Sidmouth Running Club Pulls Out All the Stops for Women Can Marathon

Members of Sidmouth Running Club helped organise, prepare for, marshal and participate in the recent Women Can Marathon that passed through the town. Alongside the near 20 club entrants, members took on a variety of planning, goody bag assembly, route marking, course checking, relay change-over manning, water station and marshalling roles.

Jane Hemsworth gathered prizes and goody bag contents from local businesses. Becky Robson helped sponsor the run through her Hair Temple business and did the route marking from Peak Hill to the Byes. A job not helped by race administrator Jo Earlam driving off with all the markers in her car, meaning Becky wasn’t able to complete her task until gone 10pm on the marathon eve! Jane and husband Alan helped with goody bag assembly, Alan was also marking out late on Saturday, marshalling on the Sunday and both Jane and Becky completed the full marathon, despite their training being affected by injury.

David Hedges and Bill Valentine managed the halfway relay point at Sidmouth Rugby Football Ground, assisted by rugby and fellow running club members, and were also involved in course marking out and clearance. Several other members took up marshal positions around the town, with the Sidford water station being run by Ruth Burrough and Sarah Powell. Meanwhile, David Wright and Tim Clay had an early start doing a course check at 7am.

Diane Collett, who took part in the paired relay with friend Emma Franklin, was a pivotal part of the success of the event. As a director of IP Office Limited, Diane sought the support of fellow directors for the company to become headline sponsor. As sponsors, also of Exeter City Football Club, Diane could have had a seat in the royal box at Wembley on the day of the run, but she chose to give up that opportunity to run the first half, along gruelling hills of the south west coast path. Diane and Emma completed in 5:47:20.

There were some outstanding performances on the day. Second overall was Jessica Raynor in 3:53:54 – dubbed Sidmouth’s super-mum, having given birth nine weeks earlier.

In her first ever marathon Sue Collman completed in a terrific time of 5:03:41, in 70^th place, declaring on crossing the finish line she’d never do another one, but by the following morning looking around for more events to enter!

Next in 78^th place was Carine Silver in 5:06:56, another fantastic run; and fast times on that course for 81^st Claire Ashby 5:12:35; and 88^th Lynda Hawkins 5:18:02. The rest of the Sidmouth crew put in a sterling effort. In 107^th was Becky Robson 5:31:13, recovering from injury; 108^th Abbi Lee 5:31:13, completing her first marathon; also on her first 110^th Janice Ranson 5:32:47; 127^th Helen Palmer 5:38:53; another first-timer 139^th Polly Burns 5:50:55; 145^th Jane Hemsworth 5:57:52; 146^th Jo Earlam 5:57:52; 150^th Gail Goldsmith 6:01:19, a great time for Gail and earning her 3^rd place in her age group.

The last overall finisher in the individual running category came in in 9:32:53, with 206 finishers.

Taking on the team relay for Sidmouth, finishing in a great overall time of less than 12 minute miling were Sue Cunningham, Christine Nichols, Jill Trivett and Kerry Salter – Team Rusty Legs, in cumulative time of 4:55:45, 9^th team out of 14. And to complete the Sidmouth line-up Paula Farrand was part of the Shepphard Team, 4^th team to finish in 4:38:59.

Jo Earlam, who’s idea the race was, said:

“I want to thank everyone in the Club who’s supported my dream for this event. It wouldn’t have happened without the effort that a lot of members put in, and without the personal support I’ve had at this difficult time since sadly losing my mum six weeks before the event. I’m thrilled that so many of our ladies entered, several running a marathon for the first time, and as an organising team we’ve been overwhelmed and delighted by the positive feedback. The support from the club through loan of equipment, members and their families volunteering to help, and the business support generated through the club has been crucial to the event’s success. Thank you, Sidmouth Running Club, – you are a very mighty green!”

The Umborne Ug

The Umborne Ug is a truly village event organised by Rick and Eleanor Wood of Axe Valley Runners and the Umborne Hall committee in aid of the village hall funds. It is described as a scenic multi-terrain 10k run starting and finishing at the village hall. What it fails to mention are the two monster hills en route. Eight members of Sidmouth Running Club boarded the coach for the evening start and after a somewhat rainy day, on arrival the sun came out and it turned into a lovely evening. To involve all the villagers as well as the 10k there is also a 2.5k fun run and a walking route.

Amelie

Once again it was left to our junior member to bring home the medal. Amelie Farrand entering her first race for the club in the fun run finished in 13:54 giving her 3^rd female overall and first in her age group and the big smile on her face as she finished showed there is a lot more to come from her. Big sister Ellis was entrusted with the camera to record the event.

In the 10k there was a club record to be set for this event and Rob Edwards had his eye set firmly on this. Galloping away from the rest of us at the start I was not sure whether it was to win or the delight of leaving three grandchildren at home with his wife Sue. And so he led the club members with his eye on the record until entering the home straight when the vision of the bar-b-q’s appeared before him and his mind turned to that tasty veggie burger in his hand and that lapse of concentration allowed Paula Farrand to fly pass him to set the record at 1:00:02. Rob finished in 1:00:47. Next home were those competitive identical twin sisters Christine and Karen Farnham and I still cannot tell one from the other, however on this occasion Christine finished in 1:04:11 and Karen in 1:04:16. John Doherty who only decided to enter the night before had an equally good run 1:10:28. Our two youngest competitors Beth Wells and Caroline Ball both had excellent runs. Beth who continues to improve with every race had a very even-paced run even running a good distance up the two hills and finished first in her age group while Caroline who somehow managed to talk all the way around the course took a fair amount off her previous time for this distance.

