Club Records for Emma, Susie and 'Continental' Dave as Trotters Enjoy the Autumn Sunshine

On Sunday, 38 Teignbridge Trotters had a leisurely wake up before putting on the Royal Blue vest to compete locally in the Dartmoor Vale 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon races whilst 6 went further afield to Abingdon and Amsterdam.

A mixture of fine autumn weather and familiar territory clearly was of great appeal to the stay-at-home Trotters with an impressive array of prizes, personal bests and a new club record.

In the 10k race Tom Burman, still on a high from his recent trip to the French Alps where he took part in the Alpe d'Huez Triathlon, was first Trotter across the line in a fine 19th place out of 341 finishers clocking a swift 40.42. The unassuming James Henderson, as usual going quietly about his business, was next home in 25th place in 42.09. Following on were Ben Epps (38th) in 43.52, Nigel Penwarden (49th) in 45.03, voracious racer Craig Churchill (61st) 46.14 and Sarah Whalley (76th) in a fine 47.29. Marsha Garrard by finishing in 95th place in 49.12 was delighted to be awarded a category prize for 2nd place female. Caroline Hayes, 19 years a Trottette and now running in veteran circles, was elated to post a PB, finishing 128th in an enviable 51.39. Then came Michelle Roberts (141st) in 52.49, Julie Crocker (160th) 53.47, followed by Susie Ashleigh-Thomas storming home in 162nd place in 53.55 and in the process taking 2nd FV60 prize. At the same time Susie has reduced Pauline Newsholme's 11 year old club 10k FV60 record by nearly 2 minutes. Glenn Jarvis was 193rd in 56.05 and the line-up was completed by Sarah Ross (254th) in 61.44.

In the Half Marathon race an impressive 22 Trotters lined up to take on the 13.1 mile course over familiar surroundings. There were 303 finishers with the Royal Blue vest accounting for 10 of the first 50 places. There were several inter-club scraps throughout the field. Daryl 'Tarquin' Milford and Wavell Vigers worked as a team to help each other throughout the race. This helped the younger man Tarquin to run a fine PB of 1:22.35 beating Wavell to the line by a solitary second. In so doing Tarquin earned 5th prize and Wavell, in 6th place overall, picked up 2nd M40 prize. Ian Langler is enjoying a solid season of running and came in a very satisfactory 10th pace in 1:25.57. Also amongst the prizes was the ever reliable Chris Cleave finishing 17th overall and 1st M45 in 1:28.03. Mark Becker crossed the line as 3rd M45 27th overall in 1:31.09 closely followed by another mini battle between Mike Hill (29th) in 1:31.08 and John Crocker (30th) in 1:31.23. Meanwhile tussle number 3 was taking place between John Tweedie (46th) in 1:34.39 and Mark Hamling (47th) a mere 2 seconds in arrears. The top 50 was completed by style guru Wilf Taylor in 1:35.25 who in the process picked up 1st M55 prize. Not to be outdone was Stuart Moulson reducing his own PB by 1 min 24 finishing 60th in 1:36.48. Phil Perry continues to improve (115th) in 1:45.15, Peter Blakesley (131st) 1:46.21 and the evergreen Graeme Baker (137th) in 1:47.11. There was then a short gap to Graham 'Inky' Penn (169th) 1:50.59 and then another PB this time for Sarah Schutte (171st) in 1:51.12. Kevin Besford also had a good day, following a sustained training programme Kevin has smashed through the 2 hour barrier for the first time in 25 years finishing (202nd) in 1:56.48. The Trotter line up was completed by El Taylor (210th) 1:57.38, Sharon Bowman (210th) 1:58.36, Steve Rawlinson (241st) 2:04.38, Jo Becker (244th) 2:05.32 and Derek Blackford (263rd) 2:10.23.

The Club was also represented in the Full Distance race by Roger Hayes, still feeling the effect of his grueling marathon programme, but despite that finishing 24th out of 128 finishers in a highly respectable 3:27.47. Roger Hales was 50th finisher in a smoldering time of 3:43.00 with Mark Wotton recovering from a mid-week injury to finish 96th in 4:17.45.

Slightly further afield in picturesque Oxfordshire a quartet of Trotters arrived at the start of the Abingdon Marathon. The race starts and finishes at the Tilsley Park Running Track which gives the race a special atmosphere. The course runs out and back through the town, in between taking in the quaint rural villages of Drayton, Milton and Sutton Courtenay before returning to the stadium for a grandstand finish. There were 707 finishers with both Simon Boobyer and Bruce Campbell stepping up in distance to finish in 199th and 200th places in 3:20.20 and 3:20.28 respectively. Star of the day by a mile (or 26.2 to be precise) was Emma Sidebotham finishing 318th in 3:35.32 and in the process destroying Sam Gee's Ladies record, ironically set at the Dartmoor Vale race in 2004, by a staggering 40 minutes. As her name did not appear at Dartmoor Vale it is of course inevitable that Sally Ingledew was running at Abingdon. Like Chairman Roger Hayes, Sally is now feeling every tiring marathon mile but continues to impress with consistent times, her latest effort earning her 594th place in 4:20.22.

Further afield father and son-in-law team Dave Taylor and Mark Gilligan ran the Amsterdam Marathon at the weekend. Conditions were perfect, cool and sunny, with only a light breeze. To be expected for Holland the course was reasonably flat, but described by Dave as 'Pretty boring at times'. The start and finish were in the old Olympic Stadium, which had a great atmosphere but the support was disappointingly sparse. There were a number of good bands and music along the way. Much of the route follows the River Amstel which, after a while, became tedious. Mark was pleased with his time finishing in 3:35.29 in his debut Marathon appearance. Dave was pretty happy too, as just prior to moving into the V65 category next year (not happy about being 65), his time of 3:43.51 smashes Robert Tinnyunt's 10 year old V60 record set in London in 2001 (4:08.08) and gives him a guaranteed entry into the 2012 London Marathon.

Report by Rod Payne

Pictures by courtesy of Nigel Penwarden: Top: Tarquin Milford (L) and Wavell Vigers (R) locked in battle. Bottom: Yet another marathon for Roger Hayes