marathons 7 and 8 which he did the weekend before). Well done also to Paul Burrows and Mark Brown who accompanied Andy, also completing the marathon distance. You can find a nice write-up of this achievement and fundraising in the parkrun blog; https://www.parkrun.org.uk/thegreatfield/news/2023/02/18/charity-begins-at-your-home-parkrun

Parkrun isn’t just about running, when you’re unable to run you can walk and it has been good to see David Howell out walking the course weekly, recently walking the course in under 40 minutes! Congratulations also to those that achieved significant attendance or volunteering milestones this month.

Other Mentions

• For club updates on the AGM and annual awards, adventure race, run leading and Hardy Half volunteering please see the Members Facebook group or the weekly e-mail.
• Congratulations to Eleanor Rollett who was awarded 3rd Lady in the Masters category for her Lytchett 10 run as part of the Dorset County 10 mile championships.
• Em and James Chutter represented the club at the Dorchester Beer Race, running to seven pub checkpoints. Thanks to the members who volunteered to help the event run smoothly.
• Bronwen Davison for her sub 60 minute 10km run on Weymouth seafront even in a chilly headwind.

It has been great to see regular personal achievements as members train and build their miles for spring events – things will be feeling tough now but the end goal is in sight! We look forward to writing about some of these events month, with Weymouth and Yeovil Half marathons, the Grizzly and Larmer Series amongst some of the upcoming events.

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First things first – what a busy month!  March brought with it the return to virtual events, a brand new RIOT challenge and the start of lockdown restrictions being eased.  The efforts and achievements within the club over the last 31 days have been incredible. 

We always try to include everything we spot, but if you feel like something has been missed off please do let us know.  We love hearing about what our members are up to so don’t be shy and share your achievements!  Whether it’s a new longest run, your first continuous 5k, you’ve starting venturing off road or you feel like your friend deserves a shout out, we want to hear about it.  Drop the club a message, tag us on Facebook or Instagram, or share within the group chat.

We all know how hard it can be to kick start your running routine after a break away, so the first blog kudos goes to Simon Fowler who has maintained regular running after a month off.  Well done Simon!

Many of you will have noticed that running duo Peter and Katie Smith are this year running the virtual distance from Lands End to John O’Groats.  March saw them hit the impressive milestone of 100 days of running at least 3 miles a day.  Well done Peter and Katie, you’ve made an impressive start to the challenge and we’re looking forward to watching you progress.

White Star Running are well known for putting on great events so many of us were disappointed that the Spring Larmer events would be postponed.  Not deterred however, several members took on the virtual option.  Not having the support and atmosphere of an event can be tough, so well done to the following members who earnt themselves a medal across the various distances:

Larmer 7:

• Peter Knight

Larmer half:

• Louise Curtis

Larmer 20:

• Reni McPhail
• Rebecca Bradley
• Gemma Shone
• Nikki Rich

Also missed off the running calendar at the moment are Park Run events.  Despite them not restarting until later this year, we’ve noticed regular #notaparkrun runs from Liz Elliott and Darren Grummitt.  This month also saw Darren take part in the Marie Curie Step into Spring Challenge, clocking up an amazing 50166 steps.  Well done Liz and Darren.

Two more half marathons went virtual this month; well done to Mark Brown, Laura White and Kerri Oliver for completing the Bath Half, and Anne Woodruff, Tara and Peter Knight, Gunny Archer and Sarah Dunford who completed the Weymouth Half.

The Phoenix events have become popular amongst our members (for unknown reasons!) and this month Wendy Britton went one step further.  Running 14.4 mile every day for 7 days, Wendy clocked up over 100 miles in just one week whilst raising £1900 for the Stroke Association!  Impressive its own, just 4 days later Wendy laced up once again and completed her first sub-4 hour marathon.  Incredible running Wendy!