Beth 1:13:33, Caroline 1:15:16. Bringing up the rear was Terry Bewes 1:15:17 who although was the last of the club runners was first in his age group but a reality check showed he was the only one in that group.

Racing over it was now time to enjoy the delights that the organisers had provided for us. In the hall, tea, coffee and a magnificent array of cakes, a bar and outside a range of bar-b-q’s cooking, beef, pork and apple, lamb and veggie burgers and hot dogs with real butchers sausages forming an orderly queue behind Rob we soon settled down to enjoy the food and banter in the fading sunlight before boarding the coach home. A great evening out enjoyed by all.

There were 91 finishers in the 10k and 50 in the fun run.

Sidmouth Running Club

Another week and another marathon, only this time it was an Ultra. Danny Painter headed off to compete in the Dartmoor Discovery. The race organised by Teignbridge Trotters RC starts and finishes in Princetown the home of Dartmoor Prison. This is entirely an on-road race over 32 miles 674 yards with plenty of hills taking in Dartmeet, Poundsgate, Newbridge, Ashburton, Buckland in the Moor, Widecombe in the Moor and Postbridge before heading back to the start.

This was the sixth time Danny had run this race and it was not to be his best. The wheels came off for him at around mile 14 when he suffered leg spasm cramps till the finish. This left him with a decision, drop out or man up and carry on, for Danny the first was not an option so on he went to finish in 109th place in a time of 5:37:16 (17th in 4:32:42 last year). He did however take from this experience as it reminded him that every race can’t be a blinder, just be happy with your best effort. He will be back next year you can bet on it.

There were 192 finishers.

The Women Can Marathon

There was a really good turnout from the female contingent of the Mighty Greens at the Women Can Marathon. Race report and results can be found here.

The Jurassic Coast 100k

It has been a very varied week for members of Sidmouth Running club with a park run, 10k’s, marathon and a 100k ultra marathon completed.

The Jurassic Coast 100km event starts in Weymouth and finishes in Exmouth. Runners have 24 hours in which to complete the course either individually or in teams, running or walking or a combination of both. Jenny Bentley and Debbie Marriott took on the challenge with Jenny raising funds for HCPT Lourdes. The original plan was for Jenny’s husband Colin to run and Debbie to drive the support vehicle but a last minute injury to Colin promoted Debbie to runner and she enjoyed it so much that instead of finishing at Sidmouth as she intended she carried on to Exmouth. Both finished in 24 hours and 6 minutes, a remarkable achievement.

Debbie, Jenny & Suzanne Rampersad

In Jenny’s words “The last stretch down the entire length of Exmouth seafront was hard, my legs were aching and my feet hurt so much as I walked, but strangely enough running slowly was easier and much to my amazement I ran the last one and a half miles”.

In Debbie’s words “Never, never, never again, but having said that it was a privilege to be involved. My son Sam who died in a tragic accident earlier in the year was a keen supporter of HCPT making the trip to Lourdes on a number of occasions and he would be amused that his involvement in HCPT resulted in my 24 hour, 100k walking torture, especially as he found walking to the shops and back a trial. I’m off to take up sunbathing and other lying down hobbies now”.

Both thanked Colin ‘the man in the van’ for the 24 hour continuous support and encouragement and all who sponsored and supported them.

157 started with 95 finishing, 7 of which were teams.

The Exeter Marathon

Kerry Boyle chose the Exeter Marathon for her first attempt at this distance with a sub 3:50:00 as her target time. The course is ideal for those competing for the first time as well as seasonal runners looking for a fast time due to its nature. Starting at St James Park before heading through the city centre towards the river Exe, you make your way along to Exwick before returning past the Quay and heading towards Countess Wear with the majority of the route being along the footpaths and cycle tracks of the river Exe and the Ship Canal.

It was a bit windy and warm and Kerry found it hard as at mile 3 a calf injury she had been carrying for some time played up. After that it was a long hard slog but her steel and determination held firm even after twice nearly dropping out. She managed to keep her pace for 20 miles and managed a sub four hours finishing in 3:54:32. This gave her 91^st place out of the 310 finishers. Although disappointed she did not get the sub 3:50:00 it was a great experience and she learned a lot and will be ready for the next one. She thanked her coach Justin Ashby and training partner Claire Ashby for all their top tips and support.

10ks and Park Run

After eight weeks of training runs in preparation for the Ottery 10k Sidmouth Running Club member Lydia Mansi missed out on the day through illness. Determined that all her training would not be in vain she took herself off to run a 10k course with a target time she had set for Ottery of 1:10:00. Running alone to beat a time is not the easiest thing to do as the support you receive from spectators during a race really spurs you on, so to end up completing the run in 1:09:21 is excellent and as she said “I could not have achieved that without Justin’s training”.

David Skinner on the other hand chose a much more arduous 10k for his first attempt at that distance in The Clyst Hydon Huff. It was lucky that he had not looked at the gradient profiles or realised it involved not only hilly lanes, running through lake sized puddles and also steep muddy ascents in the woods, or he may have had second thoughts.

He came close to losing his shoes in the mud on several occasions and coincidentally his race number was 70 which is also his age. Considering the conditions, he finished in a very respectable time of 1:20:40. Welcome to off-road running David, keep it up and you will be ready for the Grizzly. There were 134 finishers.

Julia Haddrell set yet another personal best at the Seaton park run in a time of 34:42 edging closer to her goal of a sub 30 minutes.

Sunday sees the Women Can Marathon take place from Tipton St John with Sidmouth Running Club having the largest number of club competitors and we all wish them a successful day.