The Killerton Kanter, a 10k race around the grounds of Killerton House, celebrated its 25th anniversary at the weekend .

The Killerton Kanter, a 10k race around the grounds of Killerton House, celebrated its 25th anniversary at the weekend and, out of the 140 runners that took part, eight were Sidmouth runners.Jessica Watkins and Mark Keast, who had both run the Torbay Half marathon the week before and, with that in mind, were there just for the 'taking part'. Jessica was the first Sidmouth person home and fourth lady with a time of 47.29 (33rd), less than a minute behind the first lady. Keast, who is famously known for starting too fast, still came in with a respectable time of 48.43 (43rd). The clubs 'salty old sea dog' Colin Flood looking fit, followed a few minutes behind with a time of 52.09 (52nd). Shaun Tipton was just slightly behind Colin 53.16 (59th) followed by Bill Valentine in 54.35 (92nd). John Podmore, who had an eye- opening race, came in just under the hour 59.39 (92nd) and gained some valuable racing experience on and off the course. New member Lesley Roberts surprised all on her first race for the club with an excellent time of 1.00.39, just outside the hour but on a pretty tough course augurs well for the future. Jessica's mother Sarah Watkins was the third Sidmouth lady home, finishing strongly down the last hill with a smile on her face. Her time of 1.04.59 allowed her to enjoy the race and top up her tan at the same time. l A record number of 28 teams turned up for the Woodland relays held on Monday in Harpford Woods. This biannual competition between teams from Sidmouth, Axe Valley Runners, Honiton RC and the Met Office always throws up some surprising results and never more so than this time when, instead of the usual hot shots, the leaders after the second leg were Sidmouth Junior Boys. Kit and Grey Grierson, Joss Knight and Nick Smith ran out of their socks and maintained that lead to the end. Their new training regime under Head coach, Malcolm Bayer, is evidently paying off handsomely.It may be a little unfair to mention that they were helped by some pea-brained individual who, during the course of the race, sabotaged two arrows sending the leading three runners off route. Happily Ruth and John Chesters were soon on the scene and got the rest of the field back on track. This, unfortunately, is not the first time this has happened. Now and again arrows get removed or misplaced. Club members are great lovers of the countryside , respect other users and meticulously clear up after themselves. Would that others felt the same.