44 RIOTers took part in our brand new challenge, RIOT Rumble.  In teams of 4, runners had to accrue points to ensure they weren’t at the bottom of the table and therefore eliminated from the challenge.  With alliances formed (and abused in some cases!) the final day saw 3 teams choose bonus runners to increase their chances of clinching the title.  After a very close final and incredible runs across the board, it was Team 6 who were victorious.  Well done to Andy Mutter, George Peters, Mike Lamb and Amy Mason, along with their bonus runners Steve Hall, Shelley Carter and Christina Guppy.  Keep reading to find out what helped them take the top spot…

Time for some PBs

First up, well done to the following RIOTers who this month completed a new longest distance:

Claire Lane – 7.5 miles

Ruth Lonie – 7.5 miles

Mike Lamb – 20 miles

Bronwen Davison – 20 miles

Gunnleyg Archer – 20 miles

Shelley Carter – marathon.

Woman of Steel Shelley was training for her first marathon in the Spring of 2020 before Covid interrupted her plans.  Deciding to go all out on the final day of the RIOT Rumble challenge, Shelley completely pulled it out the bag, simultaneously smashing her first marathon and helping Team 6 win the trophy.  Proving once again why she was a worthy winner of the Woman of Steel accolade at last year’s awards night.

We also saw a number of time PBs this month.  Well done to:

Malcolm Curtis and Richard Archer for their 10k PB,

Claire Carlin for her half marathon PB,

Scott Southgate for his marathon PB.

Don’t forget our AGM will be taking place on 16^th April at 7pm on Zoom.  As well as a chance to review the last year plus discuss the year ahead, we’ll also be asking you to vote in this year’s committee, including prospective new Membership Secretary Mark Stockman.

April sees the long-awaited return of club runs and group cycles, so check back next month to find out what else our members have managed to squeeze in!

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The RIOT Adventure Race

Organising an Adventure Race normally takes a lot of work and planning, but in a Covid world there was more to consider to keep us all safe. Following risk assessments and a lot of preparation we were pleased to be able to hold the RIOT Adventure Race 3. On a sunny day in October, over 50 RIOT runners and volunteers descended on the Dorset countryside ready to take on whatever mystery challenges awaited them. Teams of three armed with just a map, a book page number and set of cryptic clues, went off in search of checkpoints to earn points. Teams could earn bonus points by completing challenges along the way, including a tug-of-war with our friendly RIOT troll and phone calls to a mystery assassin. After the scores were totted up the AR3 winners were crowned, well done to George Peters (who got his name engraved on the AR shield for the second time), Mary Godding and Mark Brown. We hope that we can bring the event back for 2021, complete with the post-event social that we all missed!

Couch to 5km

Completing the Couch to 5k course is hard enough in a normal year, but when your course is stopped part-way through due to Covid, it is that much more difficult to keep going or to pick it up again! However, many of those due to graduate in March stepped up to the challenge of completing the course, whether this was achieved solo or in our small groups (when restrictions allowed). Though parkrun is currently cancelled, we still wanted to mark their achievement and arranged a virtual graduation parkrun on Weymouth seafront, where they were supported by RIOTers every step of the way. Since then it has been great to see so many of the graduates embrace club runs, throw themselves into RIOT challenges and see their running going from strength to strength along the way. Many have been building up their distance, achieving PBs or just sticking to a regular running routine, which is often a challenge once you finish the course. We look forward to seeing what they achieve next and hope we will be able to run further courses in 2021 for others that want to get running!

Going Virtual

The start of the year was looking promising, with RIOT represented across a range of events; Broadstone Quarter, Blackmore Vale Half, Wimborne 20, Dirty Devil Stampede, the Grizzly and the Larmer Tree races, to name just a few. Though RIOTers have squeezed in some events since March, Covid has lead to the rise of the virtual race! Virtual events are difficult, requiring a different type of mental determination; you need to organise your own aid, plan your route and you don’t always have those crowds to give you that much needed boost when things get tough! However, that didn’t stop RIOT and our Members did themselves proud at a range of virtual events, including 50-100 mile cycles, and running events from 5km to marathon distance and beyond. We loved seeing Member’s achievements; particular highlights were the virtual Weymouth half, that saw many achieve their first 13.1, seeing RIOTers complete crazy ultra distances in excess of 50 miles solo and the Virtual London Marathon which brought PBs, first time marathons and a proud show of support and community across the club. Finally, running once for a medal wasn’t enough for some, and we enjoyed following the progress of those that completed the grueling Phoenix 12 or 24 events, which required the grit to get out on the hour, every hour, for 12 or 24 hours, no matter the weather.

