The Trotters take on the RATS .............................

Rod and Lucy Payne ran the “Dig Deep 5K” series round five of six on 10th August at Siblyback Lake Country Park near Liskeard in Cornwall. It is mildly undulating and ran on traffic free course around a hard cycle track. Rod was 29th in 25.18 and Lucy was 32nd in 26.15. Thirty nine runners completed this round.

On Wednesday evening 14th July, Nine Trotters went up to Dalwood in East Devon to run the annual “Dalwood Fayre 10K” race held in conjunction with their summer village fayre. 50 runners took part and Daryl “Tarquin” Milford led the Trotters home in 41.04 and 2nd place with Alan Boone 6th in 47.07 and 1st vet 55, while Craig Churchill was two seconds behind Alan in 47.09 and 7th. Noel Fowler was next home in 30th place with 57.31, and Tamsin Cook brought the ladies home in 1.01.47 and 33rd to be 1st female vet 45. Eleanor Taylor was 36th in 1.03.31, Bev Dennis 38th in 1.05.02, Jo Billyard 45th in 1.08.02 for 1st female vet 55 and Catherine Barnes was 47th in 1.11.13.

On Saturday 17th August twenty Trotters took themselves to Porthpean in Cornwall to run the 2nd “Roseland August Trail" series or “RAT” for short. This involved a series of four distances ran along the coastline of Cornwall on the South West coastal path. Steep inclines and harsh descents, steps, fields, rocks and beaches, stiles and kissing gates all made up the course. The weather decided to kick in at 10am with strong winds and driving rain which made the course even more treacherous. The White route (and the hardest part of the course) was 11 miles starting at Gorran Haven and running back to Porthpean. The Red route, 20 miles, started at Portloe and ran back to Porthpean, while the Black route of 32 miles saw runners dropped off at St Anthony’s Head to run back past all the other drop-off points to Porthpean. The runners were driven to their respective start points by coaches, with most having spent the night under canvas at the finish.

This year the Mud Crew Events team who organise the races added in the “Big Daddy” called the “Plague” which started at 5 minutes past mid-night on the Saturday morning. The “victims” had to run the 32 miles out to St Anthony’s Head, most of it in the dark, and then back again to Porthpean. This made a total of 64 miles with the organisers imposing a cut off time of 8pm on the Saturday evening.

This race enticed 55 ultra-runners of which 3 were Trotters. Lance "Skippy" Mason ran with Roger "Smokes" Hales, but at his last recorded check point at Gorran Haven, 11 miles from the end and after 12 hours 46 minutes and 38 seconds of running, Roger started to feel the effects of the weather and become ill. With less than 6 miles left to do, he made the brave decision to retire and so Lance had to leave his running buddy in the hands of the medics. Lance carried on to complete the course in 26th place in a time of 16.33.09. Meanwhile Ryan Anthony who had previously never run further than a marathon, crossed the finishing line in 19.12.07 for 42nd place. Twelve of the 55 runners had to retire during this event.

The 32 mile Ultra “Black RAT” saw 111 people run and Helen Anthony brought the seven Trotters among them safely back in 5.52.45 and was 5th lady. Mark Hutchins was 27th in 6.12.40, Travis Wood did 6.52.34 for 62nd position, Chris Wride was 75th in 7.26.44 and Dave Dunn finished 82nd in 7.50.27. "Marathon Queen" Sally Ingledew and Sharon "Fizz" Bowman, who struggled with a knee injury, came into the finish together in 10.04.05 and 10.04.08 for 105th and 106th places respectively.

The 20 mile “Red RAT” saw Jackie Woon bring the Trotters home in 4.10.21 for 38th place with Bruce Campbell 39th in 4.10.22 and Stewart Dunn 51st in 4.15.34. Kirsty Bowman had never run that far before  but did herself proud with 70th place in 4.40.32, while Tamsin Cook did 4.43.18 for 74th. Sarah "Otter" Seymour, also having never done this distance before, struggled with sickness but still completed in a respectable 5.37.11. Jo Haynes ran in with Sarah for the same time and they were equal 111th out of 132 runners.

The 11 mile “White RAT” course saw 86 runners complete with Melanie Dunn picking up 3rd lady in 9th place with 1.59.43. Sharon Hutchins finished in 42nd position with 2.25.36 and Vicky Hales was 70th in 2.56.44.

Emma Pearcy in her first race as a Trotter ran the “Race the Train” 14 mile off–road race in Wales on Saturday. Amid a blanket of rain and with winds gusting up to 55 mph she got around in 2.26.19 but didn’t beat the train!

On Sunday 18th August, with the sun came back again, six Trotters ran the “Moretonhampstead 10K” in the Devon village. Sarah Schutte showed the lads the way to go by being 1st lady and 14th overall in 52.33. Steve Wallace was 28th in 67.02 and Steve Rawlinson was 29th in 67.02. New-ish member Peter Middleton, in his first race as a Trotter, did 74.13 and was 34th. Unfortunately, Geoff Davey strayed from the course and so wasn’t given a finishing time or position.

Report written by Sharon "Fizz" Bowman

PHOTOS - TOP – THE PLAGUE VICTIMS –before the off! MIDDLE-The BLACK RAT runners at the start
BOTTOM - The Moretonhampstead crew with Peter Middleton pint in hand in true Trotters fashion!