AGM Chair’s Report

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Chair’s report to the 14th AGM 12/04/2017

Firstly I would like to say that the last 12 months have been a resounding success for the club which continues to grow ever stronger. A lot of this success is

Helen

on the back of the work put in by the previous chair Helen Palmer from whom I took over last year. Helen steered the club through a difficult time in her usual calm and efficient manner. She still keep an eye on me, tapping her watch if I am going on to long on a Wednesday evening, or they are taking too long to get from the club to the car park so tell them the warm up starts when they are outside the door and run over. She is my running buddy and we have run and walked many miles over the years. She dragged me around my first Grizzly when I was 60 and got an ear blasting for her trouble, and this year when she saw I was struggling, came back and said “come on we can do this, and we did. A great friend and a credit to this club.

None of this would have been possible without the time and dedication of the leaders and coaches, not only in taking the runs but also the time they give in attending the various courses. Of course the more the club grows the greater the call will be on them. During the year we welcomed four new leaders Adam Marston-Price, Nigel Maeer, Tim Clay and David Lee. Tim Mitchell is currently taking a four day coaches course which he finishes in June so he will be organising some form of training plan for the autumn with his newly found knowledge. We are always looking for new Leaders so if you are interested in attending a one day course held locally then please let me know. And with that I would like you to join me in a round of applause to show your appreciation to them.

I would also like to express a vote of thanks to the committee for the work that they put in unseen on behalf of the members and in particular our Secretary Jo Earlam. Jo has been extremely busy this year but is always on the ball keeping us up to date on all the rule changes that affects us and minuting our meetings. Treasurer Sarah Burston, another lady with a busy life who keeps our account up to date but due to growing work and family pressure she is now standing down from the role. I would like to take this opportunity to pass on our appreciation of all the time she has given to the club in the role of Treasurer.

Naomi Garrick our Social Secretary never gives up trying to get the social side of the club going and it is an uphill struggle. It is also a side to the club that I have never been able to understand. When running you could not get a more sociable group of people, I have been on runs with the ladies that have lasted 5 hours or more and they never stopped talking! I have heard it said on more than one occasion from members of other clubs that you can always tell when the Sidmouth ladies are coming as you can hear them talking half a mile away. Yet we struggle to get the response to the social events we put on. This is an area I hope we can improve on in the coming year and we are arranging a BBQ here at Port Royal on Saturday 17th June. If you have any ideas for a social event please let Naomi know.

John Keast, our Membership Secretary spent a lot of last year getting to grips with the England Athletic Registration System. This System is an extremely important tool to the club as it allows us access to email all our members in one hit. And this is where you come in when filling out your membership form, especially your email address. Make sure it is clear and legible so that John can read it and check your spam folders for EA e-mails coming from jo.earlam@hotmail.co.uk.John has already started to input the 2017 membership forms and he has obviously got to grips with it as I have already seen it throwing up some anomalies.

Web Editor Rob Edwards. I would challenge anybody to find another Running Club website that is as good and up to date as ours. That in itself has had the effect of raising the profile of the club and the continuing increase in membership. The time and effort he puts in is incredible, what I send him one day is usually on the site the next. I cannot speak highly enough of him, not only with data input but sorting out any problem that arises with the system. At committee meetings he speaks a different language with weird sounding words similar to Dutch Tony. We do need an understudy for him, preferably someone younger with IT knowledge that could teach an old dog new tricks and at the same time learn how the system works to safeguard the future.

Exe to Axe race director Paul Mitchell who once again, with the help of Rob Edwards organised and ran an extremely challenging event exceedingly professionally as I have seen by so much favourable feedback from those that entered.

Thanks also to all the club members who helped out on the day.

The Chairman’s Mighty Green Challenge has been a resounding success and will be repeated this year. Keep sending in the photographs because as you will see later there are prizes to be won at the end of the year.

The Mighty Green on holiday has been seen in Gibraltar, Hanoi, Greece, Tokyo, Scotland, Ireland, Morocco, the Baltic, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, Wales, England, Bali, Australia, Africa, India, Madeira, Thailand, South Africa, Italy and France.

