Otterton Reindeer Run is a Family Affair

Last Saturday saw more than 450 runners gather in Otterton for the village’s annual charity Reindeer Run. Runners aged from three to 73 donned festive outfits and set out from the churchyard for some seasonal outdoor fun. The 3k fun run is a family favourite for younger runners whilst the 10k multi terrain run takes in the stunning scenery of the Otter Valley including some tricky hills and beautiful banks of the River Otter.

Further photos can be found at http://www.sidmouthrunningclub.co.uk/2017/12/05/reindeer-run-2/

This event has been going for just over 10 years and is a popular start to the festive season for local runners. 19 seniors and 4 juniors from the Sidmouth Running Club dusted off their antlers and got their bells jingling in a good humoured race round the valley.

Father and daughter duo David and Katie Wright were all smiles as they ran the 10k together, while Janice and Alecia Ranson had excellent runs in the 10k and 3k respectively. Grandmother and Sidmouth Running Club stalwart, Sarah Watkins couldn’t have looked happier completing the fun run with her grandchildren Zach and India Raynor.

Meanwhile an epic ‘catch the twin’ pursuit was underway as Debbie Marriott and Cathy Keast set their sights on njppy duo Christine and Karen Farnham. All four charged home in well under the hour with Deb first lady home from Sidmouth Running Club knocking nearly seven minutes off her 2016 time. ’The photos look like I was strolling along, but I remember it being much pacier than that’ grinned jubilant Deb.

The Reindeer Run is the principle fundraising event for the local school, Otterton Church of England School and is supported by local businesses with many volunteers acting as race marshalls and serving post race food and drink to muddy runners. The run raised around £3,000 for school projects.

All runners enjoyed the atmosphere as they finished on the village green and were rewarded with commemorative mugs and mulled wine in the village hall.

Sidmouth Running Club welcomes new members and is currently finalising details of its Beginners Course which will start in the New Year. www.sidmouthrunningclub.co.uk

Reindeer results:

Ladies: Deb Marriott 55:46 22^nd o/all, Christine Farnham 56:09, Cathy Keast 56:11, Karen Farnham 56:12, Jane Hemsworth 56:17, Janice Ranson 58:59, Jo Earlam 1:01:02, Freddie the dog same time first dog to finish, Katie Wright (Junior)1:07:09, Els Laureys 1:10:33.

135 women finished.

Men: Danny Painter 44:27 27^th o/all, John Keast 47:25, Alan Colwell 49:55, Rocker Shepard 53:42, Simon Hollyer 54:32, Don Cawthera 57:45, Jon Ball 57:48,Terry Bewes 59:47, Paul Wright 1:02:44, David Wright 1:07:11, John Sharples 1:08:5.

92 men finished

Fun Run: Alecia Ranson 19:06 10^th o/all, Zach Raynor 28:29, India Raynor 30:17

Drogo 10 challenges Sidmouth 8

Eight members of Sidmouth Running Club took part in the ‘Drogo 10’ at the weekend enjoying stunning scenery of the Teign Gorge in the north of Dartmoor. Four hundred runners gathered outside the front of Castle Drogo for the start of this popular 9.6mile trail run before heading down a steep track to the river. The trail wound through woods tracks and paths, included a couple of steep hills before heading back along the Teign to Fingle Bridge then up the infamous Hunters Path hill back to Drogo for the finish.

Cath Miller and Kate Matravers, two of the Club’s growing contingent of competitive female runners, decided to keep up a club tradition and enjoyed the event as a social run. Chat on the way to the start passed seamlessly into the run itself and, barely interrupted by the finish, continued in the car on the way home. Cath was pleased with her time, ‘It was a gorgeous run’ she said, ‘despite every type of weather, including hail at the end.’ Just ahead of Cath and Kate, paying slightly more attention to the clock were Janice Ranson, in good running form and Sarah Watkins, recovering from injury and going from strength to strength.

SRC’s male runners were led by Julian Bartlett, closely followed by Phil Welsford and Simon Hollyer. Both Julian and Simon improved on last year’s times by 3 minutes and 5 minutes respectively, although Julian didn’t seem that pleased, commenting ‘Such hard work for so little time’!

Terry Bewes, whose winter running plan is progressing well, came in under 2 hours, averaging 12 minute miles on hilly rough and sometimes treacherous terrain. Arthur Vince, showed true club spirit and travelled from Chard to join the rest of the Mighty Green Team.

