Category Archives: Event

Ottery 10k

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A Mighty Green Turnout For The Ottery 10k.
   A Mighty big Green presence was felt at the Ottery 10k on a sunny and warm Sunday (12th May) morning with a whopping 37 SRC runners taking part. The route from the Ottery Cricket field took the runners along Strawberry Lane and headed through the town, up the hill passing the church and continued on past Otter Nurseries and up Gosford Road to Pattersons Cross. Here the runners turned left along the old A30 taking three first rights to end up back at Paterson Cross. Having completed the loop they then headed back down down the full length of Cadhay Lane passing The Kings School and back to the Cricket field.
   A practice run around part of the course led by Terry Bewes a few weeks earlier, had given some club members an insight of what was to come on race day. It paid off with everyone completing the route and enjoying the run. There was a great team spirit and many of the faster runners had stayed on to encourage the SRC members over the line.
SRC runner results:
   1st Sidmouth runner across the line was Toby Garrick who came in 2nd place over all in 35m04s.  Shaun Bagwell 54th in 44m01s.  Adrian Harris 74th in 46m26s.  Greg Ward 76th in 46m30s.   Colin I’Anson 81st in 47m06s.  Sam Ingram 95th in 48m59s.  Stuart Coles 101st in 50m01s with Naomi Garrick hot on his heals ,102nd in 50m05s.  Tim Clay 107th in 50m17s.  Steve Saunders 110th in 50m47s.  Sue Collman 114th in 51m15s.  Tim Swarbrick 124th in 51m54s.  Christine Farnham came in 132nd in 52m44s just beating sister Karen Farnham 133rd in 52m47s closely followed by Adrian Home, 134th in 52m48s.  Sarah Clapham 145th in 54m07s.  Paula Farrand 165th in 55m01s.  Paul Wright 171st in55m45s.  Catherine Cruise 175th in 56m10s.  Crossing the finish line together were Fiona Clarke 191st in 57m02s and Carolyn Sinclair 192nd in 57m02s.  Kerry Salter 196th in 57m22s.  Cheryl Boulton was very happy to knock 4 minutes off from her previous time to arrive 197th in 57m35s.  Susan Reeve 203rd in 57m57s.  Bert Dykema 211th in 58m20s.  Also just making it over the finish line with a sub hour time were Becky McDonald 226th in 59m50s and Laura Broughton 227th in 59m53s. Mighty Green King, Terry Bewes 228th arrived in 59m56s.  Amelia Frankpitt 261st in 1h03m46s.  Graham Sheppard 262nd in 1h03m47s.  Christie Ward 263rd in 1h03m59s.  Rachel Burrow 271st in 1h04m29s.  Natasha Morgan 291st in 1h06m20s.  Jason Chipps 307th in 1h08m48s.  Emma Grainger came in 308th position and was delighted to have run the race 6 minutes faster than last year in a time of 1h08m48s.  Well done to Julia Haddrell who took on the SRC sweeper role coming in on 1h22m49s.

Two marathons in two days

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The Devon Coast Challenge.
   Jo Earlam and Sarah Watkins did two of the three days of The Devon Coast Challenge marathons. This is a very tough competition, but rewards the runners with scenic and spectacular views along the South West Coastal Path. On Saturday 11th of May, both ladies did the Braunton Burrows to Combe Martin section, climbing a total of 4,000 feet in 7 and a half hours. Then on Sunday the 12th they were joined by new club member and first time marathon runner Paul Williamson, (Paul joined the beginners group in January this year). All three completed the Combe Martin to Porlock section together with around 6000 feet of elevation gain finishing in just over eight hours.
   The weather was perfect, the event was incredibly well organised, they all had an amazing time. Although it was physically exacting, mentally Jo felt it was energising and restoring.

 

Debbie, Don, Kate, Suzi at the Beer Blazer

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 Four Sidmouth Running Club members took on the Beer Blazer this year. Doing the new 10 mile route were Don Cawthera who took 1st Sidmouth runner, 88th over all in 1h58m35s. Deb Marriott in 92nd place in 2h02m41s and Jon Russell taking 103rd in 2h09m36s. Opting for the 5k route were Kate Marriott 10th place in 24m19s and Suzi Rockey who came in 28th position with a time of 31m39s. 