The Mighty Green Racing shirt has been worn in the following races: The Wolf Run, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Bristol, Taunton, Windsor, Exeter, London, Dartmoor, Dublin, Drogo, Templar 10, Barcelona and Australia.

Earlier in the year we sent out a questionnaire and from that we were able to find out what you would like from the club. This has resulted in Justin Ashby developing an 8 week 10k training programme focussing on the Ottery 10k. This has proved an outstanding success with over 30 runners registering, ranging from those who were on the Beginners course to the more accomplished runners. So much so that Tim Mitchell has been recruited to help him out. Already PB’s are coming in from members on this course. I thank them both for their time and expertise.

The Time Trials have been resurrected under the leadership of Vice Chair Becky Robson. She must have been overwhelmed with the 74 members who recorded times on the first outing, together with the helpers and others running but not recording a time we had over 80 members out on a Wednesday evening, truly remarkable. Thank you Becky and all your helpers.

Members also showed an interest in Park Runs and Debbie Marriott will be organising these. There are a number of venues around here where the event takes place and if there are sufficient members interested Debbie will arrange a coach outing to one. Contact Debbie if you are interested.

Guess the time of your run. We will discuss this at the next committee meeting and arrange a date and venue.

The January beginners’ course was a huge success. Expecting 10 to 15 people, on the first night 35 enrolled with a further 10 the following week, and for once I was at a loss of how to cope with this! Helen Palmer came to the rescue and once again got involved with organising them. The positive feedback from them regarding Helen and the run leaders on the course speaks for itself and only about 10 dropped out. For some unknown reason she will not let me get involved with the beginners!!

Port Royal. When you become a member of the Running Club, you automatically become a member of the Port Royal Club. This allows you full use of all the facilities when the club is open, except when there is a private function on. You can also request a key for which a deposit will be required or a door code whichever they decide on, allowing you access to the showers and toilets at all times. It is here to use and they have asked us for feedback on the bar, are they selling what you would buy or would you like to see other products available? e.g. coffee machine, better quality wine, different beer or spirits, more comfortable seating etc. Please let us know.

This autumn we will try and arrange for Gavin and hopefully Jo Pavey as well to come and give us a talk and maybe run with us. But with Gavin’s experience in the Exe to the Axe, that might be optimistic.

We will see what interest there is in going to Exeter Arena on a Monday night for training on the track and we will arrange a coach if there is sufficient interest.

Any other ideas for the Autumn/Winter programme please let us know.

During the year club runners have collectively entered 60 different events (39 the previous year).

The Sports relief mile organised by Colin Flood raised £3,475.07. Overall 72.5 million was raised.

Organising the races at the Sid Vale Athletics meeting raised the club £300.

It is great to see those that started in the beginners continuing to improve, likewise the more accomplished runners who have joined throughout the year. One of

Rita

them told me that when she told her friend she was thinking about joining us she was told “you don’t want to join them they are hardcore” Well that is one thing we are not. We are one big family that enjoys our running and that is the message we must get out there. The press reports play a part in this as the public can see not only the range in the age of our members but also that their friends run. I am ever grateful to my wife Rita for her help in compiling these reports, present tense, past tense, commas, full stops, spelling, grammar and my old favourite of or off mean nothing to me so on a Tuesday night when I write the reports she gets the calling while watching TV “pause that a minute please and check this”.

Thank you to my grandson Kyle for the time he gives to the club with his amazing photography, when they say that the camera never lies, don’t believe it. Keep taking the photos everyone and send me details of events you enter.

And finally, to sum up, I would like to thank you all for continuing to support your club, renew your membership now so that you are insured while running with us, buy that Mighty Green shirt and wear it with pride, enter more races wearing it, it’s not about winning but supporting your club, show them the strength of The Mighty Green Army.

Thank you everyone

Terry

Chair

Sidmouth Running

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Sidmouth Running Club

Justin Ashby’s 10k training course is starting to show results after only a few weeks with a number of personal best times being recorded.

