The Marathons Keep on Coming for the Tough Guys

Despite the run up to Christmas our dedicated marathon runners are not relenting and last weekend saw Sally Ingledew take part in her 26th and 27th marathons of the year at Andover on Saturday and Portsmouth on Sunday. Amazingly she still has two more to do before the year ends.

Also at Portsmouth were marathon regulars Roger Hayes and Roger Hales who have both in their own right notched up a phenomenal number of marathons and ultras between them this year. They were joined by Phil Perry who is fast becoming a highly accomplished marathoner and a 26.2 mile regular.
 

The Andover Marathon is run entirely around a 400m running track with the competitors completing 105 arduous laps plus an extra 195 yards to complete the full 26.2 mile distance. Due to the unusual nature of the event there is a limited entry and as a consequence there were only a total of 34 finishers. Sally, who had shown total dedication and exercised complete temperance at our Presentation Night the preceding night, reaped the reward for her abstinence to cross the finish line with a clear head in 21st place in a time of 4.18.25.
 

Sunday saw the second running of The Portsmouth Marathon which starts at South Parade Pier in Southsea and follows an out and back route around Langstone Harbour to Hayling Island. On a cold morning Roger Hales, who is just shaking off a bug that has plagued him since just before the John Scott trophy, had a fine run and was the first of our four runners to cross the line 104th out of 637 finishers in 3.29.17. Just three places behind in 107th place in 3.29.48 was Roger Hayes who is currently averaging more than a marathon a week. Phil Perry came home 348th in 4.09.44 and just 24 hours after her exploits at the Andover Marathon, Sally Ingledew finished 506th in a highly creditable 4.41.44.

On Sunday three Trotters travelled to North Devon for the Torrington Christmas Caper, a 9 mile off-road race with plenty of mud and water. Following the recent atrocious weather conditions parts of the course were deemed to be unsafe due to water running through in torrents and a new route had to be hastily found. The new course worked out fine and the race proved to be a real test of stamina. Disappointingly the results are not yet available, however we can report that Adam Caunter, Ben Epps and Alan Boone all had good runs and came back safely. (results will be posted when available)

Some leftover business from the previous weekend was The Cockington Caper 2011, a hilly off-road pre-Christmas race that attracted a field of 171. Amongst these were four of our Trotters led home by Ben Epps who finished an impressive 33rd in 1.04.25. Jess Whitehouse ran well to finish 128th in 1.23.47 and Tamsin Cook converted some sustained recent training into a very pleasing 129th place in 1.23.51. Finally, Rebecca Weare completed a good day for our handful of Royal Blues by finishing 150th in 1.28.29.
 

Report by Rod Payne
 

Photos:  Top: Sally the 2 Rogers and Phil Perry at the Portsmouth Marathon on 18 December (thanks to Ray for the photo), Middle: Ben Epps who led home the Trotters at the Cockington Caper, Bottom: Our marathon queen Sally Ingledew in quiet contemplation prior to this year's Wellington 10.