LAST weekend was a busy time for local running club, Bere Alston Trekkers (Bats) with members taking part in six events.

The first was the Rock Solid which is possibly the muddiest obstacle course race in the UK, and with water obstacles to contend with, the punishing Escot terrain is set to remain in competitors' minds forever — in a good way. 

Taking part were husband and wife Laura and Nathan who ran together over the 10k, where there were over 35 obstacles from 8ft walls to skips full of ice.  The two strong Bats battled on through the course to finish in a great time of 1.46.18, with Laura finishing 9th female overall.

Next was the Marató de Borriol which is a mountain marathon in Spain and takes place in the town of Borriol, which lies in a valley between two mountains in the province of Castellón, in the community of Valencia.  This event is 80% trail, 15% forest and 5% road with an accumulated altitude change of 5100 metres.

Undeterred by the relentless rain Sarah Burns ran a truly epic event and finished third lady overall. 

There were two 'away' half marathons.  One was Reading Half Marathon where Ben Neale brought all his training into play to run a personal best of 1 hour 16 minutes 41 seconds.  The other was the Warwick Half Marathon where the club's newest member, Andrew Bowden, was running his third half marathon of month and ran a new personal best of 1.36.38 over a course.

Perhaps the hardest event of the weekend was the Jurassic Coast Challenge.  Competitors run, walk or crawl a marathon a day for three days along the stunning Jurassic Coastal Path. 

Three marathons in three days is a format that is challenging but achievable by most. Runners, joggers and walkers all take on the challenge and start at different times each day.

The routes each day are marked on issued maps but don't require much navigation to follow as the coastal footpath is well marked along the way.

The event is facilitated at the HQ area which is also the finish point.  The schedule is day one —Charmouth to Portland Ferry Road; day two — Portland Ferry Road to Lulworth Cove and day three — Lulworth Cove to Shell Bay.

Taking part in this event was lone Bat Paul Mingo who is no stranger to three day events and finished the event in just under 17 hours, earning himself the full admiration of his club.

The final event of a busy weekend full of blue sky and spring sunshine was the Tavy 13 hosted by Tavistock Athletics.  22 Bats flew around the brand new course which was littered with fellow Bats shouting and waving their support. 

First Bat home was Nathan Newton, who was literally chased across the line by Steve Hill and Steve Watson and along with Matt Head were the third men's team.  First lady home for the Bats was Rachael Malthouse.  Christine Le Flem won first lady in her age group and Ralph Elmes won second in his.