RIOT Challenges

Our RIOT challenges not only helped get us out and active when motivation for some was low, but they also brought us together as a club. Our first lockdown challenge was the ‘Chaingang Challenge’, where RIOTers ran for for two weeks from 5am to 9pm just to see our very own pantomime villain, Paul Danbury, run in a tooth costume! This challenge was followed by the ‘RIOT Roulette’, with teams putting in guesses to see who would be closest to the daily mileage total. This got competitive but after a nail-biting finale, Samantha Mercer, Keith Horn, Paul Gardner, Emily Wiltshire and Richard Archer took the top spot. Though the sun was lacking this year, our 2020 Race the Sun challenge was our biggest yet, with over 85 RIOTers running from sunrise to sunset on the longest day of the year. The day was kicked off in style with a Ringstead sunrise run by our RIOT Man and Woman of Steel, Shelley Carter and Malcolm Curtis, joined by our Chair Martin Mustoe. Our 2020 challenge highlight has to be the ‘Every Mile Counts‘ challenge, which raised funds to put towards items for homeless and vulnerable adults in Dorchester. This was our biggest RIOT challenge to-date with over 90 RIOTers taking part, working as a team to meet mileage targets and identify mystery doors, motivated not only by those shoebox items but also Committee forfeits of a cold morning sea dip, car washing and litter picking.

Running is our Therapy

2020 has been an anxious year for many of us, Covid and the associated impacts, have meant that many of us have sought solace in running, swimming or cycling. You only have to read Strava’s 2020 summary to see how people across the world embraced physical activity during lockdowns and since, not only to keep fit and get fresh air as many were restricted to home offices, but also help us with our mental heath. In light of this, RIOT started Wellbeing Wednesday and joined the England Athletics Run and Talk initiative to promote mental health awareness. However, despite virtual events and challenges many struggled with motivation during lockdowns, and missed the connections brought through a club run. That first club run back together again in June, after two months, was a highlight for many of us in the club. It made us appreciate the benefits of the group runs, welcoming the motivation, conversation, views, jokes, segment chasing and distractions they bring, whether that was hill reps on a Tuesday, a chat on a Thursday or a sunny Sunday Lulworth run. We are now fully embracing the spreadsheets and appreciating the time and organisation that goes into club runs in Covid times and we want to take this opportunity to thank all those who have volunteered to lead runs and cycles this year to help keep us all moving. Though club runs may be temporarily paused again as we head into 2021, we know that the first club runs back together again, when the time is right, will be worth the wait.

Running RIOT!

Happy New Year to all our Members

On behalf of the RIOT Committee, we want to thank you all for your ongoing support to the Club and we wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2021 and hope we are running together again before too long!

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As the weather starts to turn and the nights draw in, it’s a good time to reflect back on the first few months of RIOT 2.0.  With the new committee now settling into their roles, we were able to start looking forward and incorporate the “new normal” into our club.

First of all we were pleased to make a £300 donation to Dorchester Rugby Club with proceeds from Festive 24 as a thank you for their continued support.

We’d like to thank all of those who have volunteered to lead a run session since we were able to restart these.  We simply wouldn’t be able to offer so many different runs without our generous members, so from the whole club, thank you!

The achievements of our members over the last few months have been plentiful.  Unfortunately we can only include a few highlights in the blog but well done to everyone who is starting, continuing or returning to running.  2020 has been a year like no other, but we hope that collectively we can continue to get out and enjoy some fresh air, after all, Running Is Our Therapy.

After the successful return of our Thursday night club runs, July saw the return of our Tuesday hill reps and speed sessions, including some popular introductory sessions.  Well done to all those who gave it a go for the first time, and are now regular attendees to these training sessions.

