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, writes Terry Bewes.

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, assisted by Tim Mitchell and aimed specifically for this race.

The training course proved a great success with four of the members setting personal best times. Paula Farrand smashed hers by six minutes recording a sub 50 minutes in 49:10.

Bethany Wells also had a smashing time finishing in 1:01:45 which was seven 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.

In her first run over this distance Helen Neighbour had obviously learnt 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.

The full list of member’s times read: 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, who ran with her friend Kirsten Hayball (Honiton RC) and crossed the finish line in 1:06:57.

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.

Last, but certainly not least, to quote Paula [Farrand]: “A big thank-you 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.”

There you are then folks, if you want to progress your running or just relax and enjoy it we are the club for you.