Back to Lyme
Released On 5th Jul 2025
Otter Rail & River 10k Trail Race
From Jo: Today saw the next Yeovil Town RRC championship race - Otter Rail & River 10k trail race. Some of us (the daft ones which doesn’t really limit it down I know!!) did Greendale Farm Shop parkrun before as it was only 15mins up the road & the race didn’t start till 11am!! Compared to previous championship races there were a distinct lack of men from the club today , however the three that did turn up smashed it. Luke Betteridge was not only 1st club member over the line, but he bagged himself 3rd place over all . Gareth Davies was happier to have his chocolate birthday cake than a slate coaster for finishing in the top three!! He was our second club member to finish although I did hear that if Paul Gilbie had better stealth skills, he may have gone past Gareth .
Linda Membury was on fire for the ladies smashing a fantastic race & bagging herself points - awesome . Closely followed by Rach Pep & Harriet Munday. Helen Nesbitt kindly kept me company & entertained me with her commando roll into the hedge!! For me, what can I say, it’s trail & I hate trail . Lesley Nesbitt, Louise Ward & Rachael Jones were chasing us into the finish & all did our club proud. At the end a couple of us (Helen & Lesley) had fomo & made a last minute purchase of the lovely slate medals & I have to say thanks to those who don’t drink beer & kindly passed their bottles onto me !! Great running all.
Quantock beast!
From Chris: Certainly lived up to its name. Kayleigh Philps and I took on the challenge in the Quantocks. A beautiful scenic course full of hills, woods, hills, fields, hills, roads and did I mention hills?
We gathered at the national trust house, then a short walk to the start line. Air horn sounding we left grounds down the road to meet the first field and woods. This led us to our first hill, nice long downhill gravel track. You could see for miles around. Sun beating down with a light breeze made great conditions. Through more fields at the bottom, with an extremely steep hill. Some runners opting for the "bottom slide" down. Through some woods, which by this point was mush needed as the light breeze had disappeared. Along the route more hills. This time alot of "ups" as appose the downs. Some short steep, some just a simple hill. Then it came. The first hill we ran down. I took a drink, and went for it. Head down foot in front foot and kept going. Passing quite alot of walkers. I looked up to see how much further. Yeah, only a ¼ way up. Gulp! This hill makes balls lane look like a speed bump! Half way up, another drink station. Plenty of runners taking on fluids, grab and go for me. Still pushing, I manged a good ¾ of the way before I had met my match. Walked to the top, and was pleased to feel the breeze in hair once more. A long straight lay ahead through the fields, then back into the tight and twisty woods. Again the shade providing a welcome break from the sun. Just a couple hundred meters to go, the energy I had left, I made a final surge up the hill toward the finish line, sprinting passed a dozen runners or so. Crossed the finish line with lots of cheers.
A phenomenal race, with fantastic marshalls, and support around the course.
Kayleigh finishing ahead and looking like she could run it again, myself looking like I got dragged through a hedge backwards!
Brilliant experience, recommend this 100% if you like a challenge.
Ham to Lyme
From Ann: Well that was a race and a half struggled with my ankle but the weather was better than predicted and met some amazing people along the way loved the down hills and the amazing fields not so much the hills and the aid stations and people on them were amazing. Managed to take of 45 minutes from last year . I won't mention Matthew Bambury saying i was warm because I had more body fat at all . My son who goes to fiveways one of his teachers was running it to raise funds for fiveways she done amazing.
From Lindsay: Today was the ham to Lyme ultra (32 miler). Another warm, hilly and long course lol.. No 7 th marathon this year and No 17 in total. Even smashed my ultra pb by 40 mins i hope (waiting for official results). Perfect weather for it today, tad warm but overcast with a little bit of drizzle at times. Not much spectator support out there unfortunately but the aid stations made up for it. Great running from the club with lots of pbs today and great running with @rabbitspawsw and @runningmatt0 for a bit lol. #lambertscastle can do one, horrible hill, and saw stars for a bit, luckily I didn't pass out or trip over on this course. There was a few potential times but I saved myself. Lovely catch up in the pub with club members after. #greatdayout I'd say x
From Matt: Yet another Ham to Lyme Report: Promises of rain, promises of running together, promises of pain; only one of these was realised on a journey of discovery.
