CHARD Road Runners duo Nina Wagstaff and Helen Baxter headed to the coast for the first running of the Jurassic Coast marathon on Saturday.

The 26.2 mile-route takes the runners from Osmington to Burton Bradstock along the South West Coast path.

The main challenge is the headwind, but luckily the forecast rain held off giving runners amazing views all around as they progressed along this coastal route.

Wagstaff set off at a blistering pace in the knowledge that the weather was going to be getting worse as the day went on and set herself a target of finishing within five hours.

With the early hills out the way, Wagstaff was pacing well on target whilst Baxter had taken the view of running with friends with a more leisurely run as the race progressed to the final mile and passing the now famous love-station (Check-point) the route took on a new challenge.

With a long section of shingle beach to cope with, Wagstaff headed off the shingle first for CRR's and was soon heading into the finish crossing the line in 4h 55m 29s (34/221, second in age cat).

Baxter kept to task, still fighting the headwinds that had really started to pick up, and crossed the line in 6h 30m 42s (166/221).

Sunday saw the 33rd running of the Taunton 10k and running for CRR's were Elizabeth Cox, Nicky Smith, Liam Whyte and Helen Baxter, all wanting to pick up extra points in the CRR's Club Championship contest.

Whyte set off at great pace and set a new personal best of 40m 50s.

Cox set off well but was caught at the 5k mark by Baxter who, despite having tired legs, had the advantage of having run the course before and knowing what was ahead.

The two women remained close throughout the run with Helen finishing in 57m 47s and Elizabeth in 59m 8s.

Nicky Smith continued with a great even pace, finishing in 1h 9m 47s.

Fiona, Stuart and Rod McLean headed to Snowdonia where Fiona took part in the Snowdon Trail Half Marathon Challenge with Stuart and Rod taking on the Snowdon Trail Challenge Ultra Marathon.

Heading out from the Llanberis out onto the mountain trails, Stuart and Rod were happy that the forecast rain had not appeared but were faced with the heavy winds which became challenging as both runners started to gain elevation onto the peaks and ridges of the Snowdon massive.

With over 11,800 feet of elevation gain over this 32-mile route Stuart and Rod were finding the going tough, and having reached the halfway stage of the route the next high point facing the brothers was taking to the Rhyd Ddu Path up and onto the Snowdon Peak.

The brothers could hardly stand, yet alone run, in the strong winds yet they now had the Llanberis Path to follow down off the peak and heading back towards the finish line with Stuart and Rod crossing together in a time of 8h 47m:58s and 19th and 20th places.

It was a 9.30am start for Fiona, who headed out of Llanberis along the trails and low level fields before taking on the challenging ascent of the Llanberis Path.

Fiona was making great progress through the pack and, as she reached the Snowdon Peak turning point, she was seventh female.

The winds now peaking at 50mph and, with sideways rain all taking its toll on the downward ascent along the Snowdon Path, Fiona was still able to make good progress through the field of runners and crossed the line in 3h:36m 00s and fourth placed female.

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MINSTER Milers' Keiron Chapman ran Maldon Half Marathon on Sunday morning.

The route started off fairly flat and got hillier later on.

Keiron maintained his pace all the way around and crossed the line in a fantastic time of 01:55:18.

Eight Milers took part in Taunton 10K, along with 700 other runners.

They started outside Blackbrook Pavilion for a one-lap circular course that went through Holway, Stoke St Mary, Haydon, and then finished back at the Pavilion.

There were some awesome times and great sprint finishes from the Milers!

Results: Debbie Leake: 01:04:31; Jane Adams: 01:10:27; Louise Mackley: 0058:29; Aaron Prouse: 00:55:35; Julian Wilkes: 00:39:46; Jason Hockey: 00:44:58; Adam Berry: 01:03:16; Andy Willis: 00:55:48

On Saturday, Ed Clements took part in the challenging Jurassic Coast Marathon.

The race started at Osmington Mills then commenced along the coast path.

Ed took in the sights of Weymouth Bay, ran along Chesil beach, Abbotsbury and Burton Bradstock.

Along with the Dorset Coastline, Ed had to navigate through mud, stiles, over cliff tops and more.

Ed battled with a strong headwind for the whole 26.2 miles, but finished in a splendid time of 03:56 and fifth overall.