Sidmouth Running Club was asked once again to organise and run the Sports Relief Mile, writes Terry Bewes.

Sidmouth Herald: J M Dance Fit at the Sport Relief Mile event in SidmouthJ M Dance Fit at the Sport Relief Mile event in Sidmouth (Image: Archant)

Turning up in the Byes at 6am to start setting the course Colin Flood and Jacki were not sure if they were awake or dreaming as they were confronted by two horses running free!

This posed a bit of a problem, as how to deal with this situation was not featured in the risk assessment handbook!

However, as other helpers turned up the horses went off towards Sidford. Problem solved!

A team of 32 JM Dance Fit Zumba Divas from Sidmouth and the surrounding area, seven members of the Running Club’s Beginners course and five from St John’s school were amongst 130 ranging from babies in prams complete with mum or dad to senior citizens who were ready to go.

As with all runs a warm-up is required and this was led by Terry Bewes.

All was going well until he went into his Zumba routine which was soon shouted down by the experts, and he was replaced by Johanna Morgan who led a five-minute routine which was enjoyed by young and old alike.

And so to the run! This is around a one mile circuit set through the Byes and runners can choose between one and six laps. You can walk; wiggle, run, Zumba or whatever takes your fancy around the course. It was a very chilly morning so that kept everyone moving. As you finished you were rewarded with a medal and a bottle of water.

This is not a serious run, but an event to be enjoyed by the whole family and in the process raise funds for charity. In this respect we were winners with the team of adults and children from Johanna’s Zumba Miles with Smiles classes raising over £3,000 to come top of the UK Sport Relief Teams Mile Leader board.

JM Dance Fit founder Johanna Morgan said: “I am incredibly proud of our team and their amazing fundraising efforts. The team is absolutely ecstatic with the amount they have raised to help people less fortunate than ourselves. Our motto in class has always been ‘Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much’. And this goes to show that when you put your minds together there is no limit to what you can achieve. We would like to say a huge thank you to all those who sponsored us and to the all the members of the Running Club who turned up to put on this event.”