Captain Tom’s 100 Challenge in aid of Brain Tumour research
Also on the seafront the morning of the Sid Valley Ring half marathon were a colourful fancy dressed group of Sidmouth Running Club members, walking/jogging/running alongside Charlotte Reid for her Captain Tom 100 challenge and collecting money for Brain Tumour Research.
Captain Tom’s Challenge
Sidmouth Running Club certainly has its heart in the centre of the community.
A Rewarding First Night Back For Sidmouth Running Club
This week saw the return of club runs and Chairman Terry Bewes was delighted to welcome so many familiar and new faces on Monday evening.
It was the first opportunity for the new to the area and 2021 beginners to join a club run and they ran exceptionally well.
Terry took the opportunity before the run to present the Mighty Green 3 mile completion certificates to Kathy Jordan and Jo Crockett and the lockdown #3 challenge awards.
Certificates and Prosecco were presented to the Mighty Greens who ran their heart out on Strava around the streets of Sidmouth Valentine challenge: Mark Norton, Yasmin Salter, Dawn Pike, Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker.
The winners of the observational seat location challenge were announced. This was a challenge to identify 65 seats/benches that the club regularly run past. Runner up, Ann Cole correctly located 27 of the benches and won herself a John Lewis voucher while Alexa successfully located 42 of the benches and won herself a voucher for a cream tea for two.
The winner for the off road bridge challenge where you had to name the location of 34 bridges you would have ran past during the off road lockdown challenges was announced. By correctly identifying 20 of the photos a slightly embarrassed Alexa was presented with a further cream tea voucher for two.
Terry then announced the Lockdown #3 Supreme champion- the only member who had completed all 36 lockdown challenges. A magnum of Prosecco and trophy was presented to press officer and run leader Alexa!
Alexa, who hadn’t appreciated that she was quite competitive, thanked John Chesters and Terry Bewes for setting the challenges and her very patient running buddies, Jenny Kay, who at one point had to help Alexa get her leg over a style, Helen Akay, who probably regretted trusting Alexa’s map reading skills on Muttersmoor and Terry Bewes who ran with her on the Lade Foot (not so) low tide challenge! Alexa is looking forward to sharing the cream teas with her lockdown #3 run buddies when restrictions are lifted.
A Dastardly Delight To Finish the Sidmouth Running Club Lock Down Challenges
The final week of lock down challenges had members self-navigating a run to pass past and present care homes and complete a ‘delight’ in Chairman Terry Bewes words.
Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker thought they would get the harder of the two challenges out of the way first, little did they know they would be running 8 miles up numerous hills on a Monday evening! Not that delightful! Kerry Salter ran the route in 10 min/miles, Tim Swarbrick who had the wind and rain to contend with ran 7.21 miles at 9.08 min/miles, Mark Norton was very lucky to see the Otters and a bat en-route, Bert Dykema ran 16k, David Welsh, Caroline and Jon Ball also completed the challenge. Ross Walton ran 8.4 miles at 8.33 min/miles which he found hard going as the previous day he completed 17 miles of trails!
The care home route was much more sociable and Tash Morgan enjoyed seeing fellow Mighty Greens during her 6 mile run. Carol McManus had an early start, Ann Cole combined the challenge with the pub one, David Welsh had a great run 6 miles at 10.2 min/miles, Jenny and Alexa took the direct route round and ran past the homes in 5 miles while Derek Blackburn ran 10.16k at 5.40 min/km and Bert starting from Sidbury ran the challenge in 20k at 6.14 min/km.
Sarah on the SVR
There have been some great distances covered off road too this week, Sarah Burston ran 14 miles around the Sid Valley Ring; Jane Hemsworth and Jo Earlam completed a 10 mile there and back taper run from Tipton to Feniton
Tim taking a tumble
and the Dynamic Duo, Derek and Tim took on an action packed 19.4k OGLE, which saw Tim fall in exactly the same spot as Jo had earlier in the month!
