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.

The Ottery 10k

The Ottery 10k race is excellently organised by Honiton Running Club which starts and finishes at the Ottery Cricket Club and is a fairly flat run on the roads and lanes around Ottery St. Mary.

Sidmouth Running Club had a very respectable 28 runners registered and amongst these were a number of members who over the last eight weeks had taken part in a 10k training course organised by Justin Ashby and assisted by Tim Mitchell aimed specifically for this race. The training course proved a great success with 4 of the members setting personal best times. Paula Farrand smashed hers by 6 minutes recording a sub 50 minutes in 49:10. Bethany Wells also had a smashing time finishing in 1:01:45 which was 7 minutes faster than her previous best; she also set her fastest mile at 8:45. Debbie Marriot showed real determination which paid off as she reduced her time by 3:12 to 52:20. Tim Clay’s new PB is 47:51. This was 1:20 quicker and he was third in his age group which pleased him even more.

Runners coming around the final bend…..

In her first run over this distance Helen Neighbour had obviously learned a lot from the course as she paced it perfectly keeping to a 10:5 minute mile pace. I have no doubt if she keeps up the training runs she will soon be sub one hour.

Members times:
Justin Ashby, 4th overall 35:36,
Antony Hall 39:48,
Tim Mitchell 42:44,
Julian Bartlett 45:49,
Gordon Bryant 47:22,
Adrian Clode 47:36,
Tim Clay 47:51,
Naomi Garrick 49:03,
Paula Farrand 49:10,
Charlotte Forrer 49:17,
Bert Dykema 51:05,
Christine Farnham 51:50,
Debbie Marriott 52:20,
Karen Farnham 52:24,
Sue Collman 52:26,
Louise Saunders 52:36,
Rocker Shepard 52:51,
David Millen 54:41,
Simon Hollyer 55:08,
John Doherty 56:19,
Michael Lee 56:47,
Jo Earlam 58:14,
Emma Salter 58:42,
Danny Painter 1:01:44,
Bethany Wells 1:01:45,
Helen Neighbour 1:02:53,
Terry Bewes 1:02:54, and finally running her first race for the club was Sarah Walker 1:06:57 who ran with her friend Kirsten Hayball (Honiton RC).

Runners coming in the final straight….

With the racing over it was now time to enjoy the plentiful refreshments laid on by Honiton and Mighty Green shirts could be seen propping up the bar, scoffing cakes, drinking tea and coffee or the serious runners like me laid out on the grass taking in the rays, eating our bananas and rehydrating with water.

And finally, to quote Paula. “A big thankyou to Justin and Tim for the 10k training. I learnt a lot. I had never heard of cadence, and got faster. Thanks also to all the other folk who make the running club, such a sociable and friendly one, even sprinting up and down every steep hill in Fortescue is tolerable when you do it with nice people.” So if you want to progress your running or just relax and enjoy it we are the club for you.

Simplyhealth Great Bristol 10k

This race makes the most of Bristol’s picturesque backdrop. Largely flat, the route shares much of its course with the half marathon. Starting and finishing in Bristol’s historic Harbour side, it takes in the stunning Avon Gorge, and twice passes under Brunel’s famous Clifton Suspension Bridge returning via Spike Island and the Cumberland Basin.

Taking a road trip up the M5 neatly turned out in their new Mighty Green shirts were two of the clubs newer members determined to do the club proud in their first race in club colours and they did not disappoint. Jodie Suzanne Hawkins finished in 1:06:11 and Julia Haddrell in 1:16:00. Julia was another member of Justin Ashby’s 10k training course and she thanked him for pushing her well out of her comfort zone which enabled her to achieve that time.

Meanwhile nearer to home Suzi Rockey put away the books she had been studying over the last few months to become a Legal Genius and put on her Mighty Green to run the 5k Land and Sand race in Exmouth and finished in a respectable 30 minutes.

Further afield, James and Emma Salter were in Wales for a wedding and took the opportunity to run up Mount Snowdon as you do. After a heavy night celebrating, James reached the top in 1:11:00 and Emma in 1:53:00. The weather was glorious and the views from the top were panoramic.

