Mighty Greens festive and Extremely Jolly

Sidmouth Running Club Is Feeling Festive and Extremely Jolly

The SRC Juniors and coaches kick started the festivities by wearing Christmassy things on their last session before the Christmas break. They even had a visit from Father Christmas and his Elf who congratulated the 8+ and 11+ groups, handed out their end of term certificates and gave them all a present.

Juniors Christmassy

Next up was the Extremely Jolly Race on Saturday and the Escot half and full marathon on Sunday. These races through the woods and grounds of Escot are organised by Jolly Running and encourage festive fancy dress. The events are always popular because as well as river crossings there is an optional water slide and amazing finishers snow globe medals, buffs and for the Sunday racers a Georgie’s Pudding.

Extremely Jolly Group

The 7.5 mile Extremely Jolly run was the most popular with 14 club runners entering; this was in part due to the Club’s Christmas do being held that night and the thought of running the next day was too much for some. Head coach Kyle Baker, though lacking in the fancy dress department, led the way and finished in 18th place in 1:11:14. Adrian Horne, Ollie Goodchild-Horne and Allan Kay were next over the line with soggy bottoms from the water slide with Helen Akay and Leeann Thomson not far behind with soggy, muddy bottoms and Judith Jeeves with a dry one!

By the time Beccy Johnson, Tracy Scannell, Alexa Baker, Jenny and Nikita Kay reached the slide there was a long queue and watching from the bottom saw fellow runners hurtle down past the end of the plastic sheet into stony mud, some going head over heels. This put them off and they decided they wanted to enjoy the Christmas party in one piece so continued running up the hill. It did not deter Ann Cole even though her run buddy Julia Haddrell had taken a fall in the woods earlier and she loved every second of it. There was a lot of festive banter between the runners and Jenny was serenaded more than once to ‘O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree’!

Extremely Jolly Half and Full Marathoners

Post party, Sarah Watkins and Paul Williamson lined up with Tom Knight to compete in the half marathon while Jo Earlam and Jane Hemsworth took on the marathon.

Tom Knight at the Extremely Jolly 1/2M

The ground was a lot muddier underfoot from the previous day but this did not stop Tom, wearing a very fetching tutu and Christmas leggings combo, storm round in 1:37:43 coming 3rd overall. Sarah Watkins (the Elf) crossed the line in 2:54:59 and Paul, who found it tough going with a foot injury, finished in 3:36:41. Meanwhile Jo and Jane were enjoying the scenery and friendly marshals as they kept on running completing the marathon, Jo’s 10th this year, in 6:38:12, finishing 39th and 40th out of a field of 46. They can eat a few guilt free mince pies now!

 

 

Cranbrook Junior Parkrun

Road Trip For Sidmouth Running Club Juniors

On Sunday a group of Sidmouth Running Club Juniors wore their Mighty Green tops with pride as they took part in the Cranbrook Junior Parkrun.

Juniors at Cranbrook

The Parkrun is a free, fun friendly event which takes place every week at the Country Park for 4-14 year olds and the SRC Juniors thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the 2km out and back route.

Juniors

Can YOU Help Successful Sidmouth Running Club Juniors Grow?

The SRC Juniors have been running since 2018 and is going from strength to strength.  They have a strong group of run leaders, led by England Athletics qualified juniors coach Kerry Boyle.  Children from across the local area are coming to the club and as they welcome more children in they are also looking for more willing volunteers. 

8 – 11+ Juniors

Wednesday evening saw the end of term session for the 8+, 11+ and 12+ Junior groups. The 11+ group in particular enjoyed their run with a view and chocolate! Run leader Adrian Horne who helps with the group said, “Well done to assistant coach Claire Ashby who plans the sessions. Her group are really coming on and managed nearly 3 miles on Wednesday!”

