Bicton Blister and three marathons in three days

A merry band of Trotters travelled to Bicton College in East Devon, to take part in the popular 10-mile-terrain race on Woodbury Common – The Bicton Blister. The route is made up of sandy trails, which is stony in places, and it was mostly dry underfoot. It is ran on narrow footpaths between the trees, with plenty of tree roots to avoid.

There was some great running by a lot of Trotters. Geoff Davey was lead Trotter from start to finish, with Roger close behind. However, Roger said that Geoff put in a stonking 5:25 last mile, which was too much for Roger on the day.

Some silverware was picked up too, as the senior men’s team of Geoff Davey, Roger Easterbrook, Kevin Woodard and Garry Smart picked up first senior men’s team.

There were also some individual prizes with Geoff Davey taking 2^nd V40 and Roger Easterbrook was 3^rd V40. Garry Smart, on his first big race since June’s Dartmoor Discovery, was third VV50+ and Lucy Payne ran brilliantly to claim second FV60.

Lucy Evans continued her great recent form, and managed a PB at this tough race.

Full Trotter results are: Geoff Davey (12, 1:05:21), Roger Easterbrook (13, 1:05:23), Kevin Woodard (18, 1:06:26), Garry Smart (25, 1:07:34), Helen Anthony (41, 1:10:36), Ashley Wood (85, 1:16:59), Joshua Taylor (116, 1:21:27), Derek Skinner (134, 1:23:26), Craig Churchill (147, 1:24:45), Paul Sharples (160, 1:25:50), Pete Haywood (162, 1:26:15), Nigel Barnett (177, 1:28:03), Neil Rutley (196, 1:29:38), Hannah Jones (199, 1:29:43), Jim Donovan (211, 1:30:37), Lucy Evans (266, 1:36:27), Keith Anderson (270, 1:36:59), Eamon Crowe (303, 1:39:59), Eleanor Taylor (323, 1:41:38), Lucy Payne (343, 1:43:34), Cath Pilton (354, 1:44:40), Claire Mills (358, 1:4:03), Kathyrn Steemson (367, 1:46:18), Sally Ingledew (399, 1:51:26), Kirsty Bowman (433, 2:10:03) and Sharon Bowman (434, 2:10:05). There were 448 finishers.

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Richard Keatley completed his first triple event, where he completed three marathons in three days.

Day 1 saw an early start leaving before 5am to travel to Walton-on-the-Thames to complete Time Lord on the Thames marathon. The weather was mild, and Richard decided to take it easy and completed the event in just over 5 hours.

After this, he travelled to Herne Bay in Kent to compete in the Oyster Bay marathon on the coast. This event comprised of 6 laps, and he had to contend with winds of up to 25 miles per hour. Richard found this event tough, but was pleased to get the job done in 5:21.

Afterwards, he then travelled down to the other side of Kent to complete the Saxon Shore marathon. This was a 4-lapper and he did brilliantly to complete the distance in 4:33, and finished the event feeling strong.

All in all, Richard was very pleased to complete the three marathons in three days, taking his number of marathons for 2016 up to 31 so far, and his total up to 34.

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Thanks for the contributions from Richard, Roger and Lucy