The Beer Blazer

Janice and Alicia

Once again it was Kate Marriott who brought home the silverware for Sidmouth Running Club, this time from the Beer Blazer. This race starts and finishes at Pecorama in Beer. It is a multi-terrain race in the true sense of the word over either a 5 or 10k traffic free course run over some of the famous ‘Grizzly territory’ and private land covering fields, tracks, the challenging pebble beach between Branscombe and Beer Head, the Undercliffs, The stairway to heaven, cliff tops and open common, all with breath-taking views of the Jurassic Coast.

Kate, who is 13 ran the 5K in the F13 category and was competing against many older runners. She came in 5^th overall and was the first female in a time of 23:13. Also in the F13 another of our young runners Alicia Ranson finished in 33:35 and the video of her swerving past two adult runners in the last 10 metres shows there is a lot more to come from her.

Not to be outdone by the youngsters David Skinner who joined the beginner’s course in January took on this fairly tough course for his first race in the M70 category and was very pleased finishing 31^st in 26:05.

The Mighty Green had a good showing in the 10K with five club runners taking on this course for the first time and one setting a new club record. These five were also the first club runners home. Julian Bartlett 56:07 (club record), Rob Edwards 1:03:15, Karen Farnham 1:07:28, Christine Farnham 1:07:53, Hamish Spence 1:08:28. Hamish has been training with Justin Ashby over the last seven weeks and it has really improved his running and he was delighted with his time. Don Cawthera 1:11:26, Debbie Marriott 1:11:28, Terry Bewes 1:13:25, Janice Ranson 1:15:15.

Terry caught up with Janice on the cliff top before the run down into Branscombe where she was rolling around in the grass with severe cramp in both legs, he offered to help, but she said no carry on and I will catch you up and she nearly did. The question is whether it was her new shoes that caused the cramp and the blisters on her heels or retribution for leaving behind her Mighty Green shirt for the second time.

Salcombe Coastal Marathon

As the song goes ‘what a difference a day makes, 24 little hours’.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and bright and Katie and Joe Kent, along with Danny Painter all Sidmouth Running Club members prepared for another marathon. Following all of the razzmatazz of the London marathon the week before this one is on a more modest scale.

The Salcombe Coastal Marathon is more of an event than a race as it is a minimum of 26.2 miles but may be longer due to diversions resulting from landslides and with over 4500 feet of ascent considerably tougher than London. The event starts at Torcross and finishes at Bantham passing through Salcombe, with a ferry across the river and along some of South Devon’s most beautiful coastline.

You have the choice of either a full or half marathon and while some took it seriously others set out to enjoy the day, scenery and the various refreshment outlets along the way. In the marathon Danny took the serious option finishing fifth in 4:17:00. He was not feeling so good and the mile uphill walk from the finish to the car park finished him off. Joe also took the more serious option but with various stops on the way to re-fuel finished the 26 plus miles in 5:45:00. Katie chose the half marathon running 14 miles with her friend Anna Russell and their two dogs Crunchie and Obi finishing fifth overall in 3:15:00. It was an amazing day blessed by glorious weather, fantastic views, great company and temperatures between 12 and 15 degrees.

And then Sunday dawned, cold, wet, windy and miserable for Helen Palmer to lead an 18 mile training run through the Otter valley. This run was for the ladies taking part in the upcoming Women Can Marathon at the end of May. Six runners turned up to run from Newton Poppleford following the river down to Budleigh Salterton then back up to Tipton St John and finally back to the start. In the wet and slippery conditions and with tiredness playing its part in not picking up her feet Helen had a nasty fall leaving her bruised and grazed. Hopefully this will act as a warning to the ladies taking on this marathon who are not used to off-road running.

It may be early in the year but entries are already coming in for the Wooden Spoon award the latest being from Rob Edwards. Rob who was running with the Friday group on Woodbury Common stopped for a comfort break. Emerging from behind a tree the rest of the group had disappeared. Not knowing where he was he eventually came across a couple of mountain bikers and asked for directions; unfortunately the little rascals sent him to the wrong car park, however after listening to his tale of woe a good Samaritan gave him a lift back to where he started 15 minutes ahead of the rest. By this time he was freezing as all his clothes were locked in one of the cars. However he was in luck as Polly Walton and Els Laureys had run up to the Common from Sidmouth as part of their training for the Women Can Marathon and Polly taking pity on him agreed to run back to Sidmouth with him to warm him up.

All’s well that ends well? Well not quite as over the bank holiday Polly was down in Cornwall keeping up her training with a run along the coastal path when she stumbled and hurt her ankle which has put her on crutches and out of the marathon. Running can be cruel.

