The Wellington Monument 10k Race is traditionally the last race before Christmas, but the festival had started early for Sidmouth Running Club, with seasonal bugs, hangovers and over indulgence all taking their toll, writes Colin Flood.

In fact, only three club members joined the 150-odd competitors on the start line in Hemyock. The course couldn’t be simpler, - uphill from the bottom of the valley for two and a half miles, into the woods, round the monument, and back down again. For some reason, the second half is more popular than the first! The race has had to be cancelled for the last two years due to snow, but the weather was perfect on Sunday as Colin Flood (51.03) was first Sidmouth runner home – and that’s the first time that’s been written. John’pit-stop’ Podmore wasn’t far behind, and would have been closer still had he not had to stop for a, well, a pit-stop. Towards the back of the field, runners were strung out a bit and rounding a corner in the village, Louise Brown saw no-one ahead of her and took a wrong turning - what’s called a Bill Valentine moment. On the plus side, she still came in ahead of AVR’s Harry Moore, 79.

Despite having three GPSs between them, the trio still managed to take the wrong turning out of the village and had a tour of inland Devon before finding their way home!

back to Sidmouth. It was that sort of day.