Club News

Braunton 10 & Hestercombe Humdinger
Braunton 10 The first local race of the year gave sixteen strugglers a chilly start to their 2012 race calender. Braunton 10mile will generally provide some cold conditions along with some very steep inclines and this year was no different. The first struggler home was Steve Abell in a time of 1.

Bicton Blister - Sunday 27th November
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Minehead Stagger & Stumble
The new club hoodies took their first outing on Sunday 23rd October with all club members taking part in the Minehead Stagger and Stumble. Another fantastic day provided ideal running conditions for all the strugglers taking part in these challenging races. The stagger saw 6 members venture over this tough terrain, taking in dunkery beacon at the highest point.

South Molton Struggle 2011
Unusually hot conditions in October did not stop 2 records being broken at the 3rd South Molton Struggle on the 2nd October 2011. Chris Sellens of Bideford AAC beat the course record in an unbelievable time of 46.16 and his team mate Sarah Ivory took the womans record in 54.

Great North Run & Bridge Run Bacon Butties
The weather certainly didnt dampen the strugglers motivation at the weekend with a record turnout for the final bridge run of the year. Elaine won the final run with a 2 minute PB with PBs also for Sarah, Cathy and Chris! Somehow I think the post race bacon butties may have had something to do with the high number of runners as well as the tiny chance of spotting one of our strugglers on TV in the Great North Run! Richard Connett ran a fantastic 1.39.

August holiday races
Despite being a bank holiday (with awful weather unsurprisingly) a handful of club members ventured to the Forest Flyer and Quarrymans to take advantage of two of the most scenic runs in the area. Richard Connett was the first struggler to finish at the Forest Flyer on Friday evening closely followed by Phil. Both Tracey and Brian felt that the 5 mile of forest trails was not a sufficient distance for them so decided to take a slightly different route and increase their race distance to over 6 miles! Sue was the final struggler to finish in fine form! The M5 hampered the turnout of runners with Emma getting stuck in traffic as well as illness preventing a few others.

Umberleigh & Bishops Nympton Runs
South Molton Strugglers dominated two local events this weekend with Dave Cutler winning the Umberleigh run on saturday evening with Ian Waldron coming in 2nd. Simon Goodman and Tracey Hulland took the first male and female crowns in the Bishops Nympton Fun Run also held on saturday. Well done to all those that took part!.

Seaview 17
Our very own pair of endurance athletes took to the coast paths only a month after completing the North Devon Marathon to take part in another equally challenging event. Steve Abell and Claire Campbell cant seem to get enough of the tough coastal terrain and this sunday took part in the Seaview 17 - an undulating coastal 17 - 21 mile run (no-one is quite sure). Steve Abell acheived a very impressive time of 2.

Target zero - how about Target 1 second!
The inaugural target zero beach run on Saturday 30th July saw 12 strugglers take on the tough 3.5mile course. With predicted times completed the run began with a hard climb, firstly up a sand dune and then followed by steps and steep coast path.

July 2011 Haytor Heller .......and it was!
Haytor Heller does exactly what the name suggests...

North Devon Marathon & Half Marathon
The hottest day of the year is never the best time to run one of the toughest marathons in the country but thats just what Steve Abell and Clare Campbell did on Sunday 26th June! Steve completed the exceptionally challenging course is 4.03.06, coming 7th overall and 2nd in his age category - a fantastic result! Claire finished the marathon for the 2nd year running in 5.

June 2011 - Olde English Fayre Childrens Run
The weather did nothing to stop over 60 children and parents taking part in the Olde English Fayre race night organised by the South Molton Strugglers. With varying age categories from under 5 through to under 16 running distances between 50m to 1200m the event proved to be great success. One parent said 'We all had a great time at the fun run tonight,the weather was very kind to us.

June 2011 - Run in the Wild
Cricket St Thomas proved to be a very challenging race for the 14 strugglers that made their way to Chard at the weekend. Described as an undulating race it proved to be something far worse with hills like we've never seen before! However all strugglers finished with big smiles on their faces having thoroughly enjoyed the steep inclines and even steeper declines along with a couple of river crossings! The dry weather meant there was a slight lack of mud for those hardened cross country fanatics but it still gave us everything you would expect from an off road race! Our newest club member David Cutler came in a fantastic 3rd place and Jack in 6th with the rest of the club all attaining great times for such a tough race. Also, well done to Connor Sibthorpe who came in 5th in the junior 2k race! Next year we will be back to face those hills again! Great run!.

May 2011 - Plymouth Half Marathon
Tracey and Phil made their annual trip to Plymouth to represent the Strugglers in the Plymouth Half marathon on sunday and secured great times of 1.40.32 and 1.

May 2011 - Swimbridge 10k
Ian Waldron and Jayne McKenzie Smith flew the flag for the South Molton Strugglers at the Swimbridge 10k with most strugglers taking a rest after the triathlon on saturday. Great result for Ian winning 1st vet 50 and a great run from Jayne too. Well done to both of you!.

May 2011 - Exceptional turnout of Strugglers at Bideford 10k
Huge congratulations to all the South Molton Strugglers who took part in the Bideford 10k on Sunday with many new faces entering their first 10k race. Well done to Jack, Tracey and Eric who all won prizes in their age categories and all those that achieved PBs. Next stop - triathlon and Swimbridge 10k!    .

May 2011 - Great West Run
Well done to Rachel and Cathy for successfully completing the Great West Run last Sunday in 2:25:28 and 2:25:26, respectively!.

April 2011 - Success in the Bampton to Tiverton
A great turn out for the bank holiday Monday Bampton to Tiverton run. Well done to all who ran, especially Jack and Tracey who both came top of their age groups..

April 2011 - A great London Marathon for SMS!
Well done to Jack, Simon, Tracey, Phil, Elaine, Julie, Brian and Amanda who all completed this years London Marathon! Great times guys - setting a very high standard for those who make it in next year..

Feb 2011 - Steve Able breaks the ice to win rescheduled Caper
Congrats to Steve and Derek who both ran extremely well in challenging conditions..