Off-road running is back

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Off Road Running Back On the Calendar

The first of the Sidmouth Running Club winter weekend off road runs led by John, Ruth and Ben Chesters took place on East Hill last Sunday.
Ben led the faster runners over 6 miles while John led the rest over a 5 mile course. It was a beautiful sunny morning with views of the Blackdown Hills and Exmoor behind.
John is into his weather forecasting and decides each week whether we run on a Saturday or Sunday or if it is really dire we all stay in bed.

Sunday Runners

The club is currently mustering support amongst its members to enter the Virtual Grand Western Canal 10km run for which there is a trophy for the club with the most participants. The Mighty Greens are currently lying in second position but looking for a sprint finish!

Lockdown#2 Challenges

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SRC Lockdown#2 Challenges Completed

Pick and Mix was the title of week 3’s challenge 2. The runners had to choose 3 runs from a selection of 9 off and on road routes to complete before midnight on Sunday 30th November.

Nineteen members completed the 3 week challenge and qualified for an award which saw some impressive time management and dedication to fit the runs in. Kerry Boyle incorporated the school run, Leanne Thomson had to juggle around her shifts meaning she ran two of the challenges in one day, husbands and dogs were thoroughly exercised and torches had to be used. As Tash Morgan eloquently said, “Thanks Terry for getting me off my bum and getting me out there to enjoying our beautiful valley. I’ve really enjoyed doing the lockdown challenges.”

Ross Walton and Gail Goldsmith Take Gold

Ross Walton

There were some outstanding hill climbs in challenge 1 by both gents and ladies, but the most outstanding was Ross Walton, the men’s gold winner, who succeeded in not only reaching the summit of Everest but surpassed it, 30,247 feet climbed over the last 3 weeks, 22 hours 12 minutes of running, 143.54 mile run at an average pace of 9:21 minute miles. An absolutely fantastic achievement.

Hamish Spence

Hamish Spence took silver despite an injury in week 2 with a total of 14,942 feet climbed. He said, “It was a great challenge to take on and I have thoroughly enjoyed the banter and camaraderie amongst other SRC MG’s, thank you Terry for organising.”

In bronze position having climbed 14,631 feet Shaun Tipton added, “Thank you Mr Bewes for the idea, implementation and encouragement, every minute thoroughly enjoyed-well almost!”

Rocker Shepperd

Rocker Shepperd who filled any spare hour in the final week to get out and run some hills climbed 13,211 feet, with Adrian ‘Gripper’ Horne, Allan Kay and Derek Blackburn, reaching towards 10,000 feet. All of them appreciated the motivation and awesome efforts of everyone who took part.

Gail Goldsmith took the gold position for the ladies having climbed 15,242 feet over the last 3 weeks.

Kerry Salter’s incredible final 9.32 mile run with 2,310 feet of climb saw her firmly in silver position with a total of 9,781 feet climbed. Kerry said, “I am glad not to have to run up Griggs Lane again any time soon!”

Taking bronze position with 7,529 feet climbed, Jenny Kay and Alexa Baker were relieved to have completed the challenge and exceed 1,000 feet on their last run.

Jo Earlam (5,419ft) and Bex McDonald (3,459ft) had also enjoyed completing the hill challenge too.

Chairman Terry Bewes summed up saying, “To everyone that took part in the Lockdown #2 challenges I thank you for your support; you all seemed to enjoy it with a bit of competitiveness going on here and there. It is the involvement of members that make it all worthwhile, thank you for your support.”

Bring on the next challenge!

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Granddad & Grandson 1/2M

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Grandad and Grandson Duo Complete Exe Estuary Virtual Half Marathon

As well as setting the lock down challenges, Sidmouth Running Club chairman Terry Bewes has been completing them himself using them as training towards the Exe Estuary Virtual Half Marathon which he ran last week. When Terry entered the race back in March he had to enter his expected finish time, which as he had been training for it back then put 2:30:00. In reality it wasn’t until the start of the lock down #2 challenges that saw him start training with a six mile run. Using the challenges he planned the flat(ish), circular route which he would run two loops of, this included Harcombe, the Byes, seafront and Bickwell Valley.

