Author Archives: sidmouthsrc

Sunday Training

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Sunday Training Sessions

There were three training groups on Sunday. Terry Bewes took the the two social 6 and 9 milers while Tim Mitchell led the 9 mile express group, Justin and Richard, so if you blinked, they were gone!

The 9 milers met at Newton Poppleford and ran upstream to Tipton St John where they met up with Julia Hadrell and Jo Earlam (who were the 6 mile group). All the groups carried on up along the river to Ottery St Mary, through the town and across Sidmouth Rd. Then they all crossed fields and went along the lanes all the way to Fire Beacon Lane. At this point the 6 milers headed back down to Tipton St John and the 9 mile group carried on until reaching the donkey field, they headed down through the field into Harpford woods back to Newton Pop. Joining in were two guest runners from North Devon, Vicky and Nick, standing on the right side in the photo. Vicky, having recently run a staggering 120 miles in under 24 hours spent the whole 9 miles deep in conversation with Debbie Marriott while Don Cawthera looked after the dog.

Park Run Roundup

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Autumn Park Run Round Up

   Steve Saunders enjoyed the decent weather with 150 other runners in Cornwall on the 29th of September by running the Park Run at the Eden Project. Starting at the top car park and running down towards the biomes was great on the way down, but then it’s a run back up to the top to complete the first of 3 circuits.  Fine if you like hill training!! Steve found this oddly enjoyable and finished in 24m:42s despite setting off a bit too fast to begin with.

Helen Palmer tried out Killerton on the 13th of October for her first ever Park Run and enjoyed a leisurely tour around the country grounds taking in the country air and not worrying about a PB.

David Skinner continued his quest in his Alphabet Park Run collection, by completing Minehead in the wet, windy and generally unpleasant conditions giving him the ‘M’. Then on the 20th of October David collected an ‘L’ at Longrun Meadow in Taunton, or is it now pronounced Launton? Do we allow this one? Okey, so we do which means this gives him six more to get on the UK mainland with ‘J’ to be Jersey at some point. He is still scratching his head for X and Z!

Meanwhile, Christie Ward and her farther John Sharples went to the Seaton Park Run where Christie managed a PB time of 28m:10s with John a second behind.

Julia Haddrell tried the Exmouth Park Run in beautiful sunshine and achieved a 30m:27s timing. She was happy with that timing, but Julia felt that far too much time was spent avoiding cow-pats at the Killerton Park Run on the 27th of October, that it was very cold, it all seemed uphill and no PB! Well Julia, it was cold and the cow-pats were frozen!

Lastly, I am very happy to inform you all that the speedy Kirsteen Welch has been smashing Park Run times with a cracking Exmouth18m:29s!

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Sunday Morning

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Sunday Morning On The Common

Last Sunday’s training route took an enthusiastic group of 16 Sidmouth runners and two very keen dogs on a trek over Woodbury common. This particular session was in preparation for the Bicton Blister race, which takes place on Sunday the 25th of November. They met about a mile away from Bicton College and headed out onto the common, keeping as close to the Blister route as memory served. For the first mile Terry Bewes led the group on to the beautiful pebble-bed common in the warm Autumn sunshine. The group made their way over to Warren Car Park where there will be a water stop on the day. Then edged around the common, through some woodland and back to where they had started. A very useful morning out, checking and acclimatising to eight of the miles that the race takes on the day. With precision timing they even got back in time to observe a minutes silence, in respect to those that fell for our country.

Templar 10

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Templer Ten 
Wind rain and general murkiness did not stop Three Mighty Greens from competing in the Templer Ten on Sunday 4th November.  This 10-mile race is predominantly an off-road, on tracks and trails cross country event, organised by Teignbridge Trotters Running Club.  Twins Karen and Christine Farnham, along with John  Doherty lined up in the grounds of Stover School near Newton Abbott.
At 11 o’clock they set off out into the countryside and headed for Stover Park and the fields of Teigngrace. With the windy and wet conditions the route was muddy and slippery. All three did well with Christine finishing 2nd in the FV55 category in 1h32m35s, giving her the 168th place over all, followed shortly after by sister Karen who attained a time of 1h:32m:46s and 171st place. John, who has completed this race five times managed a spritely 224th position in a time of 1h:44m:16s. There was a very good turnout of competitors with 268 finishers.

