A Weekend Of Wild Nights, Driving Rain, Hilly Challenges and Cross Country Running
Even though dubbed ‘The SW’s toughest night race’, Martin Barnard had a lot of fun on Saturday as he took part in the Wild Night Run on Dartmoor. Wearing the Mighty Green, Martin encountered rocks, bogs and strong winds as he ran from South Brent up onto the moors twice during the 10 mile route. With 525m of climb he said it was good training for the upcoming 4 Trigs and out of 63 finishers came 19th in 1:35:00. The winning time was 1:23:00 showing what a close run race it was.
Martin at the Wild Night Run
Taking on the 50km North to South crossing of Dartmoor, MG’s Bex McDonald, Mark Andow, Simon Hollyer and Adrian Harris set off from Oakhampton at 7.30am on Sunday in the rain and 60mph winds. A great test of endurance, wearing full waterproofs and a packed rucksack Bex said it was more a trek than a run. She had never experienced winds like it, driving in from the West all day and the barren saturated terrain felt relentless at times. With Adrian navigating the way they arrived in Ivybridge after dark and were incredibly happy to see their ride home.
MGs on the Dartmoor Traverse
Nine SRC members took part in the Axmouth Challenge on a very breezy Sunday morning. This friendly village event offered a 1, 3, 5 or 9 mile option and it was great to see the children proudly wearing their medals afterwards. A 2 mile uphill start isn’t ideal but didn’t stop Shaun Tipton storming off and he had a cracking run finishing 6th in the 5 mile race in 53:09. Head coach Kyle Baker took the opportunity to get some miles in for his Grizzly training and was the first MG home in the 9 mile race in 1:28:10. All the club runners enjoyed the route which took them along tarmac, tracks and muddy fields to places they had never been before. The marshals were very encouraging despite standing in some very windy spots and the refreshments at the end were amazing-soup, bacon rolls, and homemade cakes…what hills?!?
Axmouth Challenge Team
Results 5 miles Shaun Tipton 53:09, Carol Hounsell 1:00:09, Alexa Baker 1:03:32, Terry Bewes 1:04:11 9 miles Kyle Baker 1:28:10, Christine Farnham 1:32:44, Karen Farnham 1:34:35, Christy Ward 1:51:13, John Sharples 1:51:14
Vets XC group
The SW Vets Cross Country Championship was held on Sunday afternoon around the sports pitches at Sidford. Despite it being quite soft underfoot and beginning to tire towards the end, Mighty Green Antony Hall finished in 6th place overall and 2nd in his age category 40-44. In fact 5 of the 7 Sidmouth Running Club members came in the top 3 of their age categories; Arthur Vince finished 1st in 75+, Gail Goldsmith finished 2nd in 70-74 with Marion Johnson 3rd and David King 3rd in 65-69 age group.
Results Antony Hall 23:28, David King 28:38, Gail Goldsmith 38:01, Colin Flood 38:11, Marion Johnson 38:11, Tony Velterop 41:33, Arthur Vince 57:54