With grandson and fellow Mighty Green Kyle Baker joining Terry on the day for the craic they completed the half marathon in 2:37:00, a result they were very happy with; Kyle because he had not been training and had ran an extra 2.5 miles to get to the start and back and Terry because he received another medal for his growing collection.


Terry has an eye for the running bling and has set the next Mighty Green challenge which is as a club to get as many members to enter the Virtual Grand Western Canal 10k Walk and Run for CLIC Sargent and win the team prize. There is a smashing bit of bling for all who complete the run in December so it should be a win/win challenge.

Tommy 10k

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Adrian’s Tremendous Tommy 10k Challenge for Royal British Legion

Back in October Sidmouth Running Club member Adrian Horne saw a Facebook post advertising a fundraising challenge by the Royal British Legion called The Tommy 10k. The challenge was from the 14 October running through to the 14 November, although it has since been extended until the 30/11 because of its popularity.

The challenge was to either run a 10k, run 4 x 10k or 10 x 10k over the month. Sticking to the original dates this Mighty Green chose to try and complete the 10 x 10k adding in an extra challenge by running them on consecutive days. He planned to start the runs on 2nd November so he would complete them on Armistice Day. Adrian said, “Having never run on more than 2 consecutive days I knew this was going to be a real challenge for myself.”

A donation page linked directly to RBLI was set up with a target of £100 which was quickly surpassed. Over the month, with some massive support from his partner, Annie, family, friends and SRC members, he managed to complete the challenge and midway through, not feeling too bad, he decided to see if he could run 200k in the month.

Adrian, a club run leader, clocked up an amazing 226.6k or 140.84 miles, raising to date £1,015.00 for the Royal British Legion, which like many charities have suffered this year. Adrian, feeling very humbled by people’s generosity in such difficult times would like to thank everyone from the bottom of his heart who shared his FB page or donated to this worthy cause.

Fab 5 Conquer Devon

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The Fab Five Conquer Devon.

Five Mighty Green Sidmouth Running Club juniors have completed the ‘Conquer a Devon Route’ challenge set by School Games Active Devon writes Hamish Spence.

This Devon Virtual Games Event took place between 18th May 2020 to 13th July 2020 and was hosted by Active Devon and the School Games Organisers. The event encouraged the young participants to accumulate mileage by either running, jogging or walking while also following the latest government guidance on being active during the coronavirus outbreak.

For the Primary school ages, 20 miles completed, won bronze, 30 miles covered won silver and for 40 miles endured took Gold. Four juniors, who all attend Sidmouth Primary school achieved this, 3 of which gained the coveted Gold. James Jamani aged 11y did an amazing distance of 70.13 miles. Ellie Jamani aged 8y covered massive 67.1 miles and Seth Lancaster aged 10y managed an impressive 56.68 miles. Flynn Lancaster aged 8y took a silver for his magnificent 33.91 miles.

In the Secondary school age group it was quite rightly tougher and 40 miles was needed for bronze, 60 miles for silver and 80 miles for Gold. Not deterred or daunted by the distances required, Amalie Farrand took the opportunity to escape the family house for her daily exercise. Not only did she grasp at this chance, she opted for an attempt on gold. Amalie completed the challenge by doing a daily run from home navigating through our beautiful countryside. Her mileage was also supported by a longer walk at the weekend with her dogs. She covered 80 miles in just four weeks and succeeded in her quest for gold.