Sunday Runners

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Sunday Sessions out in the Country

With many medium and long distance events coming up over the next few months, the Autumn training program is in full swing now. So, it is of no surprise that the dampness of Sunday morning didn’t put off one K9 and 19 members of Sidmouth Running Club from the mornings session.

They met in Newton Poppleford and were led by Helen Palmer from the tennis courts carpark, up into the Harpford woods to the Bowd where they joined and followed the old railway track to Tipton St John. Then along the River Otter, across some fields to Fluxton and into the country lanes to Venn Ottery and Sotherton. There was a lot of good off road running including Aylesbeare Common. This was an eight mile loop with something for everyone, enjoyed by all and more importantly, done and dusted before the weather set in.

Snowdonia Marathon

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Snowdonia Marathon
Danny Painter felt the full force of the cold spell whilst competing in the Snowdonia Marathon on Saturday the 27th of October. This was a tough marathon to compete in but it has outstanding countryside to distract you.
The first five miles over the Pen-y-pass, all 1,100ft of it was uphill and was just taste of how tough this event would be. The route then drops down to the Pen Y Cwyryd junction, then follows the old road along to the campsite until it joins the A498. The next 2km is farm track and downhill. A short section uphill and back up to the main road at the campsite. It continues to the village of Beddgelert and along the A4085 to Waunfawr. A rapid climb to 1,200ft at Bwlch y Groes and downhill to the finish in Llanberis. Danny has been nursing a leg injury for quite while now, so his expectations on performance were to be a finisher. By the 14th mile he realised there was a need to adapt his running to a slower pace, which helped ease the pain.
With the 26.1 miles covered and a total of 2,684ft of elevation gain, Danny crossed the line in 3h:55m:52s, giving him a fantastic position of 461st overall out of 2223 competitors.   

Dartmoor Vale

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A Cool Day For The Dartmoor Vale Marathon
   Three Mighty Greens took part in the Dartmoor Vale Marathon on the 28th October. All 26.2miles of chilled northerly winds and many hills were braved out by Dave Wright, Jane Hemsworth and Jo Earlam. The start for this event was from Sibelco, East Gold Works which is next to the Newton Abbott Racecourse. It then headed off out along the busy main roads of The Teign Valley into the villages of Kingsteignton and Chudleigh and then on along country lanes beside Ugbrook Park, which is a seemingly never ending hill. Two laps were completed by the marathon runners.
  Jo, who including this one has done a total of 64 marathons, didn’t really get the runner’s high out there, but did find herself matching her halfway time of the Exeter half marathon in 2h:16m:46s. at least she can claim to be consistent. For the first lap Dave led the Mighty Green team, with Jo and Jane further back encouraging each other to keep on at it, eventually catching Dave up at around the fourteenth mile. The trio then walked and jogged together egging each other on to the end with Jane Hemswoth gaining first MG across the line, first Vet Lady 60 across the line with a time of 4h:57m:41s and 76 overall. Jo Earlam crossed the line one second later and got the 77th place overall and then in 78th, was Dave Wright who now has two marathons successfully completed with a timing of 4h:58m:54s . 
   There was a half marathon in which Kirsteen Welch took 1st female in a very fast a typical Kirsteen speedy time of 1h:27m:56. She came in 8th overall. 
 
 Also David Skinner took part in the 10k Dartmoor Vale Sibelco race and squeezed a good time of 1h:07m:43s to come in 149th.

Trellech Beacon

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Trellech Beacon Dash

John & Cathy Keast represented the MGs in South Wales by taking part in the Trellech Beacon Dash. A 10k cross country race organised by The Spirit Of Monmouth Running Club. The route is mostly along forest paths and forrest fire breaks in the Wye Valley,  Much of the first 2 miles were uphill to a trig point giving fantastic views.  Cathy came in at 1h:06m:53 in 161st place to find John had finished getting changed have arrived in 51m:39s in 85th position.