Paula Farrand only started running a year ago and by her own admission took the Forest Gump approach to it. Now after two sessions, and lots of advice on technique from Justin, at the latest Park Run not only did she record a PB time of 22:47 but was also the second lady home.

Julia Haddrell also at a Park Run recorded a PB of 36:08. Lydia Mansi not content with recording a PB over 7k of 47:24 also took her training over to France with her family. Running a two miler with her children she then let then rest while she did some hill reps much to the amusement of the locals.

Entries have started to come in for this year’s Mighty Green Challenges. Danny Painter fresh from his relaxing run as back marker at the recent Exe to Axe race took on a harder challenge by bobbing around the peaks enjoying the sun, clouds and gale force winds. He arrived at the top of Moel Siabod, Snowdonia in what can only be described as horrendous conditions especially in his Mighty Green shirt.

Meanwhile taking a much more relaxed approach Monica Read submitted a photo of the Mighty Green enjoying the sun in Puglia, Italy, much more sensible.

Honiton Hippo

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The Honiton Hippo

The Honiton Hippo takes its name from the remains of a hippopotamus that was found when building the Honiton by-pass in the 1960s and the Hippo certainly lived up to its name. Mud, Mud glorious Mud, and a load of cold water thrown in as well for good measure was the order of the day. The Hippo is a true 7.5 mile multi-terrain race with sections of small lanes, woodland paths, meadows, off-road tracks, on-road, the Land Rover Experience circuit, two river crossings and more mud and water.

With the recently completed long races, The Grizzly 20 mile, Delicious Dart 16 miles and the Exe to Axe 22 miles, Sidmouth Running Club members were in need of rest and recovery and this year the club only managed to enter 3 seniors and one junior in the race. It was a glorious sunny morning that greeted us at the start and with the temperature rising, by the time we got to the first river crossing perhaps we spent too long enjoying that refreshing paddle before setting off again.

In the 1.75 mile multi-terrain junior race the Hippo Calf, Alecia Ranson finished 3rd overall in the girls under 13 category.

Sidmouth times: Janice Ranson 1:27:52, Sue Collman 1:27:55, Terry Bewes 1:27:55.

Thank you Honiton Running Club for a brilliantly entertaining race and all that food and drink at the end.

There were 233 finishers.

JP’s ExeToAxe Report

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JP’s Exe to the Axe Race

It was a chilly but beautiful morning that would get sunnier and warmer throughout the day that greeted the 275 competitors that gathered at the Foxholes car park in Exmouth on Sunday for the start of the most seriously gruelling JP’s Exe to Axe race.

‘A brute of a race with some extraordinary views’ was how Runners World described it in its April edition. And our ANOB did not let them down with some outstanding views along the 22 mile route. Full results can be found here. Additional photos by Kyle Baker Photography and Kit Woodcock. More photos of Sidmouth Runners that Kyle took can be found here.

Anthony above Exmouth

Ladram Bay

First to finish was Michael Robinson of Exmouth Harriers in 2:53:15, this was the third time that he has won this race. Second, Richard Roberts of Eryri Harriers in 3:00:37, Richard took a wrong turning near the end putting him just over the 3 hours.

Third, Graham Willis Tiverton Harriers in 3:07:58. First lady was Anna Bartlett of Mercia Fell Runners in 3:21:33 who also took the female over 40 trophy.

First relay team was Matthew and Robert Salt of Dacorum and Tring in 3:32:59: Male over 50 trophy, Richard Everson of SWRR in 3:20:15: Male over 40, Chris Perry of Axe Valley Runners in 3:28:19: Senior female, Laura Swanton in 3:35:53: Male under 23, Jerome Borghgraef in 3:46:00: Male over 60, Christopher Kelsey of Wells City Harriers in 3:47:40: Female over 50, Jayne Angilley of Cornwall AC in 3:57:19: Female over 60, Eleanor Wood of Axe Valley Runners in 4:05:30.