Jo & Leanne
The final lock down off road challenge was part or all of the Tipton 10k course, with a selfie to be taken by the railway bridge in Harpford Woods. Jo Earlam, who designed the course back in 2007, ran the route with Leeann Thomson,
Christine
Christine Hellier enjoyed her first run of the year in shorts and t-shirt, Beccy Johnson and Tracy Scannell weren’t the only Mighty Greens enjoying the challenge on a sunny Saturday morning,
Mark & Rob
Mark Norton and Rob Waggett were out bright and early and Rob, who has only recently completed the beginners course, ran 11k, a great achievement.
Alexa & helen
Helen Akay, Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker wore hats in support of Brain Tumour Research Wear A Hat Day and managed to find the mud but didn’t get lost for a change!
Brigid & Ann
Ann Cole and Brigid McSmith ran the route on Sunday confidently without a map. Skills have definitely been developed this last lock down!
The Masterminds Behind The Sidmouth Running Club Lockdown Challenges
Sidmouth Running Club members are indebted to two Mighty Greens who have kept them focused during lockdown #3, John Chesters and Terry Bewes.
John Chesters has had the Ottery based members of Sidmouth running around the area searching for control points and testing their orienteering skills. He even added a route on Muttersmoor for the Sidmouth based runners to test their skills this week. John said he was pleased to help set the challenges and that it has been rewarding to see people having a go and even enjoying themselves!
With his wife and fellow Mighty Green Ruth, he tended to walk, rather than run, some of the routes used, but only to check details, or create a Strava trace to follow. Most of his planning has been from home, using his knowledge of the local terrain and path/track network. If he sees a path, he needs to know where it goes!John is looking forward to club runs starting again especially as during lockdown he’s found a few new places to show people!
John Chesters
Chairman Terry Bewes found it a bit of a challenge to set 2 road runs and one off road run each week and then record the results, but when he sees 62 members submitting results it makes it all worthwhile, especially as most will be coming out of lockdown a lot fitter than when they went in.
Terry is really looking forward to getting the club back running together again in a Covid secure environment.
Terry
The runners certainly enjoyed one of this week’s road runs, a pub crawl taking in 18 past and present pubs, even though they couldn’t partake in a drink though Els Laureys was ready for a cider when she successfully completed the challenge. Antony Hall used his dad’s local knowledge to find out where the Horse and Groom was and Bert Dykema added The Red Lion in Sidbury to his route.
Beccy & Tracy on the pub crawl
The second road run involved hills though this did not deter Tim Swarbrick who ran 8.28 miles taking in the hill challenge twice! Karen and Christine Farnham surprised themselves when they finished that they had clocked up 7.5 miles, Terry Bewes combined the two road runs and ran 8 miles, Sam Ingram also ran 8 miles by combining 2 previous challenges together while Derek Blackburn combined the daffodil run with the pub crawl and ended up running a half marathon!
Derek & Tim
Jane Hemsworth and Jo Earlam had a good 16 mile training run in preparation for the Plym Trail marathon next month and Dan Prettejohn completed a half marathon by running 41 laps of a housing estate in 1.25.38 hours at 4.04km/min pace!
Christine Hellier ran a measured and effective route finding all 20 controls on the Muttersmoor OGLE, as did Jo Earlam whose map reading skills are improving. Finding 19 controls were Helen Akay, Terry Bewes, Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker (who found themselves in a prickly situation at one point!), the dynamic duo, Tim Swarbrick and Derek Blackburn, found 18 controls using thoughtful route choices, Mark Norton enjoyed the hilly exploration of the area and Brigid McSmith and Ann Cole with Ivey think they ran past 12 controls.
Brigid & Ann
Liz Goodman and Alison Long ran last week’s OGLE and found 9 controls and despite printing off the map before heading up to Fire Beacon, Kerry Salter soon realised she had left it at home so enjoyed a relaxed run around the area instead.
Terry Bewes was pleased to receive the cup this week for having the most participants enter the Grand Western Canal 10k Clic Sargent virtual race at the end of last year. The next challenge is to try to retain it this year-watch this space.
Dates to go in the SRC Diary At last!
