Teignbridge Trotters Running Club
Newton Abbot, Devon
Established 1982
Born to Run
A busy weekend for local races, with events taking place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And two Iron-distance events.
Trotters at Chudleigh (photo by Lance Mason)
Kicking off the weekend was the ever popular Chudleigh Road Race, on Friday 15th July. It is billed as a fun, challenging, hilly road race, taking runners from the town centre, up a steep hill to Chudleigh ridge, before runners drop back down into the town.
In warm conditions there were some fantastic performance from Trotters including PBs from Mark Walker and Donna Walker, with 59:09 and 48:55 respectively. Additionally, Suzie Mills has been improving consistently over the last 12 months and at what is a benchmark race for her, she knocked 7:25 off her previous time clocking 1:00:31.
Derek Skinner did three races over the weekend (Chudleigh, Haytor Heller, Magnificent 7), and managed a 39:37 at Chudleigh.
Full Trotter results were:
Jamie Barnett (5, 34:27), Roger Easterbrook (7, 34:57), Peter Heckles (9, 35:09), Mike Hooper (10, 35:16), Ewan Walton (12, 35:55), Samuel Crowe (17, 37:30), Tom Besford (23, 38:16), Craig Churchill (26, 38:37), Derek Skinner (32, 39:37), Alan Boone (38, 40:47), Mandy Wheeler (39, 40:53), Nigel Barnett (45, 41:22), Roger Hayes (46, 41:28), Peter Blakesley (50, 41:55), Paul Sharples Sen (52, 42:23), Paul Sharples Jun (56, 43:25), Jacki Woon (57, 43:29), Dermot Smyth (59, 43:37), Clare Youngman (64, 43:56), Hannah Jones (68, 44:14), Jim Donovan (73, 44:47), Roger Hales (83, 45:54), Stuart Moulson (84, 45:55), Abigail Blee (92, 46:54), Eamon Crowe (93, 47:16), Keith Anderson (102, 48:26), Donna Walker (109, 48:55), Eleanor Taylor (115, 49:43), Lucy Evans (119, 50:15), Sharon Bowman (120, 50:16), Kirsty Bowman (121, 50:17), Matthew Dunn (122, 50:18), Caroline Hayes (125, 51:06), Lucy Payne (126, 51:12), Ruth Johnson (131, 51:30), Angela Blakesley (148, 53:33), Caroline Clark (149, 53:58), Joanne Sharples (159, 54:55), Guy Roberts (174, 58:53), Mark Walker (175, 59:09), Suzie Mills(183, 1:00:31). Maggie Anderson recovered from a fall to finish in 1:01:49 for 186th. There were 208 finishers.
(PS, I believe there were some prizes but I couldn't find details of those at the time of writing. Apologies for that).
Trotters at Haytor Heller (photo by Nigel Penwarden)
On Saturday, one of the club’s own races was staged – The Haytor Heller. This is known as a well-organised, very tough, 6-mile off-road race taking in the hills, terrain and spectacular views around Haytor. Many Trotters volunteered to take part in helping to organise the the race including marshals, making cakes, catering, setting up the course, results processing, etc, with many competitors commenting how friendly and welcoming the club is.
Dartmoor did look stunning in the early evening sun, but the conditions were hot and humid for the runners. Full Trotter results were:
Henry Hart (5, 44:24), Tim Pratt (10, 46:46), Joshua Taylor (34, 52:30), Garrie Edwards (41, 54:19), Craig Churchill (46, 55:05), Tom Besford (103, 1:01:11), Derek Skinner (109, 1:01:40), Neil Skinner (152, 1:06:41), Tony Stepney (239, 1:20:43) and Julie Webb (262, 1:32:39). There were 270 finishers.
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On Sunday, it was the turn of The Magnificent 7, put on by Tamar Trotters. It is a challenging, hilly road 7-miler and with an 11am start the sun was out making conditions very hot. However, there was a bar and icecream available at the end!
Full Trotter results were:
Roger Easterbrook (14, 45:31), Kevin Woodard (28, 47:54), Derek Skinner (81, 55:26), Gary Watson (100, 57:00), Paul Sharples (102, 57:11), Graydon Widdicombe (109, 58:01), Stuart Moulson (163, 63:51), Sharon Bowman (250, 71:18), Lucy Payne (254, 72:00), Kathyrn Steemson (270, 73:48), Tina Caunter (281, 75:22), Rod Payne (326, 81:50). 380 runners completed the race.
Trotters at Magnificent 7
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On Sunday 17th July, two Trotters two part in Ironman-distance events...
Tracy Elphick took part in the Ironman UK event, in Bolton. This event consists of a 3.8km open water swim, a 180.2km bike ride, followed by a full marathon. Tracy did brilliantly and managed 1:23:48 for the swim, 6:44:16 for the bike and 4:12:19 for the marathon. This means, that with transitions, she finished the event in 12:37:19, which was 8th in her F40-44 age category.
Meanwhile, Geoff Davey took part in the Cotswold 226 Iron-distance event. Geoff came 28th overall and was 15th in his Age Category, with a total time of 11:27:29, which is a club record. Geoff commented that the lake was warm, and perfect conditions in a wet suit, the bike was in dry and warm conditions over undulating terrain, whilst during the run the heat increased making the last couple of laps hard.
Geoff’s splits were 1:20:42 for the swim, 7:32:11 for the bike and 3:49:44 for the run, plus about 10 minutes for the two transitions.
Very well done, Tracy and Geoff!
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Tracy on the run of her Ironman UK event
Sally, Lance, Jim and Emma at the Wheeze
Four Trotters headed east for the jauntily named Mrs E's Big Wheeze.
Held in Uplyme, which snuggles inside the Devon border, it's truly a family morning out with the choice of a child's fun run, a 5km and a 10k. Proceeds go to the school PTFA.
The multi terrain run starts and finishes at Mrs Ethelston’s C of E Primary School and follows river banks, goes through beautiful woods and climbs hills that give glimpses of the sea. Sixty-three runners lined up for the 10k with Jimmy Donovan, Emma Pearcy, Lance Mason and Sally Ingledew in the mix.
The Wheeze was pretty hard going because of the hot and humid conditions but friendly organisation, a lovely route and lots of cake and bacon butties afterwards made the trip very worthwhile.
Jimmy Donovan was first back in 53.07 and 26th overall. Then it was Lance Mason and Sally Ingledew in 1:06.49 for 51st and 52nd place. Emma Pearcy clocked 1:11.05 for 57th place.
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Lily Geraghty completed her first trail run on the weekend, in an event called The Rabbit Run in Merthyr Mawr, Wales. Lily finished in about 1hr34mins for the 7.3 mile trail route, and Lily had a great experience commenting that she wants to do more trail events.
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On Sunday 17th July, Richard Keatley completed his 15th marathon – The Dorset Invader. In what were hot conditions, Richard completed the hilly, hard and scenic course in just over 6 hours.
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Thanks for the contributions from Mark Walker, Richard Keatley, Kev Besford, Geoff Davey and Emma Pearcy.