First club runner home was once again Antony Hall in 41st place in 3:45:13: Gary Anning 3:54:46: Nigel Maeer 4:08:36: Julian Bartlett 4:14:50: Simon Hollyer 4:47:51: Lynda Hawkins 5:03:17. Lynda had planned to run with daughter Kaylee but a bad ankle injury a couple of days before put paid to that. Jo Earlam 5:06:29: Becky Robson dropped out at Budleigh Salterton with a niggle in her calf and with the London Marathon coming up very sensibly decided not to risk an injury.

Sidmouth was also well represented by the Sidmouth Sirens, Helen Palmer, 5:26:07: Monica Read, 5:26:07: Sue Collman 5:26:08 and Janice Ranson 5:23:32. This was the first time Monica and Sue had run this race and they did extremely well. Beth Wells who joined the beginner’s course in January and who had run from Exmouth to Ladram Bay a few weeks earlier reasoned that it was not much further to Sidmouth maybe forgetting the two large hills in between but finished in a respectable time of 2:22:00.

In the team event Sidmouth Mighty Green Oldies, Jon Ball and Tim Clay came 6th in 4:16:30 and Sidmouth Ancient and Dazed Arthur and Christine Vince brought the proceedings to an end in 7:42:16

Another runner training for a 100k run in the Alps ran to Seaton, ate a flapjack, turned around and ran back to Exmouth to catch a train back to Exeter that he had previously booked.

Gavin

The story of the day belongs to the West Hill contingent. Jo Pavey the Club’s ambassador is in the final stages of her training for the London Marathon so was unable to run, however husband Gavin was talked into running with a group of friends who had already entered. Seizing the opportunity at the start Terry Bewes quickly took off his club running vest and gave it to him to wear. This was paying off as at Budleigh, Gavin went by in 6th place and at Sidmouth he had dropped back a little, the reason would become clear later. The next time I saw him was at the finish when I heard someone say “There’s Gavin”, I looked up but could not see him on the promenade then I saw him on the pavement being supported by a medic, his rescuer and a shooting stick. It turned out that the injury to his achilles started as he came down Peak Hill and by the time he got to the top of Weston cliff it was so swollen and sore that he could not walk on it. Luckily running club member David Hedges was out on the cliff in his jeep and had the shooting stick with him so with the help of David and the stick he managed to drag himself to a lane where he was hauled into the jeep and driven to Seaton. It was decided that as he had only completed half of the race he would be awarded only half a medal.

One of his team mates also didn’t fare much better getting lost and running a further 3 miles ending up at the Donkey Sanctuary and he too came in for a lot of stick as he is supposed to be good at map reading being a Royal Marine. They eventually made their way to the Bowd Inn to rehydrate on real ale.

The club would like to thank Johanna Morgan the Zumba diva from JM Dance Fit for the Zumba warm up. Thanks also to Axe Valley Runners for the water station at Branscombe.

Danny and Corinna

Several runners asked the Club to pass on their gratitude to Corrina Stevens and Danny Painter the back markers for all their help and encouragement which got them through the final stages of the run. It was however a fitting reward at the finish when many competitors were full of praise and congratulated Paul Mitchell the Race Director on the organisation and how well the whole day had gone and said they would be back next year in greater numbers. Paul however was quick to point out that without the support of the Club members, their spouses and children it would not have been the success it was.

Not only did our AONB shine but SIDMOUTH Running Club did as well.
Congratulations to you all.

 

Mighty Greens

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Chairman’s Mighty Green Challenge

and

Exe to Axe

The final entries are now coming in for Sidmouth Running Club’s chairman’s Mighty Green Challenge.

In the racing category Andy Shearer took himself off to Spain and along with his friend Kevin Druce entered the Barcelona Marathon. The great Catalan capital was host to the Zurich Barcelona Marathon which was reborn in 2005. The race starts in the Avinguda, Maria Cristina and the course it follows is one of the most attractive in Europe. The favourable climatology that characterizes Barcelona combined with a fully urban circuit that passes through the main landmarks of great interest for the runners. It was a very warm day with Andy finishing 4:20:00 and Kevin in 4:23:00

Meanwhile taking herself even further afield Milly the Marvel Frankpitt was in Wungong Dam, Australia. Milly just couldn’t wait to show off her Mighty Green shirt to the locals and after just 2 hours sleep due to jet lag wakefulness in the night she ran the 14.1k Darling Ranges in Perth then went straight back to bed.