Following the Government’s roadmap for exiting lockdown restrictions, Guidance from England Athletics, updated 8th March and last week’s SRC committee meeting, club runs will be commencing in a Covid secure environment on Monday 29th March and the off road season begins on Monday 5th April. The club appreciates it is very much a live programme liable to change if the Government issues new restrictions and the EA further guidance after updates from DCMS and Sports England but is looking forward to seeing its members again.
The 3rd October is firmly in Toby Garrick’s calendar as he was the only member to meet the club’s criteria for the London Marathon place and will be representing the Club; we look forward to cheering him on and the other Mighty Greens who have a place in this prestigious event.
When MG Antony Hall ran the latest lockdown road run challenge, you do not want to read that he found it hard as you know there is no hope for the less experienced runner! In all fairness he did run from Sidford and back and completed 3 reps of pyramids of Convent Road with a recovery run down Bickwell Valley at the end of each set! David Welsh and Derek Blackburn also completed 3 reps, with Derek having the added incentive of Chairman Terry Bewes and fellow MG Helen Palmer cheering him on! Christine and Karen Farnham were surprised to see they had clocked up 8 miles, running the 3 reps in the rain while Kerry Salter ran 3 reps, aided (sensibly) by driving to the start. Carol McManus, Jane Hemsworth, Bert Dykema, Adrian Horne, Mark Norton, Jenny Kay, Alexa Baker, Caroline and Jon Ball took the 2 rep option!
The second road run challenge set by Terry involved a nice 5ish mile loop around the valley, for some-Ross Walton added mileage and ran at 7.14min/mile pace and Tim Swarbrick ran both of the road runs together, 8.43 miles at 8.53min/miles! Carol McManus is now enjoying her 6am runs in total daylight and early evening runners are managing to run the challenges mostly in daylight-the days are drawing out and what a difference it makes! As always the weather plays a big part and weekend runners including Liz Goodman and Alison Long found they had four seasons of weather in their run including hail. Mark Norton enjoyed the break from the hills and Tash Morgan finished the loop on a precise 6 miles. Also completing the challenge was Derek Blackburn, Bert Dyekema, David Welsh, Els Laureys, Beccy Johnson, Tracy Scannell, Jenny Kay, Alexa Baker, Caroline and Jon Ball, Christine and Karen Farnham.
Other Mighty Greens spotted running this week include Sam Ingram, Kate Jenkins, Rob Waggett, Kate Kirk, Adrian ‘Gripper’ Horne who ran the Sid Valley Ring anti clockwise, Leeann Thomson who ran 3 challenges in one, David Millen who ran his first run in 3 months and Brigid McSmith and Ann Cole with Ivey the dog who completed the Weston Trig off road route..
The Ottery based members of SRC saw Tom Knight complete OGLE 4 (Ottery Group Lockdown Exercise) and Emma Grainger tackled OGLE 3 and 11, where she encountered mud, rain, bogs, sun, gales, hills, thorns and hail!
Tim
The off road challenge set this week was an OGLE on and around Fire Beacon, set by John Chesters which gave the Sidmouth based runners a chance to try out their orienteering skills. Christine Hellier set the bar high, running past all 20 control points in a very efficient route. Also visiting all 20 controls were the Dynamic Duo, Tim and Derek, although they failed to find the elusive blue bird. The big, blue bird comes out to congratulate those that run all the control points in numerical order as Ross Walton found out.
Ross and Bluebird
His numerical run of 15 miles with 2851 feet of elevation at 10.53 min/miles was celebrated with a rare sighting of the bird!
Exhibit A
Although, the bird must have felt sorry for Jenny and Alexa (who are known to have difficulty following the easiest of instructions, never mind following an OS map with numbers on it) as it appeared in front of them just as the path they were on petered out. What followed was a lot of laughter as they scrambled up through brambles and trees trying to find somewhere they recognised! Amazingly they visited 10 control points.
Kyle and Bluebird
Sunday saw Mark Norton, Terry Bewes, Kyle Baker, Karen and Christine Farnham take on the challenge. Terry’s plan to follow Christine’s route didn’t quite pan out but they had great fun with a few steep climbs. 
Terry took time to sit on a bench (control 4) with the big blue bird and Kyle found it perched on the trig point (control 3).
