A mixed bag of terrains for the trotters this weekend.....

A mixed bag of terrains for Trotters to negotiate this weekend.....
This weekend was awash with races that enticed 37 trotters to take part in .A club record was broken, personal best times ran ,first timers out in the thick of it and a team prize too.
The Hestercombe Humdinger in Somerset on Sunday 20th February saw Father and Daughter duo Sydney Willocks and Michelle Willocks-Watts completing the figure of eight course run around the quiet country lanes of Somerset. The run sounds idyllic apart from the 1500ft total climb involved in the very large hills! It was very tough but Sid had a strong run and finished 113th out of the 234 runners in a time of 1.21.45 with daughter Michelle finishing 149th with a fine time of 1.26.16.

More hills and plenty of mud attracted 17 trotters to complete the "oh my Obelisk "run by the Dawlish Coasters.158 runners took part and although the weather was overcast the rain in the week had made the terrain pretty slippery. It takes the runners from Dawlish Leisure Centre up to the Obelisk monument on the outskirts of the Haldon Forest and back along forest tracks and green lanes in 10 hard miles.

First Trotter across the finish was Daryl"Tarquin"Milford who seems to enjoy the tough off road races and stormed to 5th place with a fantastic time of 1.14.30 beating his time last year by 3 minutes and 16 seconds!.10th place went to David Tomlin in his 1st race this year after a lay -off due to illness with a admirable time of 1.16.01.Stephen Barker is showing his strong racing ability with another good race in 21st place in 1.21.40.This gave the three men the male team prize. Then came a stream of trotters in the following order:Nick Stevens showing off his trotter vest for the first time did 1.23.00, Ben Epps 1.25.36,Gary Clark 1.26.41,Craig Churchill 1.31.07,Phil Perry 1.32.29,Roger Hales 1.33.16.The first Trottette to complete was Clare Youngman and 4th lady and 1st vet 40 in 1.33.52.Next saw Roger Hayes in 1.34.27 closely followed by Stuart Moulson in 1.34.58.David Dunn in his 1st race since June 2010 did 1.43.25.Newbie Kirsty Chrysanthou did a good run in her first trotter race in 1.48.44 and Deborah Clarke(pocket Rocket)ran her 1st 10 miler in 1.50.04 .Caroline Hayes finished in 1.51.38 and Steve Rawlinson 1.54.25.

Another strongly contented race with plenty of Royal blue was the Plymouth Hoe 10 miler. Run this year on a new course it was on roads and took runners up to the Plymouth Hoe and back again and around Devonport. The race even included a spiral staircase at around 8 miles! The race started at Bricklands and finished on the athletic track where there was good support from fellow runners and spectators to get the competitors around the 1 and ¾ laps of the track to finish.

16 trotters completed this race in which 581 runners completed. First Trotter home was Chris Cleave in a strong time 1.05.22 and 50th place. John Crocker was next in 1.10.03 and 93rd.Mark Hamling was next in 1.11.38.Husband and wife team Tracey and Nathan Elphick breezed along together completing in 1.14.35 with Nathan taking 1 and half minutes off his 10 mile Pb.They were 160th and 161th.Gary Watson returning from injury did 1.17.48 and John Caunter did 1.18.32.Gia D'Aprano had a good run with 1.21.58.Peter Aston did 1.22.21 ,Sarah Schutte with another pb did 1.22.43.Graham Penn(Inky)1.23.38 and Sally Ingledew managing to knock 3 minutes off her 10 mile time races finished in 1.24.37.Kevin Besford had a strong race in 1.25.27 and so did Mary Goulden with another personal best of 1.25.47.Not too far behind was Sharon Bowman 1.26.18 and Tina Caunter in 1.28.06.

On Sunday Lucy and Rod Payne travelled to Hampshire for the Bramley 20/10. The race, organised by Reading Roadrunners is a beautifully scenic 10 mile loop through country lanes just outside of Basingstoke. The course is superbly marshalled, flat and fast and in dry, overcast but dead calm conditions Lucy, who is short of distance training, battled her way around the single lap to record a new club record time for the Ladies' 10 miles of 1.32.56 lowering the previous record by over 7 minutes.
Having run the first lap with wife Lucy, Rod completed the second 10 miles in just over 1.22 to record an aggregate time for the 20 mile race of 2.55.24 thus completing a very pleasing outing for both runners.(Rod Payne reports)

Report by SHARON (fizz)BOWMAN
Photos-Top-The Trotters at the end of the Plymouth Hoe(thanks Milos for photo)Middle-Nick Stevens shows off his new vest as a new member in the Obelisk.Bottom-Roger Hales(smokes) and Clare Youngman(1st vet 40& 4th lady)