EXE TO AXE

With the upcoming Exe to Axe race on April 2nd we have been informed that the ladies record holder Annie Conway (Ambleside AC) has won the World Long Distance MR Championship in Podbrdo, Slovenia. In 2015 she came in second just 9 seconds behind Axe Valley runner Matt Clist. It was a very exciting finish as coming along the esplanade at Seaton she was catching him up. With the extended route this year to the Eastern end of the esplanade it would have been an even more exciting finish. There is still time to enter this race with entry forms on the club website or you can enter on the day.

Forest of Dean 1/2

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The Forest of Dean Half Marathon

There seems to be a theme running through SIDMOUTH Running Club at the moment where husbands invite their wives out for the day only to find when they arrive at their destination a pair of running shoes are produced from the boot of the car. And so it was for Cathy Keast who looking forward to a nice day out with husband John in the Forest of Dean found herself running a half marathon around it.

Utilising well maintained forest trails with gentle inclines the race starts from Speech House and is run through the forest on way-marked trails laid out by the Forestry Commission in a clockwise direction back to the start.

This was to be John’s last run of the season and luckily his new replacement pacemaker was up to the job and he finished in 1:49:51 and Cathy in 2:15:38 which was an excellent time seeing that she had completed the Grizzly the week before.

John now begins his cycling training in readiness for June when he will undertake to cycle 360 miles of the Tour de France route in order to raise money for the William Wates Memorial Trust. If you would like to sponsor John he would be most grateful and can be contacted through the contact tab on the Club website.

English Schools CC

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English Schools Cross Country Championships

Last weekend saw SIDMOUTH Running Club members Kate Marriott and Toby Garrick take part in the English Schools Cross Country Championships in Norwich, Norfolk.

After over 10 hours travelling there, they managed to shake off the tired legs and finish in 196th and 244th respectively, on a very flat course. The two athletes were very proud to finish 4th and 6th in their Devon team. This event followed the Inter-County Championships, held in Loughborough, on 11th March. Again, it was another long trip up, with an extremely challenging course with lots of mud and hills.

Both runners were at the bottom of their age group, and were very nervous to be competing with over 350 runners per race. The day was successful with Kate finishing 2nd in the Devon team and 202nd overall, whilst Toby got pipped on a sprint finish to finish 4th in the Devon team and 192nd in the testing field.

They are both very pleased the cross country season is now over which means no more mud, sweat or hills but the track season is soon looming.

The Grizzly

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The GRIZZLY

The Grizzly, what can you say about this 20 mile multi terrain race? Renowned as one of the toughest going, that takes in shingle beaches 3 times, river runs twice, hills many, muddy woodland trails, no make that very wet and muddy, flint paths, fields, and not forgetting the two bogs and the famous Stairway to Heaven. A race that sold out 2000 places in a matter of hours back in September and is greatly oversubscribed, attracting runners from all over Europe, well one word, FANTASTIC.

Fantastic organisation by Axe Valley Runners, start by the Town Cryer, route, views, marshals, supporters all around the course, entertainers, water and food stations, competitors and the fantastic 25 Sidmouth Running Club members nearly all resplendent in their Mighty Green Club shirts who took on the challenge.

Of the 1573 that started the main race 1569 finished, with the Club having 6 runners in the top 500. Danny Painter 109th in 3:00:33 (last year142nd in 3:02:19), Antony Hall 124th in 3:03:09, Gary Anning 317th in 3:26:48, Nigel Maeer 419th in 3:35:19 followed by Julian Bartlett in 3:37:40 and Mark Welland in 3:37:48. This is the second race in a row that Danny has just gone over the hour mark by just a few seconds, third time lucky Danny.

Other club results Susie Perry 3:49:26, Carine Silver 3:48:26, Alan Colwill 3:55:03, Charlotte Forrer 3:58:24, Katie Kent 4:03:14, Naomi Garrick, 4:04:35 who ran dressed as a Strawberry in preparation for her attempt at the world record for the Guinness Book of records at the upcoming London Marathon.