!2+ Juniors

Run leader Charlotte Forrer said, “All the age groups have had a brilliant term learning the fundamentals of athletics. From 8 years England Athletics recommends that children develop all their skills in running, jumping and throwing which is why we keep our sessions varied and multi-skilled.  This helps the Sidmouth Juniors to stay healthy as they are growing and developing. We are indebted to our team of assistants, Leeann Thomson, Sharon Hunt, Catherine Hilton, Tim Daffron and Adrian.” 

The feedback from the children has been very positive and encouraging. In the 8+ group, Iz said “I love running club as I get to make new friends and keep fit” and Zac said” I love spending time with my friends and love how kind Charlie is”. While Louis in the 11+ group said,” The best about running is the views” and Izzie T said, ”Running club has been amazing; it’s been great fun doing it”. 

The running club is hosting a training event on the 12th September for run leaders and parents that would like to be more involved.  The leaders will go through the main skills that they teach, play a few of the games and have a bit of a celebration of everything they have achieved so far. The running club is also happy to support its members to get extra qualifications through England Athletics so that they can feel even more prepared.

Reservations are now being taken for their September term. This summer they were full so make sure you get onto the waiting list by emailing sidmouthrunningclub@gmail.com

The Juniors are back

Sidmouth Running Club Juniors Are Back

SRC Junior Coach, Kerry Boyle, is looking forward to ‘running’ the next set of sessions for the Junior section of the club.

On Sunday 18th April the 11 years and above endurance group starts at St Johns School from 10-11am and on Wednesday 21st April at 5.45-6.45pm the 8-11 years and 11 years and above groups re-commence at St Johns School.

Kerry and the Juniors

There are limited spaces available so if you would like to get involved with this friendly group please email juniors@sidmouthrunningclub.co.uk for further information.

Fab 5 Conquer Devon

The Fab Five Conquer Devon.

Five Mighty Green Sidmouth Running Club juniors have completed the ‘Conquer a Devon Route’ challenge set by School Games Active Devon writes Hamish Spence.

This Devon Virtual Games Event took place between 18th May 2020 to 13th July 2020 and was hosted by Active Devon and the School Games Organisers. The event encouraged the young participants to accumulate mileage by either running, jogging or walking while also following the latest government guidance on being active during the coronavirus outbreak.

For the Primary school ages, 20 miles completed, won bronze, 30 miles covered won silver and for 40 miles endured took Gold. Four juniors, who all attend Sidmouth Primary school achieved this, 3 of which gained the coveted Gold. James Jamani aged 11y did an amazing distance of 70.13 miles. Ellie Jamani aged 8y covered massive 67.1 miles and Seth Lancaster aged 10y managed an impressive 56.68 miles. Flynn Lancaster aged 8y took a silver for his magnificent 33.91 miles.

In the Secondary school age group it was quite rightly tougher and 40 miles was needed for bronze, 60 miles for silver and 80 miles for Gold. Not deterred or daunted by the distances required, Amalie Farrand took the opportunity to escape the family house for her daily exercise. Not only did she grasp at this chance, she opted for an attempt on gold. Amalie completed the challenge by doing a daily run from home navigating through our beautiful countryside. Her mileage was also supported by a longer walk at the weekend with her dogs. She covered 80 miles in just four weeks and succeeded in her quest for gold.

Otterton Reindeer Run 2019

The Otterton Reindeer Run

 

A fantastic turnout for this years Otterton Reindeer Run with 25 SRC members in attendance writes Hamish Spence.

