The Sid Vale Sports Day and Fete was again blessed with good weather and provided good Bank Holiday entertainment for the whole family.

The Sid Vale Sports Day and Fete was again blessed with good weather and provided good Bank Holiday entertainment for the whole family.

The climax of the day was the Tug o' War competition which saw the hastily assembled Running Club team nearly pull off a magnificent win against the might of the Red Lion, Sidbury. Had we won the toss on the final pull and been able to choose the 'downhill' end we would surely have won it!

Earlier in the day, Guy Bennett took home the Joyce Memorial Trophy for his win in the Open Cross Country and Nick Smith, who had a very busy day, won the Junior Cross Country Cup over a very interesting course involving multi crossings of the River Sid.

The track events were enthusiastically supported and well controlled by the starters, Nicole Madely and Helen Palmer, and the track judges Chris Long and Colin Flood.

The club is happy to be involved with the event and it was encouraging to witness some fine performances in everything from the toddlers' race to the frightening stampede which, according to the programme, was the final of the wheelbarrow race.

l Enjoying rather less pleasant weather, Malcolm Bayer and Di Puzey arrived at Brandon Forest, Suffolk for a Half Marathon. This was an interesting, beautiful route along wide forest tracks, incorporating sand, stones and grass.

However, it is flat, although the wind was strong at times so it wasn't a PB course and the winning time was three minutes slower than last year.

Malcolm's return to running is still going well and, although he would have liked a better time, he twisted his ankle warming up but was still 16th overall and 2nd in his age group in 1.26.00. Di was first in her age group and at 1.38.42 only 27 seconds slower than her PB set 19 years ago, before she stopped running for some years.

There was no fuss and frills at this event, and no toilets, so everyone was running for the woods before the race, forming orderly queues among the trees.

This was a great event, friendly, well-organised and marshalled - thanks to Brandon Fern Hoppers - and well worth the trip.

l We also searched cyberspace for our runners in the Crewkerne 9 miler on Sunday, but could only find Brian Gosling with a good time of 1.19.00.

Sidmouth Running Club winners at Sid Vale Athletics with their trophies.

Pic: Chris Woodcock.