New faces and new races for the Royal Blues

It was a weekend of short sharp races and great finishes for the Teignbridge Trotters.

Mel Dunn, Roger Easterbrook and Dave McMorrow landed prizes, category victories and personal bests while new members Laura Brown and Melanie Hooper made their race debuts.

First up was Ivybridge 10k, which attracted a record turnout of 698 finishers. The race, organised by Erme Valley Harriers, was on Saturday May 9. A popular 10k, the course is relatively fast and despite a steep hill the last 6km are almost all downhill, making for a fast second half.

Mel Dunn shows huge improvements every time she lines up for a race. In this case Mel was first lady home, clocking a personal best of 40mins 51secs – a sensational three minutes quicker on the time she ran on the same course last year - and 51st overall.

In the same race Roger Easterbrook proved he’s another one to watch picking up second M40 in a time of 37.27 and 19th overall. Completing the Trotter contingent was Craig Churchill 44.42 121st, Wilf Taylor 45.30 148th, Abi Blee 48.38 224th, Eleanor Taylor 54.09 401st Mel Hooper 1:01.45 593rd.

This was Mel Hooper's first 10k as a Trotter. Her first and only 10k so far is our own race the Ladies 10K at Dornafield which this year will be held on Sunday 27 September. She nicked a whooping 3.5mins off her previous time to land her new PB saying: "I'm feeling very chuffed and felt very proud to run in a Trotter vest." Well done also to second claim Trotter and race regular Hylda Stewart who was second F55 in 49.31.

*Jim Donovan and Graham Penn headed to the east of the county for the Beer Blazer. The race event has a 10k, 5k and a mile fun run for children and is based at the Pecorama model railway tourist attraction in the pretty fishing village of Beer. It’s organised through Beer Primary School but is supported by the Axe Valley Runners.

However, as with any race that’s aligned with our friends at AVR, it’s pretty much guaranteed that cliffs will be involved somewhere along the way. The Blazer is essentially a mini-Grizzly. The tough multi terrain traffic free route takes in fields, tracks, pebble beach, undercliffs, ‘The Stairway to Heaven’, cliff tops and open common. Panoramic views of the Jurassic coast are a given although on this occasion a stubborn sea mist obscured vistas the area is famed for.

The event attracted lots of club runners and made for a great atmosphere. Jim clocked 54.01 for 41st and Graham ran in a time of 1:01.09 for 84th place. There were 113 finishers.

*Dave McMorrow continues to build himself a reputation as a runner with bags to give after clocking a 10k personal best at Bideford 10k on Sunday. The flat race along the Torridge estuary is a great one for achieving a new time and usyally attracts a large field of time-chasers. This year there were 535 runners and Dave clocked 45.43 for 106th overall, showing that if he maintains his training he’ll smash the sub-45 barrier in no time. In her first race as a Trotter, Laura Brown did a great job of tackling the same route and finished in 1:10.45 and 496th.

*A Trotter call to action! Do you fancy getting involved in a team relay race? Every year we take part in the Erme Valley Relays. It’s proper old skool running fun. They’re organised by the Erme Valley Harriers and take place on Friday 3 July at the Ivybridge Rugby Club.

This year promises to be even bigger and better so put the date in your diary. Our captains Lance Mason and Helen Anthony are appealing for members to get involved so we can put together a load of teams, do our best individual efforts around a 2.5mile single lap country lane route, cheer each other on, maybe win something and then drink beer.

Chat to Lance or Helen on club nights, get in touch with them through the Trotters FB page or email them – you can find their details on the club contacts page of this website.

Report and photos of Jim Donovan and Graham Penn at Beer Blazer by Emma Pearcy.