Kirsteen Welch Joint 1st at Marlborough Downs Challenge

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Kirsteen Welch and Sam Amend Take On The MDC.
   The Marlborough Down Challenge is a beautiful and challenging event which is a self-navigating, multi-terrain and mostly an off-road, along tracks or footpaths race. The full route has around 3000 feet of elevation gain and takes the runners through some of Wiltshires finest countryside, including The Wansdyke Path, Tan Hill Way, White Horse Trail, and Mid Wilts Way. There are superb views across the Vale of Pewsey, West Woods and Gopher Wood, with its amazing wild garlic. It also climbes two of the highest points in Wiltshire at Knapp Hill and at Tan Hill were the long and short courses diverge. The 33 mile route follows the Kennet and Avon Canal into Devises, climbs Roundway Hill, Morgan’s Hill, and the Cherhill Monument.
   Kirsteen Welch and Sam Amend both entered this ultramarathon on advice of their coach Norman Wilson, a GB Coach. Sam is a GB ultra runner with many years of ultra experience, Kirsteen on the other hand has just the MDC as her first ultra. Kirsteen found it very helpful to run with Sam, saying that, had she been running solo, she would have set off too quickly at the start and ‘hit the wall’ half way around. They both set off at a steady pace of 8:52 minute miles and kept it all the way through, enabling them to pass many (the remaining) competitors during the last five miles. This strategy really highlighted how important it is to pace yourself well. Both ladies crossing the finish line together in 4h45m00s taking joint 1st places. Kirsteen feels that this race has given her a massive confidence boost as she was nervous about completing the distance. She now knows that in future long distance trail races that she can push the pace and run quicker.

 

The East Devon Round Ultramarathon

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On Saturday the 4th of May, five SRC members took on a 100km Ultramarathon, the East Devon Round. This is a very tough race taking the runners through many beauty spots and two AONB’s, it has over 8,700 feet of elevation gain. The runners set off from Offwell, head through Honiton and up into the hills towards Beacon, Luppitt and Dunkerswell. Then there are a few miles of woodland paths and then some ridge running up onto East Hill giving great views across the Otter Valley. They then headed down to Sidbury, Colyton and Seaton for a Jurassic Coastline run to Lyme Regis. From Lyme it was an uphill slog to Raymonds Hill and Axminster and then a very hilly zig-zag run back to Offwell.
Jess Watkins and David Wright both completed the half ultra EDR. Jess treated this event as a training season for her next ultra and managed to be the 2nd lady across the line in 5h26m only missing first place by 12 minutes. David, however did not feel in shape to do this epic race, but decided to give it a go. He took it at his own pace by walking the hilly parts and taking full advantage of the refreshments at the check points. He also stumbled upon an ice cream van and re-kindled his love of ice-pops helping him to a cool finishing time of 9h33m. Carine Silver continued on to check point 7. Jim Forrer and Ross Walton egged each other on for the full route taking joint 14th position in 15h37m.

London Marathon 2019

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London Marathon 2019.

There were two current members and one ex member of SRC taking part in the 2019 London Marathon. Justin Ashby and Emma Cudd and (ex member) Hollie Robson.
Hollie who used to be a member of SRC, has on many occasions watched her Mum Becky run in the London Marathon. This year however, it was Hollies turn to give it a go. This was her first time and she ran a very consistent race, gaining a very respectable 4h00m26s time. Also a first London Marathon for Emma Cudd, who had a good race and kept up a steady 9.41 minute mile completing the route in 4h21m.
Justin Ashby achieved the 2h45m qualifying time from his last London marathon in 2017. This earned him a Championship place for this year. It gave him the privilege of assembling in a pen with it’s own marquee and loos with a warm-up area adjacent to the elites’ zone. So. with just a barrier separating him from Mo Farrah et al, it gave him inspiration to race hard.
A few minutes before the start time, Justin’s group were ushered forward to just a few rows back from the elite runners. With noise levels rising in anticipation, many runners started ditching their last layers of clothes and were stripping down to their vests. As the seconds counted down, Justin had a huge adrenalin surge and then he was off. A point worth noting, the last runners of the London Marathon crossed the start line up to 1 hour after the elite race starts. In Justin’s case, he was over the start line a mere 10 seconds after the elites got going!
Justin’s last three marathons have been based on the tactic of holding back on the outward half and running the 2nd half slightly quicker. This is one recommended way to do it. However, this time he thought he would push things on a bit for the first 15 miles, then try to hang on. And boy, did he hang on. He did not let up and managed to sustain a 2 minute 30 second (ish) gap behind Mo Farrah. It’s amazing how quickly the human body and mind can evolve in the course of a marathon. Justin flew through that first 15 miles feeling brilliant, but by mile 18 he knew that he was going to have to really dig deep.
Digging deep now, he did slow down, but not by much and therein lies the benefit of a lot of hard work in training and preparing mentally for this race. Never underestimate being mentally prepared! Staying positive and mentally strong are key to a good marathon. Justin has learnt a lot about this over the last 10 years, this being his 5th London Marathon. Whilst he wasn’t crawling over the finishing line, he was very pleased to get to the end.
This was Justin’s comment on his marathon tactics, “I think this year, my tactic of racing a swifter first half made it more difficult for me but, overall, it was a successful outcome as I secured a new PB and inched the club record further forward”. This is a record which he has proudly owned since London 2017. So for any other budding Mighty Green runners, you have your target if you think you are fast enough.
He also conveyed his thanks to his support team led by Claire Ashby, who helped him keep on track. It was her idea to get him training on a treadmill though the winter and it proved invaluable for tempo training and improving his cadence and form.
Justin secured an overall time of 2h40m59s with his outward half being 1h19m24s and returning half 1h21m35s. His average pace was 6:08 minute miles. At the moment Justin is not looking for reasons to go back and do this all again. However, next year he would enter the M50-54 age category and if he ran the same time again, he could become a Top 10 age-grouper.

