Trotters dash around the Duchy marathon and the duchy 20 miler ......................

Trotters dash around the Duchy Marathon & Duchy 20 ......

A beautiful but chilly day dawned for the "35th Duchy marathon"and the " 8th Duchy 20" miles that runs within this race. Both races are not for the faint hearted and there are a few testing hills and the weather can be very changeable. On Sunday 13th March it stayed very settled with even some warmer spring sunshine showing through.14 Trotters took to the challenge with several being "virgins" at both the distances.
The course consisted of two lap route starting and finishing at the Penventon Park Hotel in Redruth,Cornwall for the Marathoners and the 20 milers followed a detour at the 15.5miles ,rejoining after the 23 mile point, avoiding the North Cliff section and the hillier section on the 2nd circuit that the marathoners had to do! The course, generally flat, initially follows an out and back one mile section before turning north onto a two lap circular route along the spectacular north coast and back through the historic mining district of Pool.

Roger Hayes lead the 26.2 milers in for the trotters in 31st place with a very respectable time of 3.24.37.Next in was James Henderson running his first marathon in a strong time of 3.36.28 and gaining him 56th place and we can see there is plenty more where that came from. The ever reliable marathoner Roger Hales came in next at 3.43.36 and 73rd place. Then another "virgin" was Philip Perry who did a marvelous time of 4.05.59 for his 1st marathon and 132rd.The only Trottette to feature in the marathon was our "marathon queen" Sally Ingledew.She managed a course pb here and crossed the line in 4.17(unfortunately she was omitted from the results at the time this report was written!)Gaining yet another one to her list of marathon races she has completed. Not too far behind her was Mark Wotton who did 4.28.01.The race had a total of 224 runners complete.

The 20 mile race has no prizes except a medal and a pasty at the end and is used by many as a "long run" for those training for the London Marathon or other spring marathons.
Daryl"Tarquin"Milford brought them all safely home in a personal best time of 2.14.14 and in 14th place after knocking 7 minutes off last year's time, showing that his training is on track for his London place next month. Closely following him was Garry Smart in 2.16.55 and 16th place also looking good for Taunton next month. Not to be out done by the lads, Wavell Vigers was 18th in another super time of 2.17.25 and also competing at Taunton.The next trotter is still a fairly new man to the racing front and seems to be showing real potential in all distances, Gary Clark who is doing the Shakespeare marathon raced in with a terrific time of 2.26.46 and 33rd place.Peter Blakesley is going from strength to strength with 2.15.48 and 91st place.

The first Trottette at this distance was another fairly new racer, Kirsty Chrysanthou showing her potential with 3hours exactly and 127th place. Then came another one of our "ladies "Marsha Garrard who is on track for a good London as her 1st marathon in 3.02.54 and 133rd.Stella Imong came home in 3.23.46 and 181st place.226 runners completed the 20 mile race.

Father and Daughter duo Sid Willocks and Michelle Willocks - Watts traveled to Salisbury on Sunday 13th March for the City of Salisbury Athletic Club "Salisbury 10 miler". The route follows the banks of the River Avon in the undulating Woodford Valley! There where lovely views of the cathedral spire to be enjoyed on the way back. The Weather was cool and a bit breezy.
Sid ran 1.22.28 in 361th place and Michelle finished a few seconds behind in 1.22.33 in 366th place out of the 564 finishers.

Meanwhile in Seaton the Axe Valley runners were staging yet another "Grizzly" probably the hardest 20 mile race a runner can complete. This year it was named "Valley of the bogs"-need we say anymore! It is a mixture of tough hills, woodland tracks, thick mud and the infamous "stairway to heaven" which just about once again says it all, after tackling the big pebbles on the coast around Seaton and Beer.
It tempted only 3 strong Trotters but this, once again, clashed with the Duchy races .

Vaughan Lindsay had a great run and obviously enjoyed all the testing ground and came 14th in a time of 2.50.13.Ewan Walton, after a spell off the racing scene had a strong run with a time of 3.12.28 and finishing 97th.Then Stuart Moulson came in to join up with the other two in 3.51.33. The race had 1675 finishers.

Report written by Sharon "Fizz" Bowman
Photos-top-Sally comes home from the Duchy Marathon(thanks Ray) middle-James Henderson smiles at the 1st chance 10km earlier race this year Bottom-Tarquin is ready for the off before the 1st chance 1okm in January.(thanks Tommo)