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.

   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.

   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.