The Jurassic Coast 10k continues to attract a good number of runners and last Saturday morning just over 200 of them lined up on the cricket field at Budleigh Salterton ready for the start, writes John Perratt.

Amongst them were a group of Sidmouth Running Club members with varying ambitions or objectives for the day.

Jason Drew was looking for a top-three place despite instructions from his coach not to run this sort of distance but rather concentrate on the track middle distance. When you are 16 though, and running well, it is difficult not to have a go at after every challenge offered.

The older and hopefully wiser heads of Graham Hill and Milan Goc faced the problem of how to keep the youngster in sight. From a club point of view it all turned out brilliantly with all three finishing in the top ten. Young Drew was third in a great time for the hilly course of 37.45 whilst Hill finished seventh in 38.37 and Goc came in ninth in 39.13. Had there been a team prize, none of the others would have got near them.

Adrian Organ did well also, possibly surprising even himself, to finish 33rd in a very respectable time of 45.36.

He must have been putting in some secret training mileage somewhere along the way over the last month or so. Our sole lady competitor turned out to be Jason Drew’s mother, Jayne, and although initially just coming along to the club to provide transport for her son, she has subsequently joined in with the running and now is showing a fair turn of speed herself, reflected in her finishing time of 53.45.

Mike Lothian on 56.30 is getting used to the hills in this part of the world but still takes time to enjoy the views on this very scenic course. Finally it is good to see Brian Gosling back after a very long break because of injury. It would have been nice if he could have broken the one hour mark but missing it by just one minute is, he would agree, much better than watching it from the sidelines.

On the bank holiday Monday other club members set off for the 10k at the Lustleigh Show, but unfortunately we have not as yet received the results of that popular event – see next week’s Sidmouth Herald for that report.