Club Runners are looking forward to the Bicton Blister on Sunday 26^th November

RESULTS. Julian Bartlett 1:25:40, Phil Welsford 1:27:28, Simon Hollyer 1:43:39,

Janice Ranson 1:47:43, Sarah Watkins 1:54:10, Cath Miller 1:55:36, Katy Matravers 1:55:36, Terry Bewes 1:56:19, Arthur Vince 2:36:52.

Sidmouth Runners take on Dartmoor Vale

In a weekend of glorious running weather there were some impressive performances from Sidmouth Runners. Danny Painter completed his second marathon in a week in Snowdonia, whilst closer to home SRC members competed in the 13th Dartmoor Vale races. Starting and finishing at East Gold Works in Newton Abbot runners had the option of a marathon, a half marathon or a 10kilometre race. David Wright and Jane Hemsworth from Sidmouth Running Club took part in the marathon and half marathon distances, and David was joined by Jessica Raynor and husband Simon in the Marathon.

Experienced competitor Jessica Raynor ran an impressive race, coming in as second fastest woman and 16th overall in 3h 23m 56s . Husband Simon completed the course in 5h 25m 49s.

Meanwhile, SRC stalwart, Jane Hemsworth, continuing her return to competition after some time off running, delivered a fantastic 3rd in age group in the half marathon, completing in just under 2 hours.

But for David this was his first marathon and he admitted that he had felt apprehensive before the race. ‘Although I completed the Grizzly last year I had never run over 20 miles before. Fortunately I picked up many words of wisdom from experienced runners at Sidmouth Running Club. This ranged from simple encouragement (I was promised a personal best in my first marathon!) to how much porridge to eat on the morning of race day.’

David embarked on the 26.2 mile course with 113 other runners intent on completing a double loop race out on the roads of the Teign Valley to Chudleigh and back down leafy country lanes. The course is relatively flat but has quite a hill at mile 6 which is repeated at mile 18.
David set off at a steady pace, allowing himself to complete his first marathon in 4hr 44m 46s, feeling pleased with his result and contemplating the next long distance event. ‘I’m going to concentrate on Sidmouth Running Club events next, I’m looking forward to The Four Trigs in February. In the meantime I’m really pleased with my first marathon. I don’t think I would have been able to complete 26.2 miles without the support of the Club – I would urge anyone to join, it does make a tremendous difference’.

Any Mile is Better for Dementia Campaigner Jo

Sidmouth Running Club member and coach Jo Earlam has just completed an epic 10 half marathons in 4 weeks to raise money and awareness for dementia, with the vision that ‘Any Mile is Better’. The 130 mile route was completed in sections by former south west journalist Jo, supported by friends and family.

The challenge began with the Bristol Half Marathon on Sunday 17th September 2017 and ended with the Exeter Half Marathon on Sunday 15th October.In between the route covered a further eight half-marathon distances, also taking in the dementia fundraising Muddifords Cheese Run, on Sunday 8th October.

Jo, a 52-year-old former newspaper and BBC local radio journalist, has completed a variety of self-organised challenges for several different charities over the last 20 years. As a supporter of the Bristol based dementia research charity BRACE, she wanted to organise a special event to mark the charity’s 30th anniversary year – the original idea being to run from Swansea to Plymouth, taking in all the centres where BRACE funds research, covering a distance of around 260 miles, or 10 marathons.

Following the sudden death of her mum, Rosemary, in April, and the diagnosis of her husband John with cognitive impairment and early signs of dementia in June, Jo decide to modify her plans.

Jo said: “These life events had a significant impact on me and the type of challenge I can commit to. As a carer, I need to balance things I now do around John. Being away from home for an extended time would be difficult, also fitting in the extra training needed for a longer sustained physical challenge.

“John’s has already suffered strokes and the prognosis of increased risk of developing vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s makes me determined to do something. My original idea was no longer feasible, but the reduced route distance and staggered time lapse of this challenge was achievable.

“The concept that any mile is better than none was inspired by a walk I regularly do, of about a mile, with scenic views and points of interest. It’s always a boost to get out in the fresh air and countryside even for 15 or 20 minutes.

“Physical activity plays an important part in helping to stave off dementia, which is one of my worries about my own health. The more we can do to raise money, awareness and stay healthy, the better chance there is of combatting this cruel disease.”

BRACE chief executive Mark Poarch said Jo’s a true inspiration to fundraisers across the region. “I’m always impressed by people who run to raise money for BRACE, but going from Bristol to Exeter is something else.The money Jo is raising will help fund leading edge research into the causes of dementia so we can move closer to developing effective treatments in the future.”