   Festive spirits were in full flow in Otterton on Saturday the 7th of December and just to be clear in the form of attire not drink. Some competitors were dressed in fancy dress including a Gingerbread man, Reindeer or wearing Santa hats or deer antlers. The weather was kind to the runners on the day giving them a mild and dry day with no wind. The ground was not too wet, so not much slipping around going on under foot either, making it possible for some great time keeping.
   First Mighty Green to cross the line was Alex Munro in 15th over all in 49m08s, John Keast 53:57, Kyle Baker 54:20 Ellen Keast 54:26 and Catherine Hilton 56:37. Christine and Karen Farnham as usual headed off together with Christine pulling away leaving Karen behind. This lasted until halfway around when Karen caught her sister back up and then overtook. Karen stayed ahead for the rest of the run and crossed the line just one second in-front, 1h02m05s. Then came Sarah Clapham in1:03:01 with David wright at 1:04:55 and Cathy Keast 1:06:37. Derek Blackburn 1:08:09, Susan Reeves 1:09:12, Jon Bull 1:11:16, Nikita Kay 1:12:37. Bert Dykema took part with his sister Frederiek and they ran the whole route together in 1:13:43. Helen Palmer 1:28:09, Julia Haddrell 1:25:44, Lesley Miszewska 1:26:16. Helen Neighbour came in at 1:28:04 with Sue Cunningham following 2 seconds later. Gingerbread man Ronnie Masters took 1:28:27. Caroline Ball enjoyed the run and finished in 1:29:08 beating Alexa Baker who finished in 1:29:24. Terry Bewes found himself playing cat and mouse with Ronnie Masters aka Gingerbread man, finally being over taken for the forth time just before the end coming in at 1:30:02.

 

The Mighty Green Juniors Take Part In The Otterton Reindeer Fun Run.

 

Fifteen mighty green antlered juniors took part in the Otterton 3km Reindeer Fun Run on Saturday and all had a great time writes Kerry Boyle. 

   On a lovely clear day, and the 15 SRC juniors lined up excitedly with the adults at the back of Otterton church, the race started straight up a hill which prevented the youngsters going off too fast. There were several running club coaches and parents running with them to help them keep to a steady pace and to ensure they didn’t take the turn off for the 10k run by mistake! The route took them along tracks around the back of Otterton, with a well earned water and jelly baby stop at the half way point. Then the route followed the river Otter path back into the village of Otterton finishing down a footpath at the back of the village hall.
   First in for Sidmouth juniors was Robin Dafforn finishing in 3rd place, with Aidan Corfield 7th and Frazer Felton-Smith in 14th. Maisie Crouch was the first female for Sidmouth juniors finishing in 17th, with Seth Lancaster close behind in 18th who said ‘it was a hard race but really fun’. Arden Chipping was next in 24th place and James Jamani 27th, 8 year old William Hall had a fantastic run dressed as a reindeer finishing in 28th place with his brother Dominic ‘The Grinch’ not far behind in 30th place.  All 15 finished the race and wore their antlers with beaming faces, congratulations you have done Sidmouth running club proud!

 

 

The mighty green Junior running club Is back.

The mighty green Junior running club started back this Sunday with 14, 8-14 year olds taking part, 7 were boys and 7 were girls. This time, there were children from Tipton, Ottery St Mary as well as Sidmouth. writes Kerry Boyle. 

With the weather not so predictable this time of year, we all started in the Sidmouth College Gymnasium with a warm up, dynamic stretching and some running games looking at form, particularly their running arms.

We have been very lucky to recruit some more volunteers from the club to help take the groups so Claire Ashby (Assistant Couch) and Tim Dafforn (Leader in running fitness), took the older group out (12-14 year olds) who did a steady run followed by some endurance training. There were 8 youngsters who stayed in the gym with Kerry Boyle (Athletics Coach) and Jenny Jepperson (Leader in running fitness) they looked at learning how to jump as far as they could measuring their distance with a standing jump and seeing how many times the could do the speed bounce in 20 secs, they went on to learning how to do the pull throw which is the technique required to throw a javelin by using bean bags and howlers. Finishing off the session with a relay, warm down and stretches. Everyone had a great time.

The course runs for 5 weeks finishing on the 20th of October, but will return after half term on the 10th November. With more volunteers we have been able to increase the number of the groups so there are spaces still available for this course, please either visit the running club website: Sidmouth Running Club – Eat, Sleep, Run, Repeat  or email the coaches on juniors@