As for Rob he has set himself a challenge of trying to run a 5k at the same pace he ran a marathon 24 years ago (3:13:30). He has joined the Exeter 5k series to achieve this and on his latest outing was pleased he was not last and finished in 23:20 but still needs to find another 8 seconds a mile. Success is on the horizon.

Member: 24 7 loans

The London Marathon

It was a day of mixed results this year for members of Sidmouth Running Club running the London Marathon. Pride of place must go to Justin Ashby who smashed the club record for the distance.

Justin who trained really well last autumn, (finally after 5 years of trying to break 36 minutes for a 10k succeeded in 35:30) and through this year has been feeling really strong with no injury worries and with the weather being perfect he thought he would have a crack at the record so he went for it. The club record was set back in 2014 by Malcolm Bayer a founding member of the club in a time of 2:42:55.

Justin finished in an outstanding time of 2:41:40 knocking 0:1:15 off the record. His overall pace was 6:09 minute miles and he was especially pleased with the negative split times (second half slightly quicker than the first) he finished 378^th overall and was 17^th in his age category. It was his day, his time and all those hours of training finally paid off. In his words “I loved every minute of it” you can bet there were many thousands of other runners thinking quite the opposite. A truly remarkable day for him.

Another runner having an “awesome day” was first timer Emma Salter. Emma’s training programme was blighted by illness and injury but the determined young lady was always going to start and finish and with the encouragement of family and friends she was “absolutely chuffed” with her time 04:56:03 and was “on top of the world” at the finish. She held a steady pace the whole way round and was really pleased with the even split times. She had a special thank you to fellow club member Helen Palmer for her help and company on the long training runs and said she wouldn’t be there without her. That is the spirit that runs through the club.

There was a bitter/sweet strawberry story for Naomi Garrick who went for the world record dressed as a strawberry. She did beat the record by fourteen minutes in 3:59:38 but after crossing the line she was informed that another strawberry had squashed her time. She was berry upset and wanted to go bananas. She has now run out of juice but proud that she has completed six London Marathons all in less than four hours and four of them in silly costumes.

Steve Saunders

Steve Saunders had a race of two halves as they say in football but carrying a foot injury into a marathon is not a good start. He did manage to run the first half but the injury took its toll in the second. He was pleased he took part and did get himself through it and finished his third and final London Marathon in 5:00:31 with a smile on his face.

Becky Robson was very unfortunate to pick up a calf injury in the early stages of the recent Exe to Axe race. She only intending to run to Sidmouth as part of her training for London and despite pulling out at Budleigh Salterton as a precautionary measure and with intensive post run treatment, it did not heal in time for her to run. However she has renewed her focus on the upcoming Women Can Marathon.

The highs and lows of a week in running.

The Wellington Boot Challenge 2017

The Wellington Boot is organised by the Long Distance Walking Association and can be either walked or run. The event is to complete a circular route of 100 kilometres with 7,200 feet of climb on foot within 26 hours starting and finishing in Wellington. Sidmouth Running club member Carine Silver thrives on these events and arrived in plenty of time to sign in, collect her tally card and have a cup of tea ready to start at 9am.

As you would expect with these sorts of elevations it is a picturesque route with a view of the sea (unless the weather is very overcast) and with half decent visibility even a view of Wales. The route reaches heights of over 1000 feet. It follows the Tone Valley, ascends the Quantocks, drops down to Holford, re-crosses the Quantocks, goes through the Brendon Hills and part of the Exmoor National Park to reach Clatworthy Reservoir then travels south through West Somerset and part of Devon, following the Clum Valley, ascends the Blackdown Hills to reach the Wellington Monument and then returns to the finish in Wellington.

Along the route there are 7 manned check points each having opening and closing times and each proving food and drink and 7 unmanned clipper points.

At the finish a cooked breakfast is available from 4am with hot drinks and toast if you finish earlier. You can of course have a sleep first and then have your cooked breakfast. And your reward at the end is the complete satisfaction that you have completed this Ultra, a certificate and event badge.

However in Carine’s case it got even better because at 3am she completed the run in 17hours 59minutes knocking an incredible 4 hours, yes 4 hours off her previous time and established a club record for this distance. She did say that it was much harder than she expected with vest weather during the day and winter woolly weather at night and at the end her legs were just liquid pain.

Huge congratulations to her.