Trotters are scattered far and wide but most stay at home.

With last weekend being the second successive four day break the local races failed to capture the imagination of the Teignbridge Trotters and most chose to take the weekend off from racing.
There were however exceptions and the Club was represented by a smattering of Trotters at the Great West Half Marathon, Bere Pen 10k, the Saltash Half Marathon, the North Dorset Marathon and the Pensford 10k.

First up at Exeter was the Great West Half Marathon where 5 trotters took part in a field of 2,095 finishers. Due to the high entry price for this race and the 'Big City' tag it tends not to be greatly patronized by, or catch the imagination of affiliated clubs. However Ben Epps made the financial commitment and ran a highly respectable race leading home the Royal Blues 194th in 1.36.47. Other Trotters were Peter Blakesey 552nd in 1.46.57 followed by Craig Churchill, back after a minor blip at the Easter Bunny 10k, to record a lofty 584th in 1.47.17, Neil Pallant, a product of our Monday night beginner's group and having made magnificent progress over recent months was running on behalf of his nominated charity, Sands. Neil was 843rd in 1.54.08 and Kevin Besford crossed the line 1,193rd in 2.01.27.

Stella Imong was on the race scene again. Having had several outings this year already, Stella was our sole representative at the Bere Pen 10k race run on the fringes of the less frequented but none the less beautiful west side of Dartmoor. Stella completed the 3 mile out 3 mile back course 99th out of 132 finishers in 63.41.

Just across the River Tamar in Saltash Ewan Walton and Phil Perry took part in the Saltash Half Marathon. Ewan ran well in the windy conditions and finished 23rd on the hard course in a fine time of 1.34.46 and the ever improving Phil Perry (fresh from teaching your humble correspondent a lesson in running at Friday's Sandygate Loop) finished 76th out of 205 finishers in 1.45.02.

Clare Youngman went to Sturminster Newton in the picturesque north Dorset countryside for the North Devon Marathon where on a tricky course she completed the race 117th out of 302 finishers in 3.48.38. (Clare certainly seemed to be having a great time judging by the pictures left).

And finally Graham 'Inky' Penn and Mark Wotton travelled up the M5 to south Bristol for the Pensford 10k. On a very hilly course, in a well organised race with chip timing, Mark completed in a good time of 52.31 with Inky a mere 7 seconds behind him.

Article by Rod Payne. (Thanks to contributors Fizz, Inky & Neil P)

Watch out for the report on the Sandygate Loop held on 29 April - 24 trotters turned out.

Pictured top and middle: Clare Youngman at Sturminster Newton. Bottom: Phil Perry (ever improving)