Mother and daughter Sarah and Jess Watkins went on the hunt for the Pirate King of Torbay last Sunday when they took part in Climb South Wests’ Shiver Me Timbers 10 mile trail event.  There wasn’t any shivering though as the day got progressively hotter by the hour, but this did not stop Mighty Green Jess storming home in 1:28:31, finishing first woman and third overall. The scenic route follows the coast path in Torbay and although fancy dress is encouraged Sarah who finished in 2:31:43 stuck to her MG shirt!

Jess and Sarah Watkins

Sidmouth Running Club Junior Amelia Womersley  really entered into the spirit of the 1 mile pirate hunt around Goodrington.  Wearing a pirate hat Amelia found the pirate with the gold coins and ran back to claim her booty at the end.  Amelia, who finished in just under 12 minutes said she loved all the pirate costumes and had a lot of fun.

Amelia Womersley

Sidmouth Running Club had a record turn out for their AGM on Wednesday evening with members struggling to park their cars way ahead of the 7pm start. Is this because chairman Terry Bewes following Covid, has honed it down to a 5 minute affair in an outside space before the club run?  The running club members really appreciate the time Terry, treasurer Tim Clay, secretary Cheryl Boulton and the committee members put into the Mighty Green running machine!

The AGM

With the business over with it was time to run and the club split into four with Sarah Watkins leading the 3 mile group, Alexa Baker leading the 4-5 mile group stepping in for Kyle Baker at the last minute as he had just injured himself sprinting with the 11+ group (was he being too competitive?!?), Clive Gilbert leading the 6 mile group and Ben Chesters leading the fast 6 mile group.

Sarah’s 3 mile group enjoying the view!

Without realising it three of the leaders took their groups via Natasha’s bench and took a group photo with the beautiful coastal view behind them.

Alexa’s 4-5 mile group enjoying the view!

Ben and his group were like deer popping out of the trees and undergrowth all over the place!

Clive’s 6 mile group enjoying the view!

It was a lovely venue for an AGM and run-here’s to another year of Mighty Green running!

Sidmouth Running Club’s Clare Luke and Donna Womersley-Westlake swapped their Mighty Green club shirts for blue ones when they ran in the Great West Run last week.

Clare, Sue, Sarah and Donna before the start

They were part of the Sidmouth Hospice at Home team raising vital funds for their 24/7 specialist palliative care hospice at home service. The ladies enjoyed every minute of the half marathon and finished in 2:48:38 and raised over £200.

Sprint finish

Also running through the streets of Exeter in the glorious sunshine wearing his new MG top was Tom Knight who had a cracking run finishing in 1:38:48, 48^th out of 1,723 runners!

It was a PB for MG Yasmin Salter who rang the bell at the end to celebrate finishing in 2:03:45 and Ollie Goodchild-Horne wasn’t far behind in 2:12:54.

Yasmin rings the bell

Running together and enjoying the supportive crowds along the length of the route Sue Collman and Sarah Clapham finished in 2:30:08, which they were very pleased with as it was very hot!

Flying through the finish line

Sidmouth Running Club Treasurer Tim Clay handed over a cheque for £250 to Christie Burton from the South West Coast Path Association from the proceeds raised from the Sidmouth Celebrates weekend of events.  Donations of £100 to the RNLI via Axe Yacht Club and £100 to Exmouth Beach rescue for the use of their premises where also distributed.

Treasure Tim Clay

In the middle of the Coronation weekend, Honiton Running Clubs’ Ottery 10k and fun run took place which meant SRC’s social secretary, Naomi Garrick, could go to town with the red, white and blue!

Naomi dressed for the occasion

Participating in the 1 mile fun run were 6 SRC Juniors Jonathan, Marcus, Dom, Louis, Harry and Amelia and two mums Carol and Donna, all of whom were pleased with their finishers medal.

The start of the fun run

The 10k route took the runners along quiet country lanes and was enjoyed by everyone.  Tom Knight was the first MG to cross the finish line in 44:41, 44^th in a field of 227. Jo Pavey MBE presented the top 3 male and female awards and although Shaun Tipton was not a recipient, he was delighted to have a photo taken with the Olympian.

Photo opportunity for Shaun Tipton and Jo Pavey MBE

This race saw the return of MG Emma Grainger back from injury and although it has been nice seeing Emma marshalling at many local events cheering on the Mighty Greens it is even better to be running alongside her.

And they are off!