Mark and Bluebird
New MG Mark enjoyed meeting up with Terry and Kyle part way round and ran (socially distanced) with them for a while before discovering the blue bird nesting in the under growth.
Christine & Karen
Christine and Karen, who did not encounter the bird but earned extra kudos for running from home and back, enjoyed the run except for the part where they were ankle deep in mud. We await John Chester’s scoring.
Daffodils Delight Sidmouth Running Club Members
Week 8 of lockdown#3 saw beginner Dawn Pike complete her 3 mile non-stop run with SRC chairman Terry Bewes becoming a fully-fledged Mighty Green, a great achievement.
Dawn Pike
The participants of Terry’s lockdown challenges were deceived into thinking the ‘daffodil run’ sounded a lovely route to take you past the glorious displays of daffodils appearing all around Sidmouth. What it did involve was, as Bert Dykema said, a lot of hills-circuits of Boughmore Road, Convent Road, Cheese Lane and Cotmaton Road to Foxes Corner, all the way to the top of the grass above Jacobs Ladder, which is where the daffodils came into it! On top of that was a section of running on the pebbles which for Tim Swarbrick was reminiscent of Seaton parkrun but unfortunately for Cheryl Boulton meant she ended up with a very swollen ankle!
Cheryl and Susan
Running under the stars Mark Norton, Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker didn’t see the daffodils but ran two circuits (5 miles), one in each direction as instructed whereas Carol McManus was up bright and early on St David’s Day and enjoyed the host of golden daffodils. Newly appointed MG Rob Waggett ran one circuit and later in the week ran over 7k, his longest run yet. Taking advantage of the weekend sunshine and running two circuits were Jane Hemsworth, Yasmin Salter, Caroline and Jon Ball, Susan Reeve, Cheryl Boulton, Alison Long and Liz Goodman. Running three circuits David Welsh covered 8.09 miles and Graham ‘Rocker’ Sheppard 12.91km and accepting the gauntlet Terry threw down, Ross Walton ran an amazing four laps which including the distance to and from his house amounted to 15 miles with 1768 feet of elevation at 9.34 min/miles!
Ross with the daffodils
The Chairman’s second on road challenge involved self-navigation around local landmarks some of which needed a bit of local knowledge (or googling) to find, especially the old cinema site, where the convent was and the hanger. Ross Walton was the first MG to complete the route; he ran 6.28 miles at 7.40min/miles. Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker ‘ran’ into Mark Norton as they converged at the rugby club from different directions, Tash Morgan included a run up to the rugby ground at Sidford to cover herself, Ann Cole missed the Knapp, Beccy Johnson and Tracy Scannell enjoyed the challenge as did Kerry Salter who was pleased to fit a run in this week.
Beccy and Tracy
Carol McManus, David Welsh, Tim Swarbrick, Yasmin Salter, Christine and Karen Farnham also completed the challenge and know that the hangar is the wooded area below Beatlands Road and above the river!
Christine and Karen
Leeann Thomson was back with a vengeance this week completing four challenges, Sam Ingram ran the first landmark challenge and the Primley figure of 8’s, Christie Ward and John Sharples ran the Bickwell Valley laps, Kate Jenkins and David Welsh both knocked off time on their unofficial SRC park run, Cheryl and Susan ran the lamppost challenge in 58.18 mins, Kyle Baker fitted in the Malden Road challenge, running 3 miles at 7.24 min/miles before the running club committee meeting started on zoom and Dan Pretttejohn ran a marathon in an impressive 4.29 hours taking in Ottery, Budleigh, the coast path, Sidford and East Hill strips!
Dan running an off-road marathon
The Chairman’s off road challenge also involved the coast path, a visit to Weston trig and over 2,000ft of elevation. The dynamic duo, Tim Swarbrick and Derek Blackburn completed the run in under 2 hours, Stuart Coles in 3 hours and the clock stopped for Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker! Running on Sunday Christine and Karen Farnham enjoyed the whole route and Brigid McSmith and Ann Cole (coming back from injury) ran the first part.