The beginner bike rides organised by Keith Horn made people switch two shoes for two wheels and explore some of the many bike routes we have on our doorstep, and naturally it was only right to try out a cake or 2 from the cafes passed en route!

After being interrupted by Covid-19, our Couch to 5k group were able to pick up their training once again, finishing with a graduation run along Weymouth Seafront.  This group of graduates really didn’t have it easy so please join me in saying well done to each individual who persevered and completed the course, whether solo or with RIOT.  We look forward to watching you continue your running journey and seeing where it takes you next.

The RIOT Time Trial returned with a fresh new route taking on the West Stafford Bypass with members choosing either the ascent, descent, or the double whammy!  This isn’t about who’s the quickest, more who has made the greatest improvement.  We’ve already seen some great examples of this so keep an eye out for the monthly results to see who is continuing to knock those crucial seconds off.

Achievements were aplenty with Bill Britton completing his first marathon accompanied by wife Wendy, and Andy Mutter completing an impressive sub-10 hour Café 50. Mary Godding also took on a July half marathon challenge, and achieved not only a half marathon PR but scooped up a 10 mile and 10k PR on the way.

Encouraged by other members, yet more RIOTers achieved a century on the bike; well done to Bella Lowis, Steve Stone, Delia Carr and Helen Timms.

Onto August which saw the return of Rachel’s coastal trail runs, kick started by the infamous Pasty Run from the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers (although rumour has it, the summer edition was pasty-less!).  This was followed with further runs around Lulworth and West Bexington.

With events starting to take place again in various forms, Eleanor Rollett earnt herself third place at the tough Ooser trail half marathon.

September saw our brand new challenge, Tour de RIOT, draw to a close.  Taking place across 10 days, the challenge saw 37 runners compete across 10 stages in a battle to win the coveted yellow jersey.  After a tight contest, it was Team 2 who were victorious consisting of Rich Archer, Chris Monteith, Rob Davison, Zoe Rolfe, Keith Horn and Liz Elliott.  Additional accolades came in the form of Queen of the Mountain Anne Saunders, Best Newcomer Em Chutter and Best Sprinter David Howell.

The white jersey wasn’t Em Chutter’s only achievement though; the challenge also spurred her on to complete her first half marathon after her impressive weight loss, well done Em!

This month also saw runners hitting running milestones with Gemma Shone completing her first half marathon and Tracy Watts her first 10km, Graham Smith complete his 100 miles on the bike via a loop of the Isle of Wight and members head to Portland for the virtual Dumble Bimble, a popular community charity run.

A special mention to Claire Carlin, who after having her first marathon event cancelled due to Covid, ending up completing two marathons on back-to-back weekends.  Well done Claire on such an impressive feat.

Congratulations are also owed to the following members who took part in the New Forest Sportives: Reni McPhail, Simon Phillips, Clare Bushnell, Rob Kirkpatrick, Claire Brown and Jane Heaton.

Despite there still being a quarter of the year left, several members have now hit the incredible milestone of 1000 running miles so far this year.  Well done to Mark Brown, Claire Carlin, Mark Stockman, Malcolm Curtis, Rachel Jones, Anne Saunders and Simon Hill.

Well done everyone!

Keep an eye out for next month’s blog featuring Adventure Race 3, our new #RunandTalk initiative and many more member achievements.

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• AGM Minutes
• Accounts Summary
• Chairperson Opening Address
• Review of the Year – Club Secretary
• Membership Report – Membership Secretary
• Financial Statement – Treasurer
• Future Plans – Chairperson

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RIOT-ing our way through June

Hot on the heels of the RIOT Chaingang Challenge which resulted in Paul Danbury donning our infamous tooth costume on a run around Dorchester, the beginning of the month saw the completion of the first ever “RIOT Roulette” challenge.  Across two weeks, eight teams used a combination of skill and sheer luck to avoid elimination from the challenge masters Jo McDougal and Paul Danbury.  Well done to Team Six (Sam Mercer, Keith Horn, Paul Gardner, Emily Wiltshire and Rich Archer) for surviving each cull and being crowned the RIOT Roulette winners!  Special mentions go to Rich Archer for completing his longest run of 15 miles during the challenge, and also Andy Mutter who, in the lead up to the challenge, ran an impressive 100 miles in just one week for the Centurion Challenge, finishing with a marathon consisting not only of 24 x 1.1 mile loops but a tense scrabble battle at the end of each loop.

