London is paved with gold for the Royal Blue Trotters

With a threat of bad weather 24 Teignbridge Trotters took to the historical streets of London on Sunday for the 2012 Virgin London Marathon.

Keen for televised publicity our arrival at Blackheath Common was heralded by a banner of impressive proportion (See picture). If the TV never knew that the Trotters had arrived the rest of the running fraternity certainly did. Thankfully the weather stayed fine and the temperature rose to comfortable levels for the race.

There were several notable performances with personal best times a plenty and two new club records set by our runners.

Daryl ‘Tarquin’ Milford was hopeful of a good time following some impressive pre-marathon race performances and he was not at all disappointed as he moved into elite rankings with his 320th place in a PB of 2.44.34, Garry Smart also had a really fine PB and in doing so he claimed Vaughan Lindsay’s M40 marathon Club Record with a time of 2.52.22 bagging himself 620th place overall. Wavell Vigers continued in his recent vein of great form as he also ran a PB of 2.52.45 to finish 647th. Dave ‘Tommo’ Tomlin, running in aid of Children’s Hospice Southwest, set a Guinness World Record time for running as a Roman Soldier. Tommo complete with sword and shield finished a lofty 915th in an enviable time of 2.57.00. John Tweedie put in a brief television appearance as he passed by a TV interview with James Cracknell. He never stopped to chat though as he was on for a magnificent time of 3.10.08 and 2,057th place. He was followed by Bruce Campbell who returned 3,842nd in 3.25.58.

Roger Hayes who trains for marathons these days by running marathons on an almost weekly basis was next 4,055th in 3.27.17. Mark Hutchins was 5,071st in a very pleasing 3.32.57. The next three Trotters were our first ladies who seemed to form a pact on the day and who ran in close proximity to each other almost to the line. Jacki Woon led the trio back 5,568th in a fine PB of 3.36.02, Tracy Elphick, who was plagued by injury in the build up to the race, defied her lack of pre-race preparation and still managed a personal best time of 3.36.46 and 5,669th place. Emma Sidebotham is another whose race was placed in jeopardy due to a recent illness and whilst still feeling the effects of her illness on the day fought bravely into 5,672nd place in 3.36.46 (identical to Tracy). Tim Hassell was the next of the Royal Blues back 5,869th in 3.37.57 and Stuart Moulsen on what seems to be an annual pilgrimage to London was 7,609th in 3.46.50. Carrie-Anne Hewings, running in her first marathon and targeting a sub 4hr time easily beat the mark in her impressive debut and was 8,211th in 3.49.41.

Sharon 'Fizz' Bowman, like Tommo running for Children’s Hospice Southwest and fetchingly dressed as a ladybird, flew away home in a well earned and long awaited sub 4 PB of 3.58.29 finishing 10,585th.She now moves on to the North Dorset Marathon and the Dartmoor Discovery in June. Anna Caunter in her last race as a first claim Trotter as she moves to local club the Haldon Trail Runners was 11,437th in 4.01.40. We wish Anna well with her new Club and hope to see her on the race scene in her new colours. Sue Brown, who herself led a group of ‘Ashburton Based’ runners to their first marathon was 12,369th in 4.05.40. Steve Mariadas a new name on the Trotter race scene was 14,696th in 4.15.13.

Graeme Baker was yet another whose marathon place was threatened by a persistent winter ailment. In defiance of this he managed to shake off his illness just in time to demonstrate characteristic determination and set a new V70 Club Record, finishing 16,099th in 4.20.27. Jonathon Martin and wife Lorna would appear to have spent a bit of quality time together taking in the sights of London and finished in 17,227th and 17,459th respectively in times of 4.24.46 and 4.25.38.

Graham ‘Inky’ Penn targeted the event as his 200th race. Inky says, ‘I was a bit disappointed with my result because I had cramp in the last 8 miles, but I`m getting used to that these days! I was glad to have done it; I am the proud owner of the medal and will retire gracefully from Marathon running while I`m still in one piece! Half Marathons are more my style and I`m up to 48 in my quest for 60 before I reach 60.’ Good luck with that Inky. For the record he was 19,205th in 4.32.23. Kevin Besford was one of only a few whose pre-race build up went well as he followed a strict training schedule. This enabled him to post times in warm up races that he had not experienced in the past 25 years. Yet how fickle is our sport as things clearly never went to plan for Kev on the day as he finished 22,253rd in a still respectable 4.44.20. Tim Hartley left nearly 9,000 runners in his wake as he finished 27,714th out of 36,672 in 5.10.01.
 

It was another great day for the club and be it a good, bad or indifferent experience everybody comes away suitably humbled by the experience and with a story to tell.

This is after all THE London Marathon.
 

Report by Rod Payne

Photos: Top; Trotters and the banner at London. Middle: Fizz and Tommo in alternative running gear. Bottom; Tracy, Jacki and Emma - still together after all these miles.