News in Sidmouth

Mighty Green Kirsteen Welch had the honour of representing England on Sunday swapping the coastal paths of Sidmouth for the mountains of Italy and she smashed it!

Chosen by England Athletics to join the England team to run in the World Mountain Association Nations Cup, Kirsteen was delighted to come in 10th female place helping England to a team gold!

It proved to be a very difficult match for the Exeter Chiefs today (Saturday 23 October) against London Irish.

A rocky start

The Sidmouth Running Club Juniors were very lucky this half term managing to hold all their sessions bar the last one outside.

For the 11+ group this meant they were able to run off-road enjoying the views from Keble Seat and the seafront whilst the three 8+ groups were able to spread out on St John's sports field.

Mighty Green Antony Hall found himself lining up with 30,000 + runners at the recent Manchester Marathon and finishing in the top 1,000!

Antony said: "I started off really well, keeping a steady pace of seven-minute-miles until mile 18 where the long stretches of road took its toll and my pace dropped off considerably; but I kept going and finished just over 2 minutes outside my PB time in 3:10:06, 975th overall."

Today's away fixture against Wasps was a brutal battle for the Chiefs as they only just scraped a 27-23 victory.

The first half

'Brutal', 'tough', 'harder than an ultra-marathon' were some of the more printable descriptions of JP's Exe to Axe race which Sidmouth Running Club organised and ran on Sunday.

The 22 mile race which starts on Exmouth seafront and follows the coast path to Axmouth has been previously voted the 9th best race in Runner's World magazine and attracted 168 entrants from Falmouth to Aberdeen and everywhere in-between plus the Canary Islands.

On Sunday all the months of planning, training, dieting and dedication for seven Sidmouth Running Club members was paid off as they lined up at the start of the Virgin London Marathon. Alongside them either in the city or on the app were family, friends and fellow Mighty Greens following their progress and cheering them on.

Smashing his PB, Dan Prettejohn, who enjoyed the interaction with the crowds, ran splits of 7.00 to 7.28 min/mile and completed the marathon in 3:16:10.

As the sun burnt through the mist, 20 Sidmouth Running Club members gathered under the Mighty Green flag on Exmouth seafront on Sunday for a group photo ready to take on the Bradleys 10k race.

The chip timed, 2 lap race organised by Lizzie of LME events was sponsored by Bradleys Estate Agents who also got involved helping with registration, running in the race and marshalling. Sidmouth estate agent Stephen French and his wife Sarah were very encouraging marshals and certainly gave us all a boost as we passed them several times!

No lie-ins on a Sunday for Kirsteen Welch and Jamie Locke, who travelled down to Paignton to take part in the Ocean Healthcare Torbay Half Marathon and the brand new 10k race respectively.

Wearing the Mighty Green shirt, Kirsteen had a great run and was first lady over the finish line and 8th overall in 1:18:27. Jamie and his brother Tom had to run one lap of the half marathon route which was described as 'perfect for those starting and developing their race diary.'

The aptly named Celebration Caper organised by Jolly Running was cause for celebrations for three Mighty Greens on Saturday. The eight-hour timed event was set in the Riverside Valley Park, Exeter and it was up to the runner how many 3.3mile laps to run.

Despite the heat Rachel Austen-Rigby completed 2 laps, running 6.6 miles in 1:31:05 and was very pleased to receive the unique medal in the shape of a champagne bottle. This was Rachel's second 10k event since joining the club's beginners' group in lockdown this year and she said she appreciated the encouragement given from the fellow Mighty Greens.