Exeter Age UK 10K and the Dawlish Swimathon...

The Exeter Age UK 10K took place on Sunday 23rd March in what were sunny but cold conditions. The race is a popular one as it is a fast course, and a few Trotters managed PBs on the day. The race is part of the club championship and 41 Trotters completed the event, which is organised to help raise funds for a local good cause.

The final 3K or so were ran into a headwind which tested the mettle of all the runners as they had to dig deep, but many finished with some great times.

Caroline Clark continued the form she has shown since returning to running following the birth of her child. This event was Caroline’s first 10K race for nearly two years and she finished in a time of 54:44, which surpassed her own expectations. This was also Angela Blakesley’s comeback event after a long lay off due to injury and she completed the event in 58:15.

Two young runners in the club also managed great times and managed to PB on the day, following on from the solid training sessions they have been putting in over the last few weeks. Jamie Barnett managed a time of 40:14 and Tom Besford knocked 45seconds off his PB to finish in 42:02. Other runners who managed to PB include Peter Blakesley (47:05), Sally Ingledew (48:54), Sharon Hutchins (53:16), Mark Hutchins (41:24) and Derek Blackford (48:35). Making their debut in Trotters colours were Kate Lenthall, Victoria Buxton and Kelby Peters.

There were also a good number of Trotters who made the category positions:
- Geoff Davey – 3rd M35.
- Tarquin – 2nd M40.
- Skippy – 2nd M50.
- Marathon Queen – 3rd F50.
- Gary Watson – 2nd M55.
- Peter Kirby – 2nd M60.
- David Taylor – 1st M65.

Full results are below:
Daryl “Tarquin” Milford (8, 00:35:42), Geoff Davey (14, 00:37:01), Lance “Skippy” Mason (18, 00:37:22), Kieran Crewes (20, 00:37:28), Jamie Barnett (42, 00:40:14), Adam Batt (45, 00:40:37), Mark Hutchins (60, 00:41:24), Thomas Besford (65, 00:42:02), Craig Churchill (70, 00:42:17), Derek Skinner (80, 00:42:52), Jon Grimes (83, 00:43:09), Gary Watson (86, 00:43:18), Andrew “Monkey” Ludlam (93, 00:44:12), John “Skins” Skinner (115, 00:45:33), Peter Kirby (123, 00:45:48), David Taylor (141, 00:46:51), Peter Blakesley (146, 00:47:05), Pete Hayward (152, 00:47:22), Hannah Jones (158, 00:47:29), Abigail Blee (161, 00:47:39), Kevin Besford (168, 00:48:01), Derek Blackford (184, 00:48:35), Sally “Marathon Queen” Ingledew (191, 00:48:54), Chris Rogers (204, 00:49:46), Kate Lenthall (228, 00:50:11), Cathleen Pilton (276, 00:52:13), Jon Martin (278, 00:51:36), Lorna Martin (290, 00:51:57), Stephen Wallace (303, 00:52:54), Sharon Hutchins (316, 00:53:16), Nigel Barnett (331, 00:53:44), Caroline Clark (363, 00:54:44), Beverley Dennis (377, 00:55:27), Tim Hartley (442, 00:57:19), Nicky Cowling (458, 00:58:03), Angela Blakesley (464, 00:58:15), Steve Rawlinson (469, 00:58:18), Julie Crocker (504, 00:59:35), Glenn Jarvis (507, 00:59:47), Victoria Buxton (621, 01:05:39), Kelby Peters (630, 01:06:05).

Sport Relief 2014 Swimathon at Dawlish Leisure Centre on Saturday 22nd March
This event was organised to support BBC Sport Relief and two teams of five Trotters lined up to take part in the event which, injected with some friendly local rivalry with a local running club, was great fun. All competitors swam 40 lengths to make up the 5K team events. The first team were Tracy Elphick, Nicky Quant, Stephen Morfey, Adam Caunter and Roger Hayes completing the event in 1:29:43 and the second team comprising of Sarah Seymour, Donna Walker, Abigail Blee, Sharon Bowman and Keith Anderson completing in 1:52:41.

Peter Hayward completed the 2.5K individual event and he posted a PB time of 39.39mins for the 100 lengths. This put him 2nd in age group in UK, which is a fantastic result and an improvement on the third place Pete managed last year.

On Sunday 23rd March, Sarah "Otter" Seymour completed Dartington Duathlon, which was her first attempt at this kind of event.  It was sprint distance event so comprised of a 5K run, 20K bike then 2.5k off road run at the end.  Sarah had a good first run, great bike leg where she overtook lots of people but did struggle a bit on the last run leg.  However, she really enjoyed the event and finished with an overall time of 1:34:49 (27:48, 47:24, 16:16).

Finally, also on Sunday 23rd March four Trotters took part in the Peaky Freaky Duathlon which is a 37.5 mile bike and 10 mile run split into 3 stages.  Stewart Dunn was 24th (3:24:51), Jimmy Donovan 48th (4:04:31), Pete Aston 49th (4:07:15) & Adrian Youngman 60th (4:39:11).

Top: Teignbridge Trotters before the start of the Exeter Age UK 10K.

Middle: Craig Churchill and Mark Hutchins within the first mile of the Exeter Age UK 10K event.

Bottom: Trotters at the Sport Relief 2014 Swimathon.

Report by Graydon Widdicombe