Results: Tom Knight 44:41; Colin Ryan 44:49; Mark Andow 45:55; Colin I’Anson 48:07; Richard King 49:23; Yasmin Salter 50:38; Shaun Tipton 52:05; Christine Farnham 54:18; Tim Swarbrick 55:06; Naomi Garrick 56:02; Karen Farnham 56:21; Georgia King 57:30; Christie Ward 1:00:51; Sarah Clapham 1:02:38; Hannah Maslen 1:03:09; Jo Earlam 1:04:47; Amelia Frankpitt 1:06:22; Marion Johnson 1:06:47; John Doherty 1:11:03; Ann Cole 1:14:30; Emma Grainger 1:17:06

SRC’s David Chipping and Martin Barnard ran the East Devon Round on Saturday, 107kms of absolutely stunning East Devon countryside. Although Martin said there was a fair bit of walking, shuffling and a dose of hobbling too! With wake up alarms set for 03:00 and a 05:30 start time at Ofwell near Honiton they saw the best of the day with a beautiful sunrise along with SRC’s Jess Watkins, Grahame Womersley-Westlake and David Wright who were running the 35 mile ultra option.

David and Martin enjoying the scenery

Ruby Red Running the organisers behind The East Devon Round were amazing and had planned a fabulous route, with endless bluebells and a constant chorus of bird song with the countryside being the real star of the day. David and Martin stopped for ice creams at Lyme Regis,

A well deserved ice cream stop at Lyme Regis

bumped into fellow SRC members doing the ‘half‘ distance and enjoyed plenty of snacks at the wonderfully stocked aid stations. Martin said by linking up so many places they knew and discovering so many more made the time fly by and it was only at about the 80k mark when the endless soup, cake and crisp supplies started to struggle to keep the fuel tank full. As night fell and torches were fired up the two Mighty Greens were met by family and friends which gave them a great boost and a couple of those legends joined them for the last 10K to provide some new conversation topics, a gate opening service and to protect them from some frisky bullocks.

Stunning trig point view

The pair eventually finished just after 22:30, a full 17 hours after the start and quickly got stuck into some sticky toffee pudding. There were 35 finishers and they came in joint 24th, but for them it was never about a position, it was a journey to look back on for years to come and smile. For David looking down at his 10 black toes is a reminder of his amazing achievement! For anyone who has thought “I can’t run that far, but I’d like too” no matter what that distance is, Martin has just learnt you probably can, give it a go. And if you want to see East Devon in all its glory, do the East Devon Round, it’s a belter.

East Devon Round 35 mile ultra Mighty Greens

In the 35 mile ultra, Jess was very happy to finish first lady in 7:30:00.  The Mighty Green highly recommends the race for the beauty of the scenery and the support given. Running his first ultra, Grahame was delighted to finish in 8:15:00, 15^th overall and 9^th male and said he had a great day, enjoying every minute and is now looking for his next challenge!  David Wright ran a marathon distance before stopping at checkpoint 4.

Grahame was spotted by Martin and David

Meanwhile in East Devon, eleven Mighty Greens ran the Sid Valley Ring Half Marathon organised by Climb South West. Starting with an uphill climb the race takes you through quiet country lanes and footpaths to a height of 236m before dropping into Sidbury, follows a section of back lanes through Harcombe, a steep climb to Dunscombe cliffs and the coast path before a short excursion inland to Salcombe Regis, through the woods and back onto the coast path back to Sidmouth.

The Mighty Greens at the start of the Sid Valley Ring (missing Liz and Jim)

Colin Ryan had an exceptional run finishing 22^nd out of a field of 75 in 2:11:29 and Beccy Johnson who was running her first half marathon was very pleased with her time of 3:20:37.

Beccy and Kerry with their medals

Results:  Colin Ryan 2:11:29; Christine Farnham 2:50:01; Karen Farnham 2:50:01; Beccy Johnson 3:20:57; Sarah Watkins 3:20:57; Kerry Salter 3:21:00; Jim Hudson 3:27:46; Liz Wright 3:46:32; Carol McManus 3:46:32; Donna Womersley-Westlake 3:50:56; Clare Luke 3:50:56

Donna and Clare at the finish

Four Mighty Greens travelled to London to take part in this years London Marathon including Mark Andow who won the draw for the club place.  It was Mark’s first LM and he was aiming for a sub 3:30:00 finish which he certainly achieved finishing in an impressive 3:28:22. The Mighty Green tucked in with a very encouraging pacer for the first 18 miles, caught a glimpse of Mo Farrah, and enjoyed the encouraging shouts of ‘Go Sidmouth’ from the crowd.