21st June 2020, the longest day of the year, saw the return of one of the club’s favourite events; Race the Sun where we ran in 30 minute slots as a relay from sunrise to sunset, though the sun appeared to be hiding for much of this years event! The RIOT Man and Woman of Steel, Malcolm Curtis and Shelley Carter, kick started the challenge with a sunrise run at Ringstead at 4:43am.  This was our biggest Race the Sun challenge yet and throughout the day 94 runners completed an impressive collective total of 270.18 miles!  The question is; can we beat it next year? 

As if the Race the Sun challenge wasn’t enough, the summer solstice also saw a number of RIOTers taking part in the grueling Phoenix 24 challenge, running at least one mile on the hour, every hour, for 24 hours!  Not just physically tough this challenge required great mental strength to keep going during the night (and in the rain!) so a huge well done to everyone who took part, we hope you take pride in your weighty medal.

June brought with it the long-awaited return of our Thursday night club runs. In line with current government guidelines these were limited to groups of 6, but that certainly didn’t limit the enthusiasm of our members. Thanks to plenty of generous run leaders offering a great variety of routes, we were able to offer even more runs from the second week onwards, and members have enjoyed routes covering road and trail around Dorchester and further afield. The feedback from these smaller groups has been really positive, largely due to their ability to allow different members to cross paths and really focus on the social side of running and we will be considering whether these could play a role in future club runs, in addition we will now be complementing the Thursday runs with Tuesday hill and speed sessions! It’s not just group running which has started, we have also seen RIOTers going out on bikes, with two groups of six heading out to Moreton on a beginners cycle – led and tailed by more experienced members of the Club. 

Special Mentions

There has been a large number of achievements this month, which is especially remarkable considering the impact the coronavirus crisis has had on many.

Special mentions this month go to:

• Claire Ridge who despite only graduating from Couch to 5k in November has since gone on to complete her first half marathon, in a fantastic time too!
• Malcom Curtis has lived up to his Man of Steel status by running an incredible half marathon during which he achieved an impressive 7 distance PRs and 17 segment PRs in just one run!
• Jennifer Mustoe who completed her first 10k despite only starting running at the end of March.
• Brian Fields, Alex Door and Matt Ings who smashed the Café 50 ultra-run in a record-breaking time.
• Bill Britton and Claire Carlin for completing their longest run to date of 20 miles during their marathon training.

June hasn’t just seen running achievements, lots of RIOT have been out and completing some impressive distances on two wheels. Despite the Tour of Cambridge cycling event being cancelled, well done to the following members who still got out and completed 100 miles in the saddle: Christina Guppy, Delia Carr, Paul Pomeroy, Nicholas Guppy, Kirsty Eveleigh (who all achieved their first century), Matt Ings, Paula Fry and Martin Smith. Well done also to Dee Brooks who completed the mental challenge of 100 miles over 24 hours on the turbo trainer. There have also been lots of RIOT taking to the sea, nice swimming and running by all those competing in the aquathlon series and congratulations to Bella Lowis for completing her first virtual triathlon.

We look forward to seeing more of your achievements through July, please don’t forget to share them with us on the Facebook Group and Strava.

The club held a successful virtual AGM on 2nd July and more communications on this will follow soon. 

Written by Christina Guppy and formatted by Rachel Jones 

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February kicked off with a chilly run around North Dorset, the Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, this was the second Dorset Road Race League event for the club and a good run for those building up distance with their marathon training. This race had undulations, head winds and a final killer hill (which took every last bit of energy to power up – unless you are our resident hill runner Wendy Britton).  The RIOT team had a great event with many getting half marathon PBs, including Kirsty Eveleigh, Rob Kirkpatrick, Chloe Morley and Alanna Wrixon, we also want to give a special mention to Dee Brooks for completing her personal challenge of 24 half marathon events in 24 months and a congratulations to Chris Peck for coming 3^rd in the Dorset County Half Marathon Championships and second claim runner Alex Door for coming first lady.

