Gongs galore for the Trotters

On Sunday, the Teignbridge Trotters hosted the Newton Abbot Ladies 10k race at the Dornafield Touring Park, near Two Mile Oak, courtesy of the owner Peter Dewhirst. Most South West running clubs were represented, however the undulating circular course even attracted a runner from the Clydesdale Harriers of Glasgow! Twenty two Trotters ran the race in fine sunny conditions and came away with four individual and two team awards, in addition to a number of PB`s.

The popular event saw record entries of 320, which resulted in a donation by the club of £640 to Mr Dewhirst`s nominated Charity: Bowel Cancer UK. This figure later reached the sum of £940, after further fundraising efforts by Mr Dewhirst on the day. There were 286 finishers, which was a massive increase on the 2008 figure of 175.

First to cross the line was Revis Crowle of East Cornwall Harriers, in 39:38, followed by unattached runners Catherine Philp (41:47) and Rachel Langdon (41:57). Leading the Royal Blues home in 8th overall position was Clare Youngman with a time of 44:17, improving on her 2008 time of 45:15 and scooping 1st FV 40. Hot on her heels was Tracy Elphick, 9th in 44:27 and 3rd FV 35.

Cathy Burgess (46:29) was also in line for Bronze when she raced across the line in 13th position, which was anything but unlucky as she had gained 3rd FV 40 and a vast improvement on her 2008 time of 49:37. Gia D`Aprano, still on fine form, received Silver as 2nd FV 50, in a time of 46:49 (2008 - 49:01).

Other runners were: Belinda Collins, running her 2nd race for the Trotters, 22nd overall in an admirable 48:17, quickly followed by Sue Brown (48:18), then Sharon Bowman (49:38), Steph Ross (52:24), Sarah Schutte (52:27) and Eleanor Taylor (52:41). Caroline Hayes also triumphed with the faster time of 54:36 (2008 - 59:30). Tina Caunter (54:51) was in hot pursuit, followed by Eyvol Aston (57:45) and Amanda Milverton in 58:32 (2008 - 1:00:21).

Completing the team were: Victoria Ratcliffe in 59:05 (2008 - 1:02:39), Jo Becker (59:56), Sarah Ross with 1:00:31 (2008 - 1:01:23), Vicky Hales (1:05:59), Cindy Brookes (1:06:14), Julie Crump (1:07:55) and Pauline Newsholme (1:26:03).

First Ladies team were: Clare Youngman, Tracy Elphick and Cathy Burgess, with Gia D`Aprano, Belinda Collins and Sue Brown crowned fourth. Thanks are of course extended to all the club members who acted as marshals, timekeepers and to those staffing the water stations.

Graeme Baker had meanwhile travelled to Newcastle for the Great North Run. He was one of the BBC featured runners on the pre start build up programme, before joining 54,000 other competitors on the course to South Shields. Graeme had a good result in the hot crowded conditions and was home in 1:49:19, 5,445th overall and 17th out of 191 in the MV 65 age category. He also received pledges of over £1,000 to assist his nominated Gambian village.

In equally sunny conditions, Graham Penn was running the City of Truro Half Marathon, sponsored by Skinners Brewery and organised with the help of Truro running club. The hilly circular route starts and finishes on Lemon Quay and for the vast majority of the time, is run on quiet rural lanes. Graham battled against cramp in the closing stages of the race to post a disappointing 1:57:27 and was 255th out of 437 finishers.

A couple of events from the previous weekend illustrate the versatility of certain club members. On Saturday 12th September, Vaughan Lindsay competed in the `Accelerace Extreme Triathlon` in Teignmouth. Advertised as one of the `Ten Toughest` Tri`s in the UK, the event started with a 2k sea swim of two laps from the pier. This was followed by an 88k bike ride to the River Dart Country Park and a challenging 23k run, incorporating several Dartmoor trails. Vaughan finished 2nd out of 32 competitors, in a total time of 5:47:10 (Swim: 24th in 12:02, Bike: 3rd in 3:15:02 and Run: 2nd in 2:17:42).

On Sunday 13th September, James Henderson attended the `Torrington Back in 5`. The undulating 5 mile road race starts and finishes at the Rugby club and takes in the villages of St. Giles and High Bullen. James was 21st past the line in a field of 76, with a time of 34:19.

Photo`s from the Ladies 10k (Milos Erben):

Upper: L to R - Sharon Bowman, Jo Becker, Clare Youngman, Belinda Collins, Gia D`Aprano, Sarah Schutte and Steph Ross.

Centre: Awaiting the start.

Lower: Pauline Newsholme at the finish.