Three Trotters, Three Days, 84 miles! Are they mad? A 10 mile record for Lucy.

Over the Remembrance weekend our Teignbridge Trotters travelled near and far to search out some diverse events in which to partake.

However the week’s racing started on Monday night at Exeter track where 5 Trotters competed in round 2 of the Ironbridge Runner Winter 3k Series. 13 runners lined up for the start of the ‘A’ race and amongst these Daryl ‘Tarquin’ Milford ran well to finish 4th in a time of 9.54. In the same race Vet 50 Lance Mason had a storming run to finish 9th in a time of 10.29. In the ‘C’ race Gary Watson and John Crocker went head-to-head in a field of 13 with Gary finishing 2nd in 11.36 and JC 4th in 11.48. The ‘E’ race attracted a large field of 18 and amongst these was lone Trottette Julie Crocker who equipped herself extremely well in finishing 12th in a time of 14.48.

By way of total contrast, on Friday 11th, Roger Hayes, Roger Hales and Marsha Garrard travelled to Leighton Buzzard for the start of The Druid Challenge Ridgeway Multistage Ultra covering an impressive 84 miles over 3 grueling days. The route starts at Ivinghoe Beacon and follows the Ridgeway Path through several counties from Bedfordshire through to Wiltshire to finish at Wroughton near Swindon with the runners covering between 27 and 29 miles a day. Club Chairman Roger Hayes ran times of 4.59.10, 4.20.04 and 4.12.58 to finish 18th overall out of 147 finishers. Roger Hales completed in 20th overall in times of 4.59.10, 4.20.04 and 4.30.56 and Marsha Garrard, who only ran her first marathon this year at London arrived at the start on day 1 with training blisters on her feet and ran valiantly for the three days with her blisters getting worse all the time and completed more than half way up the field, a fantastic 71st overall in 6.09.12, 5.41.55 and 5.32.16.

Sally Ingledew and partner Ray White travelled to Milton Keynes to commemorate Remembrance Day by competing in the 7-lap Poppy Day Marathon. This was Sally’s 64th marathon and the latest in a series of marathons over consecutive weeks and including Dublin and Ljubjiana. Apparently setting out for a fast time and completing the first half in 2.05, the heavy racing took its toll and Sally finished 37th out of 56 finishers in a still respectable 4.28. Partner Ray, Sally's greatest supporter, has suffered with serious knee problems but has been training secretly in order to partake in this event as a ‘walker’. The training certainly paid off as he finished in an extremely brisk walker’s time of 6.16.24.

At 11.11am on 11.11.11, 98 entrants set out on to Dartmoor for the Poppy Run covering 11.11 miles to commemorate Remembrance Day. This was not a race and the group covered the route together taking in War Memorials and Horrabridge, Walkhampton and Meavy schools along the way. Joining the group for this moving event were Trotters, Mark Wotton, ‘Inky’ Penn and his faithful friend Kelso the Collie. Unfortunately the weather was unkind to the event with heavy rain throughout. The race has so far raised a magnificent £6,000 in sponsorship and with pledges still to come in the total is set to rise.

On Sunday 12 Trotters ventured into Cornwall for the Deviock Bounder 10 mile road race. The race is another small race with a fantastic atmosphere with this one starting at Seaton Valley Countryside Park in a stunning seaside setting. All of our runners completed the very hilly 10 mile route in fine style with Daryl 'Tarquin' Milford finishing a fine 4th in 1.03.36 with Dave Tomlin just behind in 5th, 1.04.53 and Lance Mason a most impressive 7th in 1.06.24 and 1st V50 prize winner. The ever consistent Tracy Elphick, having completed an indoor triathlon the previous day was our first lady home 21st in a very swift 1.16.46. Gary Clark was next home 23rd in 1.18.20  followed by Andrew 'Monkey' Ludlam 26th in 1.20.02 and Ben Epps immediately behind 27th in 1.20.29. Dave Dunn was the next Trotter to decend the final hill 38th in 1.26.37. The Trotter ladies then formed a procession to the finish line led by Caroline Clark 42nd in 1.29.58, Sally Ingledew still apparently fresh from her Friday marathon 44th in 1.32.25 and Sharon ‘Fizz’ Bowman 45th finshing with a weary but happy smile in 1.33.00. Lucy Payne completed proceedings for the Trotters 52nd in a time of 1.37.41. This eclipses the previous FV60 10 mile record of 1.44.01 set back in 2003 in Plymouth. Considering the severity of the course there is still more to come from Lucy - so watch this space.
 

Report by Rod Payne

Photos: Top; They're off, the start of the Deviock Bounder 10. Middle: Super V50 Lance Mason, yet another prize at the Deviock Bounder. Bottom; Graham Inky Penn far left, Kelso the Collie and Mark Wotton far right remembered our fallen war heroes at the Poppy Run on Dartmoor.