A slip on Ham Hill less than a mile in, saw me sat on me arse! Steady on the flat, bit quicker on the downhills, and a bit of a speed-walk when on the hills. Pacing at 9:30 was never going to last. Lindsay Saunders was on a mission. Tim Willis did a mile or so extra, I understand he had other problems too, but was looking good when us two old fellows met up.
Lines of runners gradually split up into smaller and smaller groups, or even individuals as we spread out across the route. Stephen Warren mentioned his small cock, sorry, small clot once or twice before struggling with dehydration/cramp/low salt but recovered later.
Meanwhile the miles were beeping by until 22 miles when even the watch had had enough! Fields, tracks, paths, gullies and roads, all with wonderful Dorset views...but so many stiles! Struggling now.
I can see the sea!
At last, that stupid hill up to the A35...but it's downhill from there! Unless you go slightly wrong, in which case its down into the valley and then back out again just for the hell of it! Bit annoyed about that bit!
Finally into Lyme...just time to stroke the ginger cat...then down to the finish and touch the wall! Done!
From Andy: Very happy to have completed the Ham to Lyme 50k today, even if the finish was a bit chaotic (!) and in doing so I've raised over £1300 for the Alzheimers Society - result so many friends, family and work colleagues have been so very generous with donations and/or kind messages or words of support. Everyone in YTRRC has been so very supportive on 'my first ultra' journey this year, cranking up the miles since January, simply the best running club! Just for Lesley,and to truly nail down 'the hat', I even carried my Yeovil shirt all the way in my pack!
Weekend Running
From Tina: Two inbetweeners today, Amanda and myself. We jeffed 8 miles around the edge of town. Coffee and delicious cake from Karen after, a very enjoyable morning.
From Helen: Sunday Club Run complete - Rob’s hilly trails route!
From Ali: Thank you Rachel Moores for leading my group this morning out to the old butterfly farm and back on such a lovely Sunday morning. Well done all and thank you Karen for the yummy blueberry and lemon cake.
Park Runs
From Claire: Eden Project Parkrun for us today. Great super friendly undulating run around the biomes.
From Jo: Well there it is, the second race of the day done. Otter Rail & River 10k trail race. Greendale Farm Shop parkrun was much better than last time we did it & being 10 minutes quicker than last time shows there was no mud today . This is the third time I have done the Otter Rail & River run & my quickest time yet. I still don’t like it though . Both of today’s runs were trail - I don’t like trail . The only good thing about today’s runs was I bagged several bottles of Otter Beer as some don’t like it. The medal was nice. But even better, pizza , milkshake & ice cream on the way home made for a good day. Now to settle down & watch the Football.
PUB RUN – HARDINGTON MANDEVILLE – (3rd JULY 2025)
From Mark: With an injury to my right foot, I just did a short hike tonight, and JC joined me. Otherwise, there was quite a good turn out for this pub run.
We walked a clockwise loop, firstly climbing the hill past Lyatts. At the top of the hill, we turned right, and continued westward past the top of Hardington, and out to Hill Cross. Turning right, and right again, the lane took us past the church. Continuing, we arrived back at the pub.
It was a pleasant warm summer evening for a walk, and the pub food afterwards was good. Thanks Phil for organising.
From Ann: Hardington Mandeville or Sunnys as it used to be called was Tonight's pub run and what a run it was there was 11 of us tonight a really good turn out . I do believe we had Mark Larcombe and jc together and Rachael Jones and Louise Ward running together . Phil Mac Quaid i do believe done his own run and 6 of us in the slitley faster group. Well were do i start bull in a field beware to start with a lovely crawl under electric fence and a path we all told Bungy to stick in the most polite way as stingers and brambles were to much guess the pic that was.
This is a Footpath
And that was the story of our trail adventure to see how many electric fences and stiles we could hop, with crop fields up and down as far as the eye could see. To break it up we had a bit of road and a lovely little hill before the down ward road back to the pub. What a beautiful evening it was and what an adventure never dull with Bungy leading and definitely wouldn't have it any other way. We had a lovely meal at the end . If you haven't tried a pub run I would definitely say give it a go as its a great social event.