Read more about Jo’s experiences and make a donation at https://anymileisbetter.com

The Mighty Green Conquers Exeter

One of Exeter’s biggest sporting events took place last weekend when the Great West Run returned. The annual half marathon, now in its 32nd year, saw 2500 participants race through the city’s streets for 13.1 miles cheered on by thousands of supporters.

Sidmouth Running Club fielded a near battalion with at least 15 runners in the ‘Mighty Green’ in Exeter last Sunday. Leading the way for the East Devon Club was experienced speed man Justin Ashby who turned in an impressive 32^nd position overall before commenting, ‘oh man, that was hard work’. Justin was hotly pursued by Sidmouth runners Antony Hall and Julian Bartlett. Father and daughter duo Alan and Sasha Colwill turned in sub 2 hour times, as did the Queen of Stamina, Jo Earlam, in the final stage of her campaign to complete 10 half marathons in four weeks.

Jo and David

Whilst David Wright, Rocker Sheppard and Paul Wright narrowly missed the two hour mark, and were closely followed in by Sam Ingram and Kat Hall, secret training from Mike Lee delivered an excellent result in under 2 hours 10 minutes Amelia Frankpitt, was not far behind, going from strength to strength and the Green field was completed by good runs from John Sharples and Christie Ward

Polly at the Eden Project Marathon

In late April my dream of running a marathon came to an abrupt halt after spraining my ankle on the Cornish coast path. Frustrated, but determined, I lay on the sofa, elevating said ‘cankle’, and started looking into possible future marathons. The Eden Project Marathon, with its variety of terrain and spectacular scenery immediately stood out. Family and friends can visit for free on the day, which was also a massive bonus.

As I nervously waited for the race to start they announced that the route might have to be cut short because they couldn’t remove the cows from Helman Tor. I’m not a big fan of cows, but my first thought was whether I would have the energy to do an extra loop in order to complete the full 26.2 miles? That thought was interrupted by the starter’s gun, and I forgot all about it, too busy taking in the sights and watching my feet as I jumped over rocks and tree stumps in the woodland trails.

Shortly after the 4-mile marker we were back on the road, climbing the steep hill through the village of Luxulyan. I definitely would have walked this bit had it not been for the fact that my family had said they might try and spot me here. My legs were starting to burn just as I heard some very welcome voices shouting from the top of the hill. On a high, I ran up to grab some jelly babies from both my boys.

The course was pretty hilly, totalling 2782 feet of elevation gain, and at mile 5 we all seemed to slow to a gentle plod just as the leaders of the half-marathon, who set off 20 minutes later, started sprinting past us up the hill. Everyone was cheering and it really broke the ice. The runners all began chatting, and for a while I kind of forgot where I was, and could have just been out on a social run.

A few miles later, the 850 half-marathoners peeled off leaving 250 of us to plod on towards Helman Tor. As the Tor came into view I remembered the announcement at the start. I was relieved to see a steady stream of people walking up the hill, but couldn’t fail to notice all the cows. As I started to climb, two of them were very close, possibly wanting to cross our path. I was jogging cautiously and then suddenly one of them ran straight at me. I legged it… straight into a thorny bush. The cow turned & I just kept on moving. My heart was racing, my head was blurry, but before I knew it I was at the top of the Tor, having been totally distracted by the random bovine encounter. I took a moment to breathe some air and take in the stunning view before starting the precarious descent.

After a short stretch on the road the course became a bit grimmer. The weather on the day was pretty darn perfect for running, but recent wet weather had taken its toll on some of the trails and the mud became gloopier, before I found myself ankle deep in water. Trying to ignore how heavy my feet had become I was spurred on by the long downhill and the half-way point. The course is a figure of eight, so soon we were back on familiar ground and running through Luxulyan a second time. After seeing some photos of the flooding on the course the week before, I’d asked my husband to bring some dry shoes and socks in case mine got soaked. The marathon had started to do funny things to me by this point though and I no longer noticed how wet my feet were or that my legs were cut by thorns. I think I was in the zone! But it didn’t last long. Around mile 18 my energy was running out, I started feeling a bit light-headed and my legs suddenly felt like dead weights. It was time to have a walk and get some flapjack & energy drink inside. The next few miles were tough so I started doing some drills which we had been taught on Tim’s running course… head high, hips forward, arms back, elbows in, and pretending to clean dog mess off your shoes on the downhill sections. Focussing on my form distracted me from my aching limbs.