Simon and David on the WCM

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Simon Hollyer and David Wright
   Back in 2017, when Jo Earlam organised the inaugural Women Can Marathon, David Wright volunteered to help out by course-checking parts of the route. Since then, he has wanted to have a go at the whole route himself. Over the last few years he and Simon Hollyer have done sections of the route and both thought it was about time that they did all of it. So, inspired by Jo’s recent birthday marathon effort, they both decided to make the most of the late May heatwave and take on the challenge in the Sidmouth sun writes Hamish Spence.
   The 26.2 miles course starts on the sports field of Tipton St John. However, they both live two miles away from the official start line and neither of the wanted to drive, so they set off from West Hill at a very early hour with a socially distanced gap and made their way down to join the River Otter at Tipton and pick up the route from the beginning. This would mean it would be a stretched marathon of 30 miles! There were very few people out at this time of the morning, so they had the trail mainly to themselves, only encountering the occasional dog walker and the skylarks hovering high above along the Coastal Path to Sidmouth. As the pair descended down Peak Hill the heat from the morning sun was just starting to bite and water was being consumed in quantity!
   There were a few more people out and about as they continued along the seafront of Sidmouth and along the Byes to Sidford, so where they could they ran on the grass areas of The Byes. By the time the lads had reached Sidford and due to the heat of the morning sun, they had got through 3 Litres of water between them, fortunately a pre-arranged pit-stop enabled them to top up with another 1.5 Litres each. The decision not to stop for an ice-cream in Sidmouth didn’t feel like such an error once they had cold water in their backpacks again! From the mostly flat parkland to Sidford it was then to be up, up and up onto East Hill to follow The Strips through the woodland and forest and then down to the other side of Ottery St Mary, to pick up the River Otter again back to Tipton St John.
   The Women Can Marathon route is so carefully considered, taking in so many wonderful elements of East Devon and many of its beautiful trails.  The views from East Hill were magnificent, but by the time we reached Ottery St Mary it was the thought of a John Mills style “Ice Cold in Alex” drink at the end that kept us going.  Completing the marathon took about 5 hours 55mins and the “Ice Cold” was in fact a pint of milk at Knights Farm Shop in Fluxton!  Thirty miles and 7 hours later, having spent the day at least 2 metres apart, consuming 3litres of water each with 1 pint of milk and 0 ice-creams they arrived back at West Hill in a happy, but knackered state.
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Bagging a Trig & Half Marathons

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Trig Pointing, Half Marathons & Getting Back To Running

Seth Lancaster had a very successful weeks’ trig point bagging, the SRC Get-Back-To-Running has woken many from their slumber and Matin Trueman introduces Zaq Bevan to off-road running in and around the hill of Sidmouth writes Hamish Spence.
So far Seth Lancaster has raised an amazing £310 for his favourite charity The Dogs Trust, by doing a sponsored trig point hunt for the four peaks of Sidmouth. He loves dogs and had heard that all charities were struggling at the moment and are unable to do large fundraising events because of Coronavirus. Also lots of people were giving up their dogs because they were finding it hard to cope with them, meaning more work for The Dog’s trust. Seth navigated 28.8 miles in total over 4 separate walks. His younger brother Flynn, did part of all expeditions and covered 17.5 miles and also got to all 4 Trigs as well.

Having come to the attention of various SRC members last week, Zaq Bevan continues to notch up his daily half marathons in a bid to raise funds for our NHS. This weekend he was persuaded by Mighty Green and fine cross country runner Martin Trueman, to try out an off-road route. For Day 42 out of the 60 scheduled runs, Martin took Zaq on a very hilly figure of eight route which took them up Salcombe Hill and over to Branscombe. A route with with 1352ft of elevation gain, many scenic views and a couple of badgers that ran alongside for a few yards. When passing the Donkey Sanctuary, a donkey eeeooring at them with an encouraging endorsement to Zaq’s efforts. It all made for a memorable 2h13m23s jaunt. If any Sidmouth Running Club MG reading this wishes to join Zaq for all or part of another half marathon then please get in touch with him.

With the prospect of a hot and sweaty week before we even got started with any running, week two of Get-Back-To-Running has gone from strength to strength. There were 31 members that completed the Mutters Moor loop or their own version of it and the run to High Peak trig or Ladram bay was completed by 14 members with 12 completed both runs.

