Under near perfect weather conditions, 3,305 runners including a posse from Sidmouth Running Club set off from Exeter Arena to embark on the 40th anniversary Great West half marathon. It was a new route which included more of the top part of Exeter high street and less of the long stretch out towards Stoke Canon and gave more opportunities to spot fellow Mighty Greens on the loops and cheer them on.
Louise Dalton had yet another trail blazing run, following on from finishing first female in the Ottery 10k and East Devon Half Round, the Mighty Green finished 9th female out of 1,419, 2nd in her age category in 1:31:32, 1st SRC runner. A great testament of the training she is putting in for her upcoming 100 mile charity run.
Colin Ryan also had a great run; he got overtaken by Snow White carrying a bottle of beer but kept Wonder Woman behind him to finish in 1:38:08, 6th in his age category.
Special mentions go to Amanda Stokes and Becky Knapman who very recently ran in the London Marathon and both finished sub 2 hours; 1:51:53 and 1:55:07 respectively; Emily Prince wearing the Mighty Green shirt for the first time and Clare Luke and Alexa Baker who ran in red for Sidmouth Hospicecare at Home. SRC’s Katie Harris ran in the red for SHaH too in the 10k event finishing in 1:10:33.
Results: Louise Dalton 1:31:32, Colin Ryan 1:38:08, Amanda Stokes 1:51:53, Chris Parker 1:52:42, Yasmin Salter 1:53:54, Becky Knapman 1:55:07, Sarah Clapham 2:11:52, Alexa Baker 2:13:31, Clare Luke 2:39:42, Emily Prince 3:19:12
Experience The (Best Bit) Salt Path First Hand
This week sees the release of the film adaptation of Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path. The book chronicles how Raynor and Moth, Raynor’s terminally ill husband, discovered the regenerative nature of the South West Coast Path. The book is about overcoming adversity (a terminal illness) with adversity (a gruelling, self supported walk from Minehead to Poole).
Those of us who live near the coast path know the power of its beauty to lift your spirits. Twenty-one years ago, John Perratt, a founding member of Sidmouth Running Club, took it one step further by adding the adversity part: he created the Exe to Axe, a trail running race on perhaps the most beautiful 3.5% of the 630 mile path.
The Exe to Axe is a challenging, 22 mile trail run from Exmouth to Seaton along the Southwest Coast Path. Along the way, it takes in the coastal towns of Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Branscombe and Beer where Devon’s friendliest aid station volunteers provide support and refreshment to the competitors.
Next year’s race takes place on Sunday, 12 April 2026. “It seems fitting that Sidmouth Running Club is announcing the date of next year’s race on the same day as the release of The Salt Path. Everyone is talking about the Coast Path right now, so we wanted to let people know that there are many ways to experience it, and we offer one of the best ways!” says Terry Bewes, Chairman of SRC.Terry has a point. There is a lot of hype around the movie. Even The Times this week identified the stretch from Branscombe to Beer as one of the best sections of the walk. Of course, the author wasn’t thinking of looking up at Branscombe East Cliff having already run 18 gruelling (but stunning) miles!
“I love this race,” says Race Director Adrian Harris, “To be honest, I’d rather be running it than organising it, but I want everyone to have the chance to experience it, so someone has to organise it.”
If you’ve run it before, you will notice a few changes over the last two years, so why not give it another go. The start and finish locations have improved, with better facilities including (dog friendly) cafes. There is a brass band to help the runners through Sidmouth. And the aid station refreshments are baked locally by King’s Garden Centre (incl. the falafels, which have been the surprise hit for the last two years).
If you’d like to enter next year’s race, you can do so by searching for Exe to Axe on siEntries (https://www.sientries.co.uk) or going straight to the entry page @ https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=15711.