John Chester’s challenging OGLE’s have seen Colin L’Anson run 15.8 miles and take in all 12 control points of OGLE 9, Kate Jenkins started OGLE 10 and Jo Earlam completed it running 6 miles, Hamish Spence and Tom Knight completed OGLE 4 and Emma Grainger revisited OGLE 7 and ran OGLE 10. Word is the Sidmouth based runners will find out what an OGLE involves next week!
Donation to Foodbank & Lockdown Challenges
Not all Mighty Greens are runners, Jeanina Puckey, the Sidmouth Running Club’s Auditor, recognised that many people are struggling through this pandemic and wanted to help them out. So, very generously, she decided to forego her annual fee from the Club for this year and asked that it be donated to the local food bank. The Club decided it was such a nice gesture and an excellent cause that they would match Jeanina’s donation. Sid Valley Food Bank, based at Manstone Youth Club, seemed the obvious choice, an organisation that supported around 60 local families at its busiest. So on Friday Tim Clay Treasurer of Sidmouth Running Club, handed over a cheque for £200 to Renee Forth, Chair of the Trustees for Sid Valley Food Bank. Renee thanked Tim for the donation, adding that the Food Bank was extremely grateful for all the support it received from local businesses and organisations.
Renee receiving the donation
Jo Crocket is a beginner no more; she successfully ran 3 miles without stopping with Chairman Terry Bewes and will now be running the lockdown challenges as a Mighty Green. Rob Waggett, Tilly Austin and Kathy Jordan did a great job completing two challenges this week as MG’s.
Jo Crockett
This week’s lockdown challenges were figure of eights around the Primley Road area and Malden Road circuits. The close proximity meant several of the runners did both challenges together these include Kerry Salter, Els Laureys, Carol McManus, Tim Swarbrick, Derek Blackburn, Bex McDonald, Zsa Zsa Croft, Ross Walton, Susan Reeve, Cheryl Boulton and new member Stephanie Brown.
Emma Grainger attempted Ogle 10 this week and enjoyed the lack of mud, Amelia Frankpitt ran her first Ogle route and found 6 control points where as Colin L’Anson found all 20 controls on his 12.5 mile Ogle 7 run.
The unofficial parkrun route remains popular and this week mum and daughter, Paula and Amelie Farrand ran the route as did Andrew Swain, David Welsh, Lottie May, Tracey Scannell, Beccy Johnson, Zsa Zsa Croft, Bex McDonald and Mark Norton with a great time of 25.15 minutes.
Paula & Amelie
SRC special mentions must go to Antony Hall who has had a cracking week catching up with the lockdown challenges, running two or three of them in one outing and including running the Primley/Malden loops at 6.52min/miles; Dan Prettejohn ran an amazing 30.04km at 6.15km/min pace, Bert Dykema ran an outstanding 31.10km at 6.02 km/min pace on Monday and Sarah Burston really enjoyed being out in the sun and ran 15.4 miles along the coast, river and through woods.
With no Chairman’s off road challenge set this week, it gave runners a chance to catch up with previous off road challenges they had missed. Ross Walton ran week 3’s 12 mile route, Adrian Horne ran the Harpford Woods challenge and Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker enjoyed last week’s Mincombe Woods challenge in the sun. Fellow MG’s ran their own off road routes; Alison Long and Liz Goodman ran to High Peak, Susan Reeve ran three trigs, Allan Kay and Kyle Baker ran Otterton to Budleigh Salterton and back, the dynamic duo, Tim Swarbrick and Derek Blackburn ran the Sidmouth Ring anticlockwise, and Jane Hemsworth and Jo Earlam met Terry Bewes on their 11 mile run as they were running to Weston trig in different directions. Hmmmm, wonder where next week’s off road run will be!
Beginners No More – Sidmouth Running Club Celebrate New Mighty Greens
To sign up and commit yourself to a beginner’s course in January can be daunting at the best of times, never mind during a restrictive lock down period, but this week saw three SRC beginners complete the course.
Starting with a bench mark run and following the training programme under the guidance of chairman Terry Bewes with support from the club members, the beginners built up their stamina and mileage over a five week period.