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Marathon Birthday for Jo

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A Marathon Birthday For Jo
   After completing my first marathon in 2005 to celebrate being 40, if someone had told me then that on my 55th birthday I’d be running one out of personal choice, on a route I devised from my home village, I would have thought they were mad writes Jo Earlam.
   I realise some people think I’m a bit mad to have gone on to run a further formal 75 marathons or ultra, sometimes doing 26.2 miles just for the fun of it, as I did on Thursday 28th May, the anniversary of the first Women Can Marathon in 2017. It was the beauty of the East Devon countryside that inspired me to come up with the idea for that event and it was the same wonderful scenery that in Coronavirus lockdown drew me to dawdle happily through it on foot, a mixture of running, jogging, walking, with lots of photo and pit stops for food and to chat. Time was not important, but for the record it was eight hours and 20 minutes in total, of which seven hours was moving-ish. As a carer for my husband John, who’s 75 and has dementia, it’s difficult to come up with activities that we can both enjoy as we’d previously have done on my birthday, so having asked carers to cover the middle of the day, I got to do one of things I’ve missed most during the social distancing restrictions, hours of headspace with nothing else to think about but putting one foot in front of the other.
   Marathons are more in the mind, than in the legs, and it was this simple mental energy that at mile 16 when I was flagging up a tough hill, I relished, as the most stress I had in that moment was literally taking the next step. It’s so liberating to be able to let all the other worries slip away and focus on the here and now and soon plod by plod, I was past that tough section. The whole day was wonderful, the weather superb, I had the lovely company of fellow Sidmouth Running Club member Jane Hemsworth on the beautiful stretch from Tipton St John, via the river Otter and the South West Coast Path to Sidmouth. Women Can race director Pauline Beare and Peg Wiseman kindly gave back up support on route with drinks and snacks, I had a delicious tuna roll on Sidmouth esplanade, and the four of us enjoyed birthday cake, Prosecco and a lovely socially distanced catch up in the late afternoon sunshine back at Tipton.
   I was left with memories of a fabulous birthday, the weirdly satisfying muscle ache that endurance runners will understand, and a final happy postscript – I didn’t realise I’d dropped my bank card on route, a man walking his dog found it the following morning and called to let me know, good to know there are nice people out there, thank you Lester from Harcombe. The best bit though about the day was re-connecting with the feeling that when things got tough, I could keep going and feel good about it.
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Fantasy London Marathon

