Author Archives: WebEd

Racing Devon

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Exeter 10k, Dalwood 10k, Dartmoor 1/2 marathon

It has been a varied week for members of SIDMOUTH Running Club. On Wednesday John Doherty led the beginners group of 2016 on a three mile off-road run on a beautiful evening culminating in the ascent of High Peak where panoramic views from the summit rewarded them for their hard work. A great achievement for this tightly knit group.

Meanwhile Justin Ashby and Tim Clay headed off to Exeter for the Run Britain Series 10k event around the river basin with its flat course perfect for a PB. This was extremely well supported with 360 finishers. Justin as usual returned an excellent time of 37:28 finishing 23rd overall and 6th in his age group. Tim was also delighted to finish in less than 50 minutes in 49:11 which earned him 3rd place in his age group. Three days later following this success Tim headed off to Dalwood Fayre to compete in their 10K event. Now this was a completely different race from that at Exeter taking place during a very hot day instead of the cool evening and over a very hilly course. This was reflected in him taking nearly 10 minutes longer, finishing in 59:11.

Looking for an even greater challenge, David Wright headed off to Dartmoor to compete in the Great Escape Half Marathon. From Princetown in the heart of the deep moor the route crosses wild moorland along the Abbots Way, traverses the rocky upper reaches of the Erme valley and follows ancient wooded trails along the River Avon to the finish in South Brent. It is a technical run and unfortunately David wore his fell running shoes thinking the going would be soft underfoot where in fact it was hard going all the way and this was reflected in his time of 2:42:00

Edinburgh Marathon 2016

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Two of our elite runners showed us what they were capable of. On Saturday May 28th Justin Ashby and Tim Mitchell accompanied by support crew Claire, Justin’s wife boarded a plane in Exeter to fly up to Edinburgh to take part in the town’s marathon on Sunday and what an incredible race they both had. Along with over 7000 other runners they set off in perfect conditions in a beautiful city cheered on by thousands of spectators. You only have to look at their split times over 10K, half marathon, and 30K to see something special was happening; Justin recorded times of 38:53, 1:22:08 and I:56:40 while Tim recorded 44:42, 1:36:22 and 2:19:00. At the tape Justin came 32nd in a time of 2:44:30 a pace of 6:16 minute miles while Tim recorded 3:18:31 a pace of 7:34 minutes miles. And the icing on the cake was that Tim knocked 4 minutes off his PB while Justin bettered his by 3 minutes. As I said an incredible feat of running.

Ottery 10k 2016 Report

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Ten members were amongst the 215 who finished the Ottery 10K which we are told by the organisers is a fairly flat run on the roads and lanes around Ottery St. Mary, although Gail Goldsmith who has just moved into the area disputes the ‘fairly flat’. She will soon get used to the Devon interpretation of flat. After all the recent off-road races this was one for the road runners in the Club. James Salter who had not run this distance for years showed us the benefit of youth with a storming run, finishing in a time quicker than the 45 minutes he told me he had set his mind on before the start. The race excellently organised by Honiton Running Club starts and finishes at the Ottery Cricket Club and they had laid on plenty of refreshment at the finish to enjoy recovering in the sunshine.

Antony Hall was the first Club runner home in 21st place in a time of 0:39:33, James Salter 0:44:38,

Gordon Bryant 0:46:50, Rob Edwards 0:47:27, Simon Hollyer 0:51:18, Graham Sheppard 0:52:19,

Terry Bewes 0:55:47, John Doherty 0:56:53, Emma Compton 0:57:13, Gail Goldsmith 1:02:09.