Mark Andow collecting his LM number

Mark who said it was great to run in club greens took the opportunity to raise some much needed funds for a small local charity-SnackPack (Exeter’s Children’s Diabetes Group).  Mark chose this charity as the 9 year old daughter of his Mental Health Team colleague, Claire, became critically unwell and subsequently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Claire now volunteers as Chair for SnackPack which organises outings and events throughout the year for children and their families to get together and share their experiences, concerns, successes and have fun. The link to Mark’s fundraising page is https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/claire-potts9

Lynda Hawkins at the start of the LM

Lynda Hawkins was the next Mighty Green to cross the finish line in 3:53:48. It was her third LM and was delighted to get a new PB.  Hot on her heels was Richard King finishing in 3:53:03; surprisingly they didn’t see each other!  Richard has been looking forward to this event since he completed the LM for the first time last year and has been training hard to get a sub 4 hour finish which he absolutely did!

Richard King and the record breaking Exmouth milkman

One memorable moment came when he went to the family meet up point after the race which was near the Horse Guards Parade ground just as the Government alert went off-the noise was something else!  The Mighty Green also met the record breaking milkman from Exmouth who carried four bottles of milk all the way round!

MG Jane Hemsworth had to wait patiently to get through the starting line, her wave went off at 11.09am and it was 11.20am before she ran over it, nearly her lunch time!  Running her 6^th LM Jane had a lovely day, enjoying the carnival atmosphere with drums, singing and live music.  Jane said residents were offering food, water hoses and unofficial rest stops while pubs and spectators were offering runners half pints of beer!  The Mighty Green declined the offers and finished in 4:53:35 with a smile on her face.

Jane Hemsworth with her 6th LM medal

Closer to home several Mighty Greens gathered under the club flag at Exmouth in brilliant sunshine ready to take part in LMEvents The Maer 10k and Maer Half.

The Mighty Greens at LME’s Maer Half and 10k

Having won an entry as part of her prize in last year’s 10k event, Mighty Green Marion Johnson decided to challenge herself and signed up for the half marathon, her first, along with MG Janice Ranson who finished in 2:18:27.  The course was definitely challenging, a multi-terrain single lap climbing nearly 1000ft along the spectacular coast path but Marion took it in her stride and finished in 2:41:59, coming first in her 70+ age group!

Lizzie Mayne from LMEvents does a great job creating a community event and encourages marshals by offering a free place in a future event.  Niall Hawkins was running thanks to his wife Kate for marshalling at the Sidmouth 10k and Yasmin Salter had her dad, Ollie, to thank.  Christie Ward had volunteered her dad, John Sharples, to marshal for this event and earnt herself a future race entry.

Marion Johnson on her way to claim 1st in age category

The Maer 10k Challenge is a single lap course which is scenic and a little challenging at times but the Mighty Greens excelled themselves especially Niall Hawkins who finished 4^th overall and first in his 40-54 age group in 40:14 out of a field of 116.

Yasmin and Becky McDonald were also well under the hour finishing 51:09 and 53:30 respectively, and a PB for Becky to boot!  Christie had a fantastic run too, finishing in 1:00:19 with Alexa close behind with a PB of 1:01:18.

It was a very friendly, well organised event (as you can tell by the smiles in the race photographers’ photos) especially as MG John was manning the water station halfway round cheering us on and everyone received a medal and cake!

SRC’s Antony Hall took his Mighty Green running vest and matching Mighty Green trainers to America to compete in the 127^th Boston marathon having qualified with his time from running the Manchester marathon last year.

Look at those MG trainers!

Antony caught his bus transfer out to the start at Hopkinton and made his way in the drizzle along with 30 thousand fellow runners to the start line. Once they got underway, a steady undulating route followed, with great views and absolutely incredible support from the locals for the whole way, which was especially helpful when they reached the infamous Heartbreak Hill at mile 20, which Antony said certainly lived up to its name!

Well deserved medal

With that out the way, it was a straight run to the finish outside the Boston public library to huge applause from the crowd and the Mighty Green picked up his medal after finishing in a steady but respectable 3.33.05.

Antony had a great time saying the support and kindness of the local community make this one of the best races he has done in a long time!

Yasmin Salter represented the Mighty Greens when she ran the Paris marathon last weekend.

The Sidmouth Running Club leader enjoyed the course which went past all the big monuments and finished in 4:21:00.

Yasmin Salter enjoying the sights of Paris

Yasmin was cheered in by her support team who wore fetching green berets and her dad Oliver flew the Devon flag.

The Mighty Green Berets

Will we be seeing more of the Mighty Green berets?