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Fantasy London Marathon. (Beating The Covid Blues) #26Point2 Style
   Sidmouth Running Club were out beating those Covid Blues this weekend with The #26Point2 Mighty Green Fantasy London Marathon relay race writes Hamish Spence.
   Late last week club member Paul Mitchell formed the MG fantasy London Marathon Lockdown Relay Team. He put word out on our Social Media network calling up for volunteers to do their duty. By Thursday evening he was inundated with names, he had his team of very talented and keen runners all ready to take on the challenge. There was one problem, there was no baton! So again, he asked on social media. Laura Broughton had the solution, a very bright, but perfect shade of shiny Mighty Green coloured roll of wrapping paper. 
Rules of the relay: 
1. All social distancing rules apply. 
2. The Mighty Green Baton must be taken all the way from the start to the finish. ( for health and safety the real baton may appear as an image on your cell phone).
3. During Sunday 26th April, run 2.62 miles at your own pace only 1 mile will count towards the marathon run. 
4. Run in Sidmouth colours with a rainbow adorned somewhere on your person.
5.Identify your chosen charity. Make a donation of £2.62 or multiples there-of.
View the large gallery of photos here.
  Getting the relay dream team started on its ‘remote and virtual’ social distancing fantasy event with Mighty Green Baton in hand was Laura Broughton. Wearing a dazzling rainbow head piece she set off to the sound of the Klaxton out of Greenwich Park bang on time. The crowd were all keeping a social distance, dressed in rainbow colours and waving flags. They were cheering and clapping the runners on their way. In her head Laura ran up to her favourite area, Aylesbeare Common. A place that holds special memories for her and her family and somewhere to which she has been able to visit with her children most days since the start of the lockdown. As she approached the end of her mile the sight of bright pink socks belonging to Suzi Rockey appeared ahead of her. Suzi started her jog as Laura made the approach and the baton was passed without hitch. It was then over to Jessica Davies who wanted to see Tower Bridge, but knew she would have to wait until after her stint was done. There was a Caribbean steal drum band playing a rhythmic tune and the music lifted her spirits. She imagined the tranquility and mesmerising rhythm of standing on Harpford’s bridge and listening to the running water of the R.Otter, a favourite place that Jessica likes to run. Jessica then noticed the familiar sight of another green shirt being worn by Debbie Marriott. A little confusion now took place! The gleaming Mighty Green baton needed to be given to Stuart Coles. Where was Stuart and why was Debbie here? All very suspicious! It turned out that Stuart was talking to Her Majesty the Queen who was enjoying the sun shine while out walking her Corgi’s and passing the Mayflower Pub. He also made some other wild suggestions, like for instance, that he had seen Naomi Garrick standing outside the same pub with a massive wooden clothes chest, cloths strewn everywhere.
He was claiming Naomi was wearing a strawberry outfit with a bridal vail over her head and rainbow socks on her feet! A quick phone call alerted Stuart to get back to his post asap. He managed to complete his section, gaining a few minutes on the expected time. He explained to me how this was achieved, “I imagined I had a slight descent all the way, you should try it sometime”. He continued “I pretend I’m running down The Byes in Sidmouth, works a treat”. Jess and Debbie were raising funds for Krabbes UK and Stuart donated to Allen Kay’s fund raiser.
   Having seen, felt and tasted the rainbow the Salter girls decided to draw the rainbow, so chalks in hand they did just that right across the road. Both Emma and Yasmin Salter pushed themselves hard, building on the already good start made by the previous four. Yasmin was the first to notice something strange about the bright Mighty Green baton, it was no longer cold to the touch. While flying along the streets of London Emma and Yasmin imagined their favourite route up Jacobs Ladder and Peak Hill. Both ladies have donated to the Devon Air Ambulance.
   After a swift handover of the gleaming Mighty Green baton from Yasmin, Kerry Salter started her mile. She left the area of the Cutty Sark at speed. The spectators were spaced apart and being fantastic along the route with lots of cheering and clapping. One hundred yards in she decided, it was time to check her pace. It was fast and furious, so looking around she realised the number of bulky fancy dress costumes had reduced. She told me “I thought to myself, fantastic, my running has finally reached the next level”. she continued “This spurred me on to finish with a strong handover of the baton to Cheryl Boulton.
“It was an amazing day to be part of and I’m donating to Force”. The gleaming green baton was now getting more than warm to hold as Cheryl Boulton took charge of it. Digging deep and thinking about the sound of waves on the shores of Sidmouth seafront she took on her section of the fantasy relay raising funds for the Samaritans.
   Rocker Shepperd took over for mile 9 making a perfect change over with Allen Kay. Allen had been running around a football pitch all day raising funds for The Fire Fighters Charity so its fantastic that he volunteered to divert from his circuits to pick up from Rocker and carry the baton on to a very colourful Terry Bewes. The Mighty Green Rainbow King ran like the wind. Monica Read took the baton from the south side across the R Thames over Tower Bridge and on to Richard King. Next up was Adrian Horne, earlier in the day Adrian had been pacing for Allen Kay and giving much needed support and encouragement around the football pitch. Now Adrian had to listen to his own advice and carry the very warm gleaming Mighty Green baton onto Mark Derwick. Kerry Boyle collected the baton from Mark Derwick and steadily ran her mile through the Docklands to pass it on to Cath Miller. 