Whilst some were pounding the roads of North Dorset others took on a very different challenge at the Bustinskin Portland Coastal events, including; 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon. Congratulations to Mark Brown, who took an amazing one hour off his 2019 Portland Coastal Marathon time, congratulations also to second claim runners Andy Mutter and Mark Evans for also completing this hard run. Well done to Sam Mercer and Katherine Downton for taking on the muddy half marathon, and to all those who completed the challenging 10k; Josie Warr, Sarah Dunford, Martin Ings (with a very last minute entry), Sofia Carter and Virginie Morris – that first hill up is not to be underestimated!

Variety was the name of the rest of the month as RIOT were at lots of different events across the country.  Simon Fowler, Holly and Graham Harris and Claire and Paul Carlin were all in attendance at the Upton Country Park Winter Warmer 5k and 10k (congratulations to Paul for his 10k PB). Paul Carlin then went on to complete a much muddier challenge later in the month at the Avon Tyrrel 10k. Well done to Martyn and Julie Oliver, who, upon hearing about the cancellation of Bournemouth 10, completed their 10-mile virtual run in some stormy conditions along Weymouth seafront lining them up for the next Imperial Series event, the Larmer 10.

Not all RIOT stayed local, they were off around the country at a range of events (giving me lots of races to add to my 2021 “race wish-list”). Martin Mustoe (a rare race in the UK) headed ‘up north’ to Blackpool, for the Great North West Half Marathon.  Christopher Peck achieved a sub 75 minute half marathon at Wokingham Half Marathon.  Bella Lowis and Matt Ings got in some Grizzly practice wading through bogs at the Terminator, but for Bella, one muddy race wasn’t enough as she then followed this with the Cousin Jack Classic V, an 18 mile run from Cape Cornwall to St Ives.   Wanting to add to his medal collection following the 10k event last year, Scott Civil traveled to Dartmoor for the technical run up and down the moors at the Hameldown Hammer Half Marathon. Congratulations to Chris Monteith for his 4^th place in the Woodbury Common Wild Night run. Lastly, keen not to waste the opportunity to race on the 29^th February, Rosie finished the second event in her twelve month challenge (and smashed some PRs whilst at it) by finishing a mentally and physically tough 10 x 1 mile loop race at the Lee Valley Velo Park 10 miles. Finally, as I write this we are all thinking of Matthew Stear who will be in the midst of his 50 mile ultra, the Chester Ultra 50 mile, we look forward to reporting on this monumental achievement in next months blog.

In other news…

This month consisted of our first club challenge of 2020, the completion, in teams of six of the 400 miles from Munich to Budapest which included running, cycling and swimming. This culminated in a tense race between Team 1 and Team 6 who were aiming not to be the last team to arrive. Thank you to all who took part and supported the challenge, and congratulations to Team 3: Mark Allwood, Rob Scott (III), Katie Smith, Mark White and Darren Grummit who arrived to Budapest with a final blustery run with full team support up to Hardy Monument. So far we’ve traveled 1342 miles from Dorchester to Paris, Paris to Munich then Munich to Budapest… time will only tell where we will end up next year!

It was not really a month for parkrun PBs when the local parkrun is along an exposed seafront, but well done to James Scott, Mark White, Scott Civil and Toby Alford who all achieved Weymouth parkrun PBs this month.

RIOT Tourists of the Month: This was very much a tale of contrast with Mary Godding running in the chilly French Alps and Clive Scammel in the heat of Jordan.

Thank you for reading, if you’ve any achievements you’d like to point out for next month that we’ve missed just get in touch. We are looking forward to a busy month packed with races and with our awards event on Friday 13^th March – we hope you’ve booked your tickets and voted for your Man and Woman of Steel.

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