Rob Waggett
First to run the official 3 mile route nonstop with Terry was Rob Waggett on Thursday evening, who was very chuffed with his time. Tilly Austen and Kathy Jordan completed their official run on Friday and despite the rain celebrated with a takeaway slice of Devonshire apple cake with clotted cream! Congratulations to all three, hopefully it won’t be too long before we can all run together on club nights.
Kathy & Tilly
Further congratulations go to Mighty Green fire fighter Allan Kay, who not only completed his 32 days of 5ks Blue Light Challenge raising money for the Fire Fighters charity but has had confirmation of his place in the 2021 London Marathon on behalf of the Fire Fighters charity and to MG Derek Blackburn who, alongside running the weekly challenges, had set himself one too, raising money for Cancer Research by running 56 miles.
Allan & Evie on Blue Light Challenge
As always the weather plays a big part in the conditions underfoot, or in runner Jo Earlam’s case, under her bottom! On Wednesday, Jane Hemsworth, Jo and Freddie the dog set off on a 12 mile OGLE in the rain, as well as finding the control points they also encountered rivers where they wouldn’t normally be and very slippery, cold, wet mud on East Hill. As Jo said it gave her a soft landing!
Jo and Freddie
Clive Gilbert, Tom Knight, Emma Grainger and Hamish Spence also took on the OGLEs. Emma revisited OGLE 7 as she had previously taken a wrong turn and found two more control points although might wait for drier weather before venturing out again. Tom tackled more than one OGLE this week and got his family involved with one of them and found all 32 control points. John Chesters who sets these routes was very impressed especially as the conditions weren’t the easiest. Hamish took on OGLE 9, and dispite the mud ran his first half marathon distance of the year.
The on road challenges involved, (surprise, surprise) inclines but this did not put the running club members off! Carol McManus was out at 6am on Monday morning completing the Bickwell Valley reps, Niall Francis came back with a vengeance from injury adding an extra rep to the required 2 if you ran there, 3 if you drove, and ran 4 reps. Who knew that 3 reps from the Belmont Hotel to the top of Bickwell Valley and back was 5 miles! It certainly came as a surprise to some although it was nice to see other runners doing the route and being able to shout out encouragement to each other.
The second challenge was the old favourite, Brownlands lamppost pyramids. As Kerry Salter and Susan Reeve found out, you do need to concentrate on this run, it is very easy to get distracted and the last thing you feel like doing is running to the fourth lamppost unnecessarily! Getting the right road is also an advantage as Yasmin Salter found out, having done a great lamppost pyramid up and down Redwood Road! Lottie May incorporated the challenge into her longest run for a long time, of which she was rightly pleased with, multi-tasking mum Tash Morgan finished the run with a food shop at Co-Op and Alexa Baker wasn’t the only one to think the fourth lamppost kept moving further away!
Tim Swarbrick, Sam Ingram, Ross Walton, Stuart Coles, Kyle Baker and Terry Bewes incorporated two challenges into one run, be it this week or a previous week’s challenge, upping the mileage and Bert Dykema ran an amazing 18 miles on Monday!
Terry & Sarah
Terry Bewes had the company of Sarah Burston when setting this week’s off road run through Mincombe Woods. Ross Walton added a couple of photos for reference with Terry’s instructions when he ran the route in foggy conditions which helped the Dynamic Duo, Tim Swarbrick and Derek Blackburn complete the route perfectly later in the week. Christine Hellier ran a variation which she found very enjoyable and Christine and Karen Farnham completed the run in the dry on Sunday, enjoying the views but blaming Terry’s vague directions when they ran slightly off piste!
Sidmouth Running Club Chairman’s Sunday Special-The Valentine Challenge
The Mighty Greens were presented with a Chairman’s Sunday Special: Valentine’s Day. Seeing as how the last Chairman’s special involved running in the sea we were relieved it was MG Sarah Burston who came up with the idea of running a Strava/Garmin route in the shape of a heart or a design of your choosing associated with Valentine’s Day. With a male and female prize up for grabs Bex McDonald was the first to run and submit a perfect heart shape that had been devised by fellow MG Zsa Zsa Croft. Google maps proved very useful and similar heart routes were also run by Mark Norton, Yasmin Salter, Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker.