   I caught up with Cath Miller after the event, she reflected on the atmosphere, “Wow, what a day “! Although the streets of London felt unusually quiet there was still a cheerfulness”. She went on “As I took the Mighty Green baton from Kerry, my legs turned to jelly and my mental state was not good”! She told me this wasn’t helped by looking over Canary Wharf. But she knew she had to just get on with it. Asking her what happened next, she replied, “I gripped the gleaming Mighty Green baton hard in my hand, boy did that baton feel hot! I then remembered where I’d come from, Sidmouth through and through, I’m a Mighty Green and that mile section will not beat me”. That was it, Cath was off, gone, taking the Mighty Green spirit with her. She raised funds for Devon Air Ambulance. Claire Ashby had been warming up for around ten minutes and was fully charged and hot to trot. Although no one could do the real marathon this year, doing one fantasy section quicker than her husband Justin Ashby is what she intended. She wanted to beat him on pace. Immediately the baton exchange happened, there was a green flash! Claire was gone, off like a rocket. We will never know the exact pace, as her recording device could not keep up! Rob Edwards nervously waited for the baton while trying to blend into the background in his camouflage kit. The hand over went really well considering the speed Claire came in at. He set off at his standard speed of 4 miles a fortnight, (his words not mine). It’s normally fairly quiet by this point in the London marathon, but that’s how Rob likes it. He told me “There is nothing like a morning run on the route up Fire Beacon Hill, with only the sound of chiffchaffs for company”. His donation went to Shelter and the Trussell Trust. David Lee took over from Rob with Jon Hanson following on, both keeping the Mighty Green pace. The change over with Julie Mitchell was not the best, she had not expected the baton to be so hot! Julie had decided to take on the really big Tower Hill. Having followed her other half around a number of marathons, she knew it starts getting difficult at this point. To overcome the thought of such a hill Julie put remembered the climb up from Weston Beach to the Frog Stone, all 262 steps! The climb up Tower Hill was going better than expected and she focused on the young runner in front of her. Helped by his regular stride (or was it his physique), anyway all she needed to do, was to concentrate on matching his pace and then overtake him on the down hill section. At the top of the hill she picked up speed, her adrenaline pumping, the crowd all well spaced and willing her on to the home straight. Her pace increased again as there was a realisation that cake was available at the end of her section, lovely chocolate cake…Victoria sponges… cookies. Julie did her bit and has raised funds for Exeter Mardon Hospital. She passed the now very hot Mighty Green baton onto Paul Mitchell. Getting too Blackfriars quickly is what Paul intended, not far to go now. I asked him about the change over and he replied, “It was a clean exchange of the gleaming but very hot green baton, I was properly warmed up ready for the challenge”. The spectators were willing him on with a cacophony of sound, chanting encouragingly, Mighty Green, Mighty Green. Halfway into his mile Paul looked around and saw a familiar face, maybe a celebrity runner or tv personality, then he noticed under the rainbow wig was ginger hair, it was Chris Evans… he’d just overtaken Chris Evans! On he went, overtaking many other tired rainbow coloured runners, doing his bit to uphold the prestige of wearing the Mighty Green shirt. Paul spots his change over buddy and SRC marathon record holder for the 60 plus age group, Colin Flood.
   Colin Flood took the baton from a tired looking Paul and set off down the Embankment. He set off fast, with good reason, apart from his top level of fitness he could hear the unmistakable sound of jazz music spurring him on. But where was it coming from? Was it behind him? It was definitely getting louder. Stealing a glance over his shoulder, he noticed a magnificent paddle steamer, smoke billowing from her twin stacks, a jazz band playing on the open deck. In a moment she was gone, around the next bend, leaving a swirl of foam in the water and a tang of woodsmoke in the air. Ever since he’d read Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn as a lad, Colin wanted to travel the Mississippi, but he realised that in these days of lockdown, the Thames would do just fine. He did find holding the scorching hot Mighty Green baton was almost impossible, so had to to keep swapping hands. Colin had managed to place the MG team in third place and Danny Baker was going to have no choice but to continue with the relentless speed. He would have to hope that his old injury would not speak up now. The change over went well, Danny picked up speed but there was now no-way he could hold that scorchingly hot gleaming Mighty Green baton! Swapping hands was no good either! What to do? Then it struck him as he passed a Bong-less Big Ben, he could juggle. So with his water bottles and the baton he maintained his pace, water bottles and baton spinning through the air as he ran. Sitting quietly on a park bench watching out for the runners, was a Majestic looking Lady and her corgis. She was so excited to see the front runner that she stood up and started to clap enthusiastically. When she saw him chucking things up in the air and catching them and running in the lead, she got her corgi’s to start barking with excitement. As a juggling Danny Baker speeds by she called out “ One is most amused”, and “Bravo, One is doing very well, keep it up young man”, Danny was still able to raise his cap as he went on his way. Question is, will HM ask for Danny to perform at the next Royal Variety Show? Danny maintained his position at the front, putting the Mighty Green Sidmouth Running Club firmly on the map.  
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