There was a great turnout of Sidmouth Running Club members for The Great West Run, writes Hamish Spence.
In very wet weather 14 ‘Mighty Green’ shirts took on the challenge and all did themselves proud and achieved some fantastic results. There were some new PBs and some first half-marathon finishes.
The Great West Run half marathon started from the Exeter Arena, taking the competitors on a tour of the city with masses of spectator support all the way along to a stadium finish.
The first Sidmouth runner and eighth MV50 was Richard Summerhayes, completing this half marathon in a fantastic time of 1:07:45 with an overall position of 88th.
A personal best for George Burgess saw him wipe a whole minute from a previous attempt, as he finished in 1:27:55, crossing the line in 91st place.
This half marathon was Greg Ward’s first.
He did very well, finishing in 492nd place in a fast time of 1:45:23, meaning that a sub four hour full marathon is possible. Go Greg, go!
Chris Day-Kerry clocked a new PB of 1:52:22 for 752nd place. Sarah Clapham was not much further behind Chris and running very well with a time of 1:53:31 and a finishing berth of 809th.
Sam Ingram followed shortly after in 968th place in 1:54:59 and 978th past the post was Rocker Shepard in a fast time of 1:58:10.
Paul Wright decided to give himself a massive handicap by wearing a bin bag!
The bag was removed after two miles and Paul came home in 1054th place with his time being 1:58:32.
Kerry Salter finished 1341st in a time of 2:06:29 and Jodie Hawkins finished 1594th in a time of 2:13:29.
Fresh from the Atlantic Coast Challenge (three marathons in three days), Jo Earlam must have felt like she was taking a casual walk in the park!
Her good time would suggest otherwise as she finished in 2:16:46.
Jo ran the route with a first half-marathoner Amelia Frankpitt, who clocked a time of 2:17:10, finishing in 1670th place.
Amelia thanks all in the club who have encouraged her and coach Jo Earlam, especially, for writing a training plan.
Christie Ward has been training very hard throughout the summer and on one occasion dragged a reluctant Paul Wright up onto Peak Hill.
This was Christie’s second half marathon and she managed to better her previous attempt by 15 minutes, with her time being 2:15:53 and, after a push for the finish line, she crossed in 1689th place.
John Sharples really enjoyed the event and helped motivate running partner Christie Ward, his daughter, to keep going.
John’s time was 2:15:55 for a 1692nd place finish.
Antony Hall had to go back to the finish line so officially his chip time and placing don’t do him justice at 2:20:18, which saw him finish 1743rd. His Strava times were a more believable at 1:34:41 and a nifty pace of 7:12-minute miles.
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