Axe Valley Multi-Terrain T-T-T Ten
This event had Doubled in length from last years 5, so 3 of us drove to Beer Head carpark to conquer the event. Chris Wills decided to make the event even harder by Cycling to my house from South Petherton, running the event in his smooth bottomed Hightec Silver Shadows and then Cycling home again and still left Myself and Dave Wilmott in his wake. This event was incredibly hard with all types of terrain from rivers, thick mud, slippery tracks, ploughed fields, woods, vertical hills and not forgetting the shingle beach. All done in a semi-blizzard. Highlight of the event was the sausage and chips laid on at the end.

Wyvern 10
This was a good flat 10 miler which is so hard to find these days. I got a P.B. here actually beating Steve Hole but I believe Mal and he did have a late night the night before. Sadly this event then turned into the multi-terrain tough ten the following year.

Red nose run
During this time I was running home from work on Fridays as was Martyn Buck Cathy Pape and Steve Wilby, so Steve being Steve decided that because it was comic relief day that we should run home with red noses. So we all set off from Lysander road in Yeovil in our Red kit with Red noses. All the car drivers were giving us strange looks or tooting there car horns but when we got to Furringdon cross some women stopped and gave Steve a £1.00.

The Life and Times of Ken Priest - by Chris Wills
Ken while in the marines was out of running club for most of the next 2 years due to being aboard ship suffering in the Caribbean/ west Indies after Florida and cold weather training in Norway and exercises in the Mediterranean. This didn't stop him from running though. While in the Med. he firstly took on the International Tunis Marathon. This must be the worst Marathon of the year since there were no marshals, no drinks and no mile markers. Well there was a bucket a plastic cup at 6 miles. He completed the event in about 3:30 but said he could have gone quicker but couldn't afford to overtake the group in front in case he got lost. Following this the ship put in at Athens so having his bike on board our intrepid hero decided to take a little ride to Marathon. This seemed a good idea at the time, but how wrong could he be. Firstly he had to ride for hours across Athens but finally he reached his goal, but all there was was a village sign. The trip took 7 and a half hours and all he had to eat was an apple that a peasant women gave him. Finally he took part in the traditional rock run when the ship docked at Gibraltar.

April
The Reading half Marathon was tackled by Steve Hole, Mal Higgins and Roy Smart. Roy had a P.B. Dave Wilmott runs his first Marathon at Taunton in 3 h 36 mins which was a brilliant effort. I remember I tried to pace him for the first half but had trouble keeping up with him and was convinced that he would blow up but I was wrong.
Richard Charlton took over as training run organiser. This got off to a flying start with Kath Nicols and Val Curnock getting lost on a 3 mile run at Broadshard. He also planned an easy 8.75 mile run the week before London but got lost himself. This turned out to be a hilly 10 for which he came in for a lot of stick.

London
Several people from Crewkerne took part and were ably supported by 'rent a crowd ' alias Bob and the Wills clan. Pat Tanswell threw up in the Thames after smelling the beefburger that I was eating.

May
Steve Hole came 8th overall and first veteran in the Bridport 12. At the Exeter half Richard Charlton was relegated to baby sitter when Rose took part and finished in just over 2 hours. On May 21st Steve Wilby and Chris took part in the Bath Triathlon which was and is a truly International affair. Steve was lucky to get to the start as he went over the handle bars the previous week after a lorry got too close to him. And half of Sherland Gardens were awoken when his front tyre exploded in the middle of the night.
On the same day Tony Gordon completed the Poole Marathon on what was the hottest days of the summer in about 4 hours ably supported by Pete Chatfield and his friend Doug Farr
Dave Wilmott completes the Burnham Triathlon in 1 h 16 mins.

June
Potteries Marathon
Steve Wilby, Martyn and Kaye Buck take part in the Potteries Marathon. The times of 3 h 43 and 4 h 15 were good considering the hot and humid condition. I have since done this event and it has crowd support like London but is also quite hill .

On the same day Pete Chatfield and his wife Yvonne took part with 30,000 other cyclists in the London to Brighton bike ride.

August
Not many events during this hot month but Roy picked up 1st super vet prize at Langport.
Haselbury 10km This event should be entered in the Guinness book of records for the longest 10km in the world. The start was at 7:30 PM on 30 August and finished at 8:30 on 6 September. This event organised by highly experienced race Director Derek Boles went drastically wrong when a crucial Marshall didn't turn up and all the leading runners headed off down the Waterloo line . I think Roy was probably one of the first runners back with the speed merchants returning after well over an hour.

After ageing a few more years Derek apologised and invited everyone for a re-run the following week. The second attempt was a great success. Every subsequent year the event is run somebody makes the odd comical comment to Derek.

September
The day of the Seaton half was sunny but not particularly warms. So after the event each runner was given 25 per cent off Fish and chips. While tucking into the chips the club members present witnessed Roy Smart cripple down the beach and go for a swim. He came back as blue as the sky.

October
Ilchester 8
Chris Wills comes first Crewkerne runner home overtaking Tim Cook in the last mile. Anne Wills, Rose Charlton and Sue Kingston all finished strong.

Snowdon
This year conditions cold and windy with rain at the end. Steve Hole clocks 3 hrs 16 mins with Tony Gordon, Kaye and Martyn Buck, George Rawlings, Steve Wilby and Roy Smart. Roy only decided to take part the previous weekend. Steve had a bad back after splashing in puddles the previous week!! Steve and Tony joined Roger White (who was watching this year) in conquering the 2.25 miles of hill from the 21 miles without walking .
Richard Stenner and myself (Martin Cook) supported by cycling around the course. Our Marathon was the day before when we attempted to cycle up the Ogwin valley during severe gales . Once at the top we had to abandon cycling to the Llanberis pass because we could hardly stand up.

November
Not content with Snowdon the previous week Tony Gordon completes in the Salisbury Plain 15. Richard Charlton does his best run ever here by clocking 1 h 50 minutes. Sue Kingston also completes this her longest ever run.

Colyton Children in Need Run
This the only true fun run left was attended by 23 Crewkerne runners (although a few were in disguise). Mark Wills was dressed as an American footballer, Paul Wills as an Emu. Nurses Christine Wills and Stephanie Wilby (alias Chris and Steve) were on hand complete with bed pans just in case anyone was took short . Chris suffered a bruised chest for two days as his bra was too tight. For his troubles they collected £41 en-route. Steves' hair was supplied by some Woman from an old people bungalow in Colyton . Crewkerne even had 2 canine entrant in the names of Sally Parsonson and Tizzy Hole. Roy ran 6 laps of course (15 miles) and won holiday accommodation in Tenerife.

During this month we were joined by Paul French who was on holiday in Crewkerne. He was an ultra runner who lived in Johannesburg South Africa at the time. Through running with the club on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays his running improved greatly. Our shorter faster runs and Seaborough hill nearly killed him at first . This of course is the same Paul French who came back twice more and now lives in Crewkerne.

Handicap
This was won by club stalwart Steve Hole who also shattered the course record set way back in 1984. A time of 27:21 to beat the old record by a minute and a half. 2nd place was picked up by Ken Priest who also shattered his P.B. for the course by almost 3 minutes. With the going firm this was remarkable since Ken likes it to be heavy so he can get covered in S.h.1.t. 3rd place was taken by Mark Wills. All 24 who took part finished within 8 minutes of each other.

For all the photos click here