Parkrun Returns

SRC Welcome Return Of Park Runs

The green shirts of Sidmouth Running Club were spotted among the hundreds of runners who lined up at 9am on Saturday throughout England to mark the return of Park Runs since March last year. Everyone was mindful of the Covid guidelines and very appreciative of the volunteers who made the return possible.

Gripper at Exmouth

Adrian ‘Gripper’ Horne was close to his PB on the Exmouth course and was pleased to be back running along the seafront. It was the reverse route at Killerton which meant more incline but this did not affect Clive Gilbert and David Skinner’s enjoyment.

Clive at Killerton

Over at Seaton a new start position and a longer stretch of pebbles saw Julia Haddrell complete her 98th Park Run and Sarah Powell said she preferred the new set up.

Sarah and Julia at Seaton

Mighty Green, Jo Earlam headed to the coast on Friday to complete her 79th marathon-and an ultra at that! The route took the runners along the scenic coastal path between Charmouth and Weymouth for 28.8 miles. Run leader Jo said,”Number 79 will be remembered as the slow hot one!”

Jo on marathon 79

Sarah Browne ran her first half marathon at the weekend for Stroke awareness and what a run; 4th female, 9th overall in 2:26:00.

Sarah at her 1st 1/2M

Last Wednesday mum and son, Naomi and Toby Garrick entered the Exeter City Runs 10k. Naomi finished in a very respectable 54 minutes while Toby powered round and completed in the course in 34:29, a new PB knocking 25 seconds off the PB he had at the Tipton Rail and River 10K where he came in first place.

Jo Pavey and the Garricks

Toby said’ “It was at the start of the heat wave so proved tough conditions but it was an amazing experience to run alongside Jo Pavey MBE for the first 4km and then move to the next group up.” Toby is now turning his focus onto marathon training and increasing his mileage.

Park Running

Many of the Mighty Greens have been making the most of our local, and not so local, Park Runs.  With so many Devon Park Runs on our doorstep it would be rude not to participate in such a social and inclusive event.

 

Park Runs take place at 9am on Saturday Morning in the following Devon Locations and many more:

Seaton Esplanade 

Exmouth Seafront

Exeter Riverside

Haldon Forest

Parke National Trust

Killerton National Trust

You can find Park Runs across the world so please tell us if you participate in a more exotic one, just like Ann Cole did when she visited Cologne, Germany.

If Park Runs are your thing, you may be interested in reading a book by Devon author, Ian Mortimer,

Why Running Matters: Lessons in Life, Pain and Exhilaration From 5K to the Marathon

In his book Ian talks us through a whole year of running in Devon, from his home in Moretonhampstead.  He describes each run and reflects on why running is so valuable.

Park Runners

Park Run Group
 
Twelve SRC members met at Seaton on Saturday to run the club’s first group park run. A cool morning with great conditions for running. The usual warm friendly atmosphere from the Seaton volunteers and participants with 224 taking part in total. The Sidmouth contingent were lead by Chris Day-Kerry on a PB with Stuart Coles, Sally de Gruchy and Beccy Johnson on their first park runs and all doing really well. Special mention to Beccy who has just started with the beginners group and ran it in 35:19. 

David collects “U”

David Collects His “U”
David Skinner has now added a “U” to his Park run Alphabet at Upton House, Poole. With only 7 letters to go he is getting very close to achieving his target. However, the letters X and Z do not exist in the UK park run list, so perhaps a trip abroad is on the horizon? Well done David, keep it up.