Feeling the heart
When Sidmouth Running Club chairman, Terry Bewes, set week 5’s off road challenge last weekend, he got distracted by the improved weather, beautiful countryside and muddy conditions underfoot. Even to his surprise he had run an impressive 11 miles, taking in Muttersmoor, Northmostown, Dotton, Colaton Raleigh, Otterton and joining the coastal path through Ladram Bay back to Sidmouth. Fortunately for the club runners there were three options to cut short the route.
Club secretary, Jo Earlam, picked a good day to run the whole route, adding in the climb to the top of High Peak trig to get a 360o view in the sunshine. With the weather turning colder the dynamic duo aka Derek Blackburn and Tim Swarbrick, found the mud Terry had encountered had frozen into ruts of ankle breakers but despite this completed the full run in under two hours.
Ann and Ivy
As the weekend approached so did the strong winds which added another dimension to the challenge. Christine Hellier and her niece, Louise Bond, kitted up appropriately and enjoyed a shortened version of the route as did Ann Cole with Ivey her dog who encountered very strong head winds at Ladram and Peak Hill, as well as flurries of snow. Adrian ‘Gripper’ Horne had an early start on Saturday, running the complete route with his son, Ollie Goodchild-Horne and even ventured up to High Peak trig. Helen Akay and Alexa Baker also decided on an earlier start thinking they might be out for hours and were pleasantly surprised to return in under three hours and having completed the whole route.
The precision challenge continues with Sam Ingram nailing it on his fourth attempt, Ross Walton ran a perfect 6 miles and Kyle Baker a spot on 4 miles. Lee-Ann Thomson, Derek Blackburn, Hamish Spence and Rocker Sheppard were close but not close enough for Terry!
This week Emma Grainger and her four legged companion took on an OGLE 7 in icy conditions and found 12 of the controls, as did Kate Jenkins but found the cold hampered her from checking the instructions so enjoyed the views instead, Tom Knight attempted the OGLE 8 course and had a slight navigation crisis in the middle while Jo Earlam ran 6.5 miles on the Aylesbeare Common OGLE finding all 20 check points.
Jacob’s Ladder Challenge
The beginners have really come into their own this week, despite the worsening weather conditions they have been out doing laps of Jacobs Ladder, with Tilly Austin and Katie Kirk doing 7 laps and Kathy Jordan 8 laps. Andrew Swain ran an impressive 2.89 miles with 11 minute miles on the beginners lamp post challenge in Bickwell Valley. With the running bug well and truly bitten Tilly Austin went on to run her first 5k on Friday in under 40 minutes and Katie Kirk ran her first 5k on Sunday in under 35 minutes. A big Mighty Green well done to all the beginners, it has been fantastic to follow their progress and gain confidence in their ability.
Antony Hall not put off by the weather
Special mentions must go to Antony Hall who chose one of the worst nights to run the seafront lamp post challenge, despite four soakings from the waves and being frozen to the core, he still completed the challenge running 6.23 miles in 48 minutes; Caroline Ball who cracked on with the challenges while her run buddy rested with injury; Yasmin Salter who celebrated receiving a place in the London Marathon ballot by running the week 5 Hillside challenge!
This challenge was a four and a half mile run to include loops around Salcombe Hill Road/Alma Lane/Laskeys Lane area. David Welsh wasn’t the only runner to think last week’s parking meter challenge was more preferable while Susan Reeve added to the challenge by running up Soldiers Hill first and Bert Dykema added on mileage by running from Sidbury!
Liz and Ali
The second week 5 road run involved picture clues, land marks and self-navigation, a great way for our runners who have not lived in Sidmouth long to discover the delights of Sidmouth including the guide hut (Susan Reeve). For Mark Norton though, he might only recognise them in the dark! It was interesting to see the routes members took and how the mileage varied from Ross Walton’s 7 mile version to Liz Goodman and Alison Long’s 5 mile route and Tim Swarbrick’s mash up of both on road runs.
