The Ottery 10k

The Ottery 10k race is excellently organised by Honiton Running Club which starts and finishes at the Ottery Cricket Club and is a fairly flat run on the roads and lanes around Ottery St. Mary.

Sidmouth Running Club had a very respectable 28 runners registered and amongst these were a number of members who over the last eight weeks had taken part in a 10k training course organised by Justin Ashby and assisted by Tim Mitchell aimed specifically for this race. The training course proved a great success with 4 of the members setting personal best times. Paula Farrand smashed hers by 6 minutes recording a sub 50 minutes in 49:10. Bethany Wells also had a smashing time finishing in 1:01:45 which was 7 minutes faster than her previous best; she also set her fastest mile at 8:45. Debbie Marriot showed real determination which paid off as she reduced her time by 3:12 to 52:20. Tim Clay’s new PB is 47:51. This was 1:20 quicker and he was third in his age group which pleased him even more.

Runners coming around the final bend…..

In her first run over this distance Helen Neighbour had obviously learned a lot from the course as she paced it perfectly keeping to a 10:5 minute mile pace. I have no doubt if she keeps up the training runs she will soon be sub one hour.

Members times:
Justin Ashby, 4th overall 35:36,
Antony Hall 39:48,
Tim Mitchell 42:44,
Julian Bartlett 45:49,
Gordon Bryant 47:22,
Adrian Clode 47:36,
Tim Clay 47:51,
Naomi Garrick 49:03,
Paula Farrand 49:10,
Charlotte Forrer 49:17,
Bert Dykema 51:05,
Christine Farnham 51:50,
Debbie Marriott 52:20,
Karen Farnham 52:24,
Sue Collman 52:26,
Louise Saunders 52:36,
Rocker Shepard 52:51,
David Millen 54:41,
Simon Hollyer 55:08,
John Doherty 56:19,
Michael Lee 56:47,
Jo Earlam 58:14,
Emma Salter 58:42,
Danny Painter 1:01:44,
Bethany Wells 1:01:45,
Helen Neighbour 1:02:53,
Terry Bewes 1:02:54, and finally running her first race for the club was Sarah Walker 1:06:57 who ran with her friend Kirsten Hayball (Honiton RC).

Runners coming in the final straight….

With the racing over it was now time to enjoy the plentiful refreshments laid on by Honiton and Mighty Green shirts could be seen propping up the bar, scoffing cakes, drinking tea and coffee or the serious runners like me laid out on the grass taking in the rays, eating our bananas and rehydrating with water.

And finally, to quote Paula. “A big thankyou to Justin and Tim for the 10k training. I learnt a lot. I had never heard of cadence, and got faster. Thanks also to all the other folk who make the running club, such a sociable and friendly one, even sprinting up and down every steep hill in Fortescue is tolerable when you do it with nice people.” So if you want to progress your running or just relax and enjoy it we are the club for you.