On Saturday 9th July, Steve Barker and Allen Taylor took part in the Ham & Lyme 100k.
Steve finished in a time of around 14 hours 15mins whilst Allen finished in an incredible time of 11 hours 20mins to claim 4th place overall. In a field of very strong runners, this time would have been good enough to break the previous course record.
The event was an out and back run from Lyme Regis to Ham Hill country park and back, following the Liberty Trail. The terrain was mostly off road with a number of steep climbs thrown in for good measure. The fog rolled in during the last few hours, which made navigation a little tricky but both Trotters did brilliantly.
A bit of a back story is that it will be one of Allen's most memorable runs but for the wrong reasons though.
At 40 mile he was suffering from a severe alergic reaction from nettles/hogweed which covered his arms, legs and around his throat in blisters which made him feel like he was on fire and struggling to breathe. Medics assisted him with ice packs around his throat, cream and antihistamine, but Allen being Allen wanted to carry on. He did but Josh ran with him from Crewkerne to Winsham approx 8 mile as backup with the race director's permission.
Allen says the total climb from Lyme to Ham was 3638 ft, Ham to Lyme was 3438 ft. Overall 7076 ft climb!
Very well done guys, and time to rest the legs!
There were two Club Championship races held on Saturday 9th July.
First up was the Otter River and Rail 10km run, which was the tenth edition of the race. The conditions were warm and humid, with the location of the race being held at the picturesque Tipton St John playing field in Sidmouth.
The course was undulating, trail, footpath, and fields, including a fallen tree to negotiate. Tim Pratt was leading the race in the first km until he missed a turn over the river and slipped to third, which he held to the end. Geoff Davey finished fourth overall and winning first M40 (and the heading off to the Lads Weekend in Bath…), closely followed by Roger Easterbrook for second M40.
There were 196 competitors, with 13 Trotters who finished the race and full results are below. All finishers had a choice of a bottle of Otter Bitter or a posh chocolate bar, and the club also won several prizes including Tim bagging a sizeable cake trophy (see below) for his 3rd place finish.
Results:
Tim Pratt (3, 38:07), Geoff Davey (4, 38:35), Roger Easterbrook (6, 38:41), Peter Heckles (10, 40:35), Samuel Crowe (19, 43:54), Peter Blakesley (56, 49:11), David Taylor (77, 53:17, 2nd M70), Keith Anderson (78, 53:42, 2nd M65), Eamon Crowe (90, 54:47), Kathryn Steemson (103, 56:54, 3rd F40), Eleanor Taylor (124, 59:02, 2nd F55), Sara Collman (126, 59:11), Angela Blakesley (156, 64:11).
Next up on Saturday was Plymstock’s Muddy Duck 10Km offroad race. Roger participated in this race, which was his second race of the day, with 150 competitors finishing the race, including six Trotters. Trotter results were:
Roger Easterbrook (7, 40:49), Craig Churchill (16, 44:33), Paul Johns (57, 51:47), Lucy Payne (97, 60:40), Rod Payne (119, 65:41), Gary Watson (142, 73:53).
On Saturday 9th July and under a hot sun in a clear blue sky, Matthew and Dave Dunn ran the 6th edition of the Course de la Mere Denis, a 22k point-to-point race starting in Portbail along coastal trails, beach, up an estuary (thankfully the tide was out!) and then up and over the Cap de Carteret to finish on the port at Carteret.
Matt, still showing signs of fatigue from his recent 189K cycle ride in the Etape de Grand Depart du Tour de France, battled home in 2:31:34 for 243rd place. Matt was being hunted down by dad Dave who crossed the finish line in 2:34:25 just 3 places further back.
There were 276 finishers when timing was suspended after the 3-hour mark, although there were still several more runners still to come in. Dave has now completed all 6 six runnings of this race whilst this was Matt's 3rd Mere Denis.
A group of Trotters travelled to Bath for a lads weekend away. What I think was mainly a weekend of drinking, the chaps did manage to get a race in as well - the Two Tunnels 10K. Results were:
Geoff Davey (18, 41:56), Derek Skinner (22, 42:21), Roger Hayes (35, 44:04), John Tweedie (51, 46:09), Gary Watson (57, 46:41), Nigel Barnett (71, 47:58), Roger Hales (71, 47:58), Dermot Smyth (75, 48:03), Travis Wood (106, 50:50), Dave McMorrow (110, 51:23), Mark Wotton (119, 51:58), Pete Aston (128, 53:10), James Donovan (129, 53:19), Ryan Anthony (157, 57:12), Chris Wride (165, 58:06), Gary Clark (171, 58:48), Tony Stepney (176, 59:18), John Skinner (178, 59:20), Adrian Youngman (210, 64:52), Mark Walker (215, 65:48).
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Richard Keatley had 04:30 start to travel to Reigate south of London for the North Downs Way marathon. The course takes runners up Reigate Hill & Box Hill twice, and also includes lots of steps. The weather was perfect for running and Ricard ticked another one off, with a time of just over 6hrs.
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Thanks to the contributions from Dave Dunn, Roger Easterbrook, Marie Taylor, Steve Barker, Richard Keatley, Geoff Davey and Allen Taylor.