It’s Not All About The Speed-Precision Is Key In Week Four
A month into Lockdown#3 and Sidmouth Running Club members are still rising to the challenges that Chairman Terry Bewes is creating.
Rising because one of the challenges involved a four mile run plus running up and down between the parking meters and beyond between Jacobs Ladder and Foxes Corner, over 500 feet of elevation gain in a short distance. This wasn’t the most popular of challenges!
The second challenge was all about precision, starting from your front door, run 4/5/6 miles with the object of returning to your front door on the mile. This proved more difficult than first thought, many were so close but not close enough for Terry who didn’t want to see on Strava lots of lines going up and down near your house to make up the mile! New SRC member Mark Norton blamed the bridge closure over the ford for being 0.05miles over! Cheryl Bolton and David Welsh showed their Mighty Green spirit when their first attempts failed, they ran it again, and again in David’s case. Congratulations to the few who managed it first time including Ann Cole, Jenny Kay, Alexa Baker, Paula Farrand and Bert Dykema.
Kate Jenkins, Hamish Spence and Bex McDonald and family were out enjoying the challenging OGLEs and discovering routes they hadn’t run before and Karen and Christine Farnham were catching up with last week’s off road run, starting from home and clocking up an impressive 11.3 miles. Club coach, Kyle Baker took on the lamp post challenge on the seafront with a different approach to it by running the furthest distance first. He also went by buildings rather than counting the lamp posts which can become very confusing and easy to forget after a while!
The SRC 5k parkrun route has proved popular and a special mention must go to Antony Hall who ran it in a very impressive 19.5 minutes, and average pace of 6.21 min/miles.
Another special mention must go to Mighty Green Cheryl Boulton, who challenged herself to run a virtual half marathon. Since lockdown#2 Cheryl has been building up her mileage and on Sunday successfully ran 13.12 miles. She is looking forward to receiving her medal from the running bible.
A big thank you and well done to Mighty Green Jo Earlam who having noticed a lot of litter on last week’s off road run by the A3052 Harpford Woods/Back Lane, returned with Denise Bickley of Sidmouth Plastic Warriors and collected two huge, heavy bags of litter in an hour.
This week’s off road challenge was very fitting as this weekend would usually see the Four Trigs fundraising event for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) in memory of Jonathan Hayman.
The chairman’s challenge was to run two Trigs, Buckton and Fire Beacon, following very clear instructions. Fitting in these challenges can be difficult so not everyone could fit two Trigs in and one is better than none, that’s how keen Christine Hellier, Kerry Salter, Karen and Christine Farnham were when they ran to the Fire Beacon Trig.
Jo and Leeann
The dynamic duo, Tim Swarbrick and Derek Blackburn, ran midweek and took in Weston trig too, as did Sarah Burston. Tim and Derek met Jo Earlam and Jane Hemsworth en-route who were doing the 2 Trig challenge. Respect to Jo who ran the route again later on in the week with Leeann Thomson, who, it’s hard to believe, was in the beginners group a year ago.
Adrian and Ollie
The weekend saw an early start for Adrian Horne and his son Ollie, who ran from the seafront at sun rise along the cliffs to Weston Trig before heading inland to Buckton Trig where they saw Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker confidently making their way across the valley. The mileage of this off road run made Beccy Johnson and Tracy Scannell a bit hesitant but this did not deter them from completing the challenge which they proudly did.
Jenny at Bucton Trig
Rocker Sheppard was out on Sunday enjoying the views and snowdrops clocking in two Trigs as were Brigid McSmith and Ann Cole plus Ivey the dog. They had a great run full of mud and laughter and thought Terry’s instructions had improved!
Brigid and Ann
Mighty Greens Helen and David Palmer ran 16 miles taking on three Trigs with 2,492 feet of elevation and Ross Walton found that despite a few stretches of mud it wasn’t too bad under foot when he ran four Trigs, Buckton, East Hill, Fire Beacon and High Peak in 2 hours 36 minutes.
Members of Sidmouth Running Club are very supportive and encouraging and this is why runners of all abilities are taking on the challenges and stretching themselves. It might be tough at times but we look forward to week 5 where a ‘Valentine Chairman’s Special’ might be on the cards!