Simon Hollyer 4:06:46, Rocker Sheppard who last year took the ambulance to the finish when an injury got the better of him at Seaton Hole managed to finish this year in 4:12:11, Becky Robson 4:23:47, Lynda Hawkins 4:27:33, Jonathan Dale 4:38:52.

The Rusty Runners, Helen Palmer, Cathy Keast, Moncia Read, Terry Bewes along with Janice Ranson and David Wright all ran the course together and finished in 4:48:39.

We had 2 runners amongst the 494 that started the 10 mile Grizzly Cub Run, Suzi Rockey 2:03:36 and Sarah Burston 2:06:54. Suzi was outstanding when you consider that only a few weeks ago she was hobbling around on crutches.

A feature of this race is the tree of remembrance where runners can tie a ribbon to it in memory of someone. This year it was particular moving and emotional to see Debbie and Don by the tree as runners tied their ribbons in memory of Debbie’s 19 year old son Sam who recently died so tragically.

Another great Grizzly and we all look forward to the next one.

Bideford 1/2M

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Bideford Half Marathon

Three members of Sidmouth Running Club put on their Mighty Green shirts and headed up to north of the county for the Bideford AAC half marathon. The race this year was run in memory of Geoff Fanson one of the founding members of the running section of the Bideford club.

Beth and Danny

 

The course takes in the magnificent countryside alongside the river Torridge between Bideford and Great Torrington. The course is half on road and half on the Tarka Trail and you even get to run through a tunnel. The route is moderately flat with a small hill section. It was pretty windy though which made it a lot tougher.

 

Bethany Wells who joined the beginners course in January had set her sights on having a go at this race and despite being ill last week she still turned up at the Club for her 5 mile training run and was even more determined to complete the 13.1 miles. On the day however she did have the support of her step-dad, the well-known local marathon runner and back marker for JP’s Exe to Axe race, Danny Painter, who ran with her. Both turned out to be winners with Bethany finishing in 2:32:58 and despite Danny’s ‘encouragement’ she was still talking to him after the finish. A Mighty Green runner in the making Bethany, the club is proud of you.

 

Becky

Sidmouth’s other runner Becky Robson had an eventful start. After a busy week at work she took a laid back approach to this race as preparation for the London Marathon, a little too laid back as it turned out as exiting the port-a-loo she found that the runners had set off two minutes earlier so she had to get a move on and still finished in 1:57:34. A lesson learned for London.

There were 1150 finishers showing how popular this race is particularly with personal best runners.

New Coaches+Course

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New Coach and Run Leaders

Sidmouth running club are pleased to welcome two new Leaders in Running Fitness into their ranks. Both David Lee and Tim Clay have completed and passed the one day course required to achieve the qualification. The course will enable them to deliver fun and safe sessions to multi-ability groups and give advice and support to new runners as well as developing a pathway for those who want to progress. It focuses on understanding and overcoming barriers to participation in running and how to increase participation by those not traditionally attracted to a running club. David has already had his first taste of leading, stepping up to the plate on Monday night and the feedback I got from those taking part was very positive.

Meanwhile Tim Mitchell is in the process of working towards a Coach in Running Fitness qualification. This course is about the broad application to non-track based endurance running events rather than specific events or distances. He will learn how to coach endurance running on a variety of surfaces, how to plan a progressive training programme, and helping participants develop towards their specific goals.

Tim has already completed his first two training days of this very involved and intense course. This will be followed by a third training day and then a further assessment day in the months to come.

The club is also very grateful to Justin Ashby who is organising an 8 week training course that will focus on the Ottery 10k in May. The course is open to all, beginners doing their first 10k, improvers for those who have done 1 or 2 10k’s but want a better time and the advanced personal best runners. Details of the course can be found on the club website or on the notice board at Port Royal.

With Becky Robson and Ian Walker organising this year’s time trials, Guess the time of your run coming in the summer and organised Park Run trips there are busy times ahead for club members.

If you are not already a member and would like to give it a go, turn up on a Wednesday night at 6:45 at Port Royal and join us for a 2 mile starter run.