At mile 21, my husband & my mum appeared unexpectedly and it gave me just the boost I needed. My body hurt but I realised how close I was. I started getting my energy back and was enjoying the ever-changing landscape from the rolling hills to the clay pits on the Eden approach. As I started to descend towards the Biomes my legs started moving faster and faster and I felt so lucky to be doing this and to have this impressive backdrop at the finish. I crossed the line in 4:38:52, which I was chuffed to bits with. I passed on the family ice skating and went to grab my goody bag… a hot burrito (they’d run out of pasties) and a pint of ice cold Tribute ale.

This was a really well organised event, supported by a fantastic bunch of marshals. I’m not sure what I expected, but it was an awesome day and an incredible first marathon experience.

Cheesy Smiles All Round for Sidmouth Runners

A sunny day on 8^th October was the setting for the Muddiford Cheese Run, a scenic 5 mile run from Burlescombe Village along the Grand Western Canal to Muddifords Court Country House near Cullompton.  Sidmouth Running Club were once again out in force participating in an event that was raising funds for the Exeter Dementia Action Alliance and was supported by Wyke Farms and other local business.

Sidmouth, busy socialising before the start, found themselves as a group at the back of the pack and initially found it difficult to make headway along the narrow canal tow path. The group spread out as they dodged past other runners and sped up as they all enjoyed the absence of hills.

Caroline Ball, representing Sidmouth said ‘It is the first ever Muddiford Cheese Race and was really well supported by walkers and runners. We all enjoyed it, as it was unusually flat for us’.

Nine runners in all completed the run for Sidmouth, led in by Jane Hemsworth and Jo Earlam in 43 minutes, followed by David Millen, Christine Farnham, Karen Farnham, Caroline Ball and Sue Cunningham. The Club’s youngest wearer of the `Mighty Green’ turned in a magnificent performance. Mollie Phillips aged just 5, supported by mum Laura, completed her first ever event covering the course in an amazing time of 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Runners were rewarded with live music and cheese toasties in the sunshine, and were very pleased with the well organised run and family entertainments.

Top placings for Sidmouth Runners at Devon Events

Sidmouth Runners were out testing themselves over a number of distances in two events last weekend.

In Barnstaple a flat fast course for the annual marathon gave Theo Burgess a chance to push himself and see what he could do. With good weather conditions and a redesigned course to ensure more supporter presence Theo achieved a personal best completing in 3:15:30, 17th overall and 5 minutes faster than his previous PB.

Closer to home a contingent from SRC set out to test the new trail runs at Killerton House near Exeter. Whilst the historic grounds at Killerton are already an established location for running events the was the first time the new 10km and half marathon multi terrain courses had been used and the runners found it challenging.

‘The Killerton 10K certainly lived up to its name, it was a hard run’ said runner Jenny Bentley, ‘The course started with an uphill gradual climb which continued into a steep climb to the top of the hill, and then the course became interesting as it winded through the woods. The best part was hearing Kerry and Anthony call my name as I ran the final straight up to the finish line.’ Also running the 10k were new member Sam Ingram and Kerry Boyle, who despite finding the race ‘hot and hilly’ delivered a fantastic 1st in age group result in just under the hour.

Four seasoned campaigners from SRC tackled the half marathon distance. Club chairman, Terry Bewes, commented, ’Runners enter these events for different reasons. Sarah Watkins wanted to test her continuing recovery, whilst I wanted to see if I was capable of that distance in preparation for the upcoming long autumn club runs and events’. Terry ruefully pondered, ‘Sarah was puffing and panting her way around the first half of the course with me for company, but then found her mojo and left me behind in the second, as usual’. Antony Hall and Rob Edwards both had excellent runs, achieving top three in age group positions.

The club were particularly proud of 8 year old Seth Lancaster who ran his first race in SRC colours, the 1K, taking it steady and beating his Dad (Phil Lancaster) in a sprint finish. Congratulations Seth!

Results Killerton:
1K Seth Lancaster 10th in 6:44
10K Kerry Boyle 1st in age group in 59:47:08 and 41st overall.
Sam Ingram 1:05:12.
Jennifer Bentley 1:20:41
Half Marathon.
Antony Hall 2nd in age group in 1:46:55
Rob Edwards 3rd in age group in 2:23:16
Sarah Watkins 4th in age group 2:41:46
Terry Bewes 2:52:33.
There were 445 finishers in the 10K and 195 in the half marathon. A great result for the Club