RUNNING Forever Running Club member and Taunton Deane Council officer Helen Phillips is set to join a select group of British female runners when she runs the Tokyo Marathon this weekend.

Phillips will earn the prestigious Six Star Medal if she finishes the race in Japan on Sunday (March 3), awarded for completing the six Abbott World Marathon Majors – London, Boston, New York, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo.

This medal has only been awarded to a small number of British amateur women, and she will be presented with it at an AWMM ceremony at the finish line in Tokyo.

Phillips grew up in West Somerset and now lives in Wilstock, North Petherton.

She started running on her 40th birthday, completed her first marathon in New York in 2005, and became a founder member of Running Forever.

Since then, she has run a personal best of 3h 51m 41s in completing a total of 14 marathons worldwide.

In 2014 she had to take time out for surgery to deal with early stage breast cancer and her efforts have raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Phillips said: “It has been a long road to achieve this goal over 15 years with many ups and downs, literally thousands of miles of training and travelling, and I am very excited to be joining the small group of women from Britain who have achieved this.

“When I started running in 2004, I could barely get to the end of the drive. Now, here I am running with thousands of runners from around the world hoping to claim my Marathon Majors medal.”

In Tokyo, she is raising funds for Action against Child Exploitation (ACE), and will be joined by fellow Running Forever athlete Marina Tomsett, who has already completed four Marathon Majors.

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HANNAH Taunton was the fourth fastest female parkrunner in the country this week with 17 minutes 40 seconds at Exmouth Parkrun.

She was wearing her Taunton Aquathlon T-shirt which she was presented with last weekend with two trophies, having been first lady overall in the Aquathlon Long course (40 lengths swim and 10k run), plus first in her age group.

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IT was off to the Babcary 7 for a contingent of Running Forever members last weekend.

This race is organised by Wells City Harriers and forms part of the Somerset Series.

Chris Brown was first member home in 48.03 followed by Jo Carrit, whose 50.02 earned her the third female finisher overall and first in her age category.

Next home was Tom Brodie in 51.47 closely followed by Sam Wharton in 51.53.

Next over the line were Tanya Lewis (53.06) and Lisa Denson (61.26) with Ola Timpson completing in 70.57, some displaying the new club vests.

Ali Bisatt took on the Hambeldown Hammer Half which delivered 13.1 miles of ups and downs on Dartmoor.

His 1.58 finish made him second in his age category.

Goff and Cathie Welchman took on the Escot Park Resolution Run 10K course with 62-minute and 72-minute finishes respectively.

They were presented with their medals by Olympic and Commonwealth Games running legend Jo Pavey.

Helen Moffat opted for the 15K option and finished in 1.34.

Parkrun tourists ventured to Basingstoke, Killerton, Peter Pan, Burnham, Glossop, Cirencester, Heartlands and Exmouth.

Thirty took on Longrun Meadow where Karen Chapman and Mark Templeton recorded PBs.

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HYDRO Harriers Mark Foss became the first member to break the psychological 20-minute mark this year, with a fine 19.53 at Longrun Meadow, last Saturday.

Rowland Lyons recorded a reasonable 25.05.