Sidmouth Running Club was well represented at the 2015 Bicton Blister, writes Terry Bewes.

The event had a new course and there were 500 on the start line with 20 from the local club contesting the main 10-mile Blister and six taking on the shorter Blister Lite.

The new course cuts out all the road crossings and is basically uphill for the first five miles, or so it seemed, and surprisingly, not all downhill for the next five, despite what the marshals told us along the way!

Only one runner out of the 443 finishers managed to come in under the hour, but an excellent run by ‘lanky, lean mean running machine’, Graham Hill, meant the first Simdouth RC entrant was 23rd over the finish line in a time of 1:10:00, which also saw him third in the male-45 category.

lan Walker is now returning to full speed following a spate of injuries earlier in the year. John Keast showed he still has it somewhere and Abbi Lee managed to sneak in under the radar to record a good time despite work now getting in the way of her training!

Jon Ball and John Doherty are another two runners on fire at the moment and the sly fox Brian Gosling firmly put Terry Bewes in his place after Terry beat him at the last outing.

Despite wearing the number one on his vest Terry managed to come in last of the club runners - even Monica Read with a stinking cold managed to beat him!

Sarah Burston, making her first appearance in club colours and taking on a distance she had not run before on a far from easy course, came in under a very respectable two hours. By the time Terry finished Becky and Sarah were competing to see who had the biggest blister, this was easily won by Sarah (hop-a-long) Watkins. There were 443 finishers in the Blister.

ln the Lite, youth just edged out beauty when club newcomer Damian Doyle (13th) came in ahead of Jayne Drew, with the margin between them just over one minute.

Damian’s mother, also running for the first time in club colours, surprised everyone with an excellent time in the Blister race.

Meanwhile, back in the Lite it was good to see Sarah Brown running again and buddies Sue Cunningham and Caroline Ball enjoyed the sun and a chat as they ran around together. There were 91 finishers in the Lite.

Congratulation must go to Exmouth Harriers for a superbly organised event in perfect conditions. Further afield Lynda and daughter Kaylee Hawkins ran the New Forest Downton Half Marathon both finishing in just over 2:02:00 taking 229th and 230th places out of a field of 366. They will now no doubt be targeting a sub 2 hours on their next outing.

Sidmouth Running Club member times for the Blister: 1:10:00 - Graham Hill; 1:13:20 -Nic Smith; 1:18:58 - Ian Walker; 1:27:10 - Alan Colwill; 1:28:28 - John Keast; 1:35:17 - Colin Flood (second M65); 1:36:33 - Abbi Lee; 1:39:09 - Jon Ball; 1: 1:40:40 - Pauline Doyle; 1:42:37 - John Doherty; 1:43:57 - Debbie Marriott; 1:44:30 - Don Cawthera; 1:46:06 - Sarah Watkins; 1:49:58 - Brian Gosling; 1:53.06 - Cathy Keast; 1:53:07 - Monica Read; 1:53:08 - Becky Robson; 1:56:44 - Jo Earlam (who ran to the start from her Tipton home) - 1:57:22; 1:57:23 - Terry Bewes.

Sidmouth Running Club member times for the Blister Lite: 39:37 - Damian Doyle; 40:39 - Jayne Drew; 48:42 - Sarah Brown; 55:32 - Caroline Ball; 55:54 - Sue Cunningham; 1:00:47 - Bill Valentine.