 

Exmouth Parkrun

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Mighty Greens at Exmouth

On Saturday 16th of February, fourteen Mighty Greens took part in the Exmouth Parkrun. Not a day for great views as it was pretty misty, but the conditions were perfect for running. The course is a dead flat, single loop along the seafront and is ideal for fast times, which probably explains why it is so popular. For 10 Mighty Greens this was their first time running at Exmouth, but I suspect for most it won’t be the last. 
Mark Souter was the first Sidmouth runner back with an excellent time of 18m57s, which follows on from being the first Sidmouth runner home at the Four Trigs the weekend before. Also doing something completely different were Don Cawthera, Debbie Marriott, Karen and Christine Farnham who had also been in action in the Four Trigs, Karen and Christine doing their first parkrun in 4 years.
Jo Earlam decided to run her 2nd Parkrun with her dog Freddie, which may or there again, may not have helped her to a time faster than her previous appearance. Freddie took off on a mission, but peaked to early and Jo almost had to carry him across the line!
Don Cawthera, John Sharples and Rob Edwards have run at Exmouth before, but all ran their best times for the course. Noticeable was the Don Cawthera “friendly” competition effect which dragged Chris Day-Kelly and Rob Edwards in his wake to produce personal best times for both of them over all parkruns. Also Parkrun PB’s were set by Mark Souter, Greg Ward, Sarah Clapham and Jo Earlam.
Results: Mark Souter 18m57s, Greg Ward 22m13s, Don Cawthera 23m03s, Chris Day-Kelly 23m03s, Rob Edwards 23m08s, John Sharples 24m39s, Debbie Marriott 25m25s, Sarah Clapham 25m31s, Christine Farnham 25m50s Karen Farnham 26m06s, Jo Earlam (and Freddie) 30m04s, Christie Ward 31m53s, Jessica Daer 34m38s.

 

Canal Run

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David Wright tows The Line along the Canal

David Wright represented the Mighty Greens on Thursday the 27th of December, by taking part in the Taunton Running Club’s fun and friendly annual event, The Bridgewater To Taunton Canal Run. He parked the car up at Taunton railway station to catch the 08:36 to Bridgewater train and run back along the canal path to Taunton. This was sociable event with around 80 other brightly coloured runners getting on the train at Taunton. So with high spirits on and off the train David made the 14.5 mile run back only stopping for the hot soup halfway back. It was a great way to burn off the excesses of the season and finish the running year that was 2018.

Swimathon

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Mighty Green Swimathon

Team leader Tony Velterop, led Claire and Justin Ashby, Becky and Ian Robson, Charles Edward Keen, Bert Dykema and John Ball in the bid for the Mighty Green Team to beat the previous years total of lengths swum.
With no extensive training programme for the team members and with very little swimming done all summer, the team of eight got on with the task at hand.
They were hopeful of beating the previous running club record of just over 130 lengths in the allocated hour of swimming. They had a brief team talk at the start, primarily consisting of each of them trying to remember the number which had been allocated to each in the team – 1 to 8… Also, despite all the bravado and heroic talk of swimming in Mighty Green mankinis and bikinis, it was agreed that being realistic was much more functional, indeed more sensible and very fortunate for the spectators and all others involved!
The whole team worked very hard and the Mighty Green spirit was not quashed, despite the fact that they were all flagging somewhat by the end. The team felt it was all worth the effort especially when they learnt that they had reached 149 lengths and gained a new Running Club record. Also the MG’s had third place overall amongst the 25 teams that took part.
Back to running again this week!