Two popular marathons, a Half marathon and a tough coastal race

A group of Trotters travelled to Taunton to take on either the Half marathon or Marathon, and there were some great results.

Firstly, for the marathon, the conditions were perfect, with a light breeze and warm sunshine.  There was a change of course for the first time in 34 years, with three small hills; otherwise it was pretty much flat and a great two lap PB course.

Talking of PBs, Julian Scanes ran brilliantly to secure a 10-minute PB finishing in a time of 3:13:07.  Not only does this secure Julian a Good For Age place for London Marathon 2018, it is also well below the 3:20 target he had initially set himself.

There were PB’s in the marathon for Paul Sharples JNR and Nigel Barnett, whilst Paul Sharples SNR also achieved a GFA London Marathon qualifying time. It was also the first marathon for Kevin Lofts and his first ever race as a Trotter, and finally it was Lance Mason's “Flake” Run, as it was his 99th marathon – Dartmoor Discovery will be his 100th.

There were 178 finishers in the marathon, and Trotter results were: Julian Scanes (26, 3:13:07), Roger Hayes (45, 3:23:30), Paul Sharples Snr (73, 3:43:17), Kevin Lofts (83, 3:46:26), Lance Mason (84, 3:47:17), Paul Sharples Jnr (85, 3:47:19) and Nigel Barnett (88, 3:48:11).

Onto the Taunton Half Marathon, Eamon Crowe and Kim Nichols both secured PBs at this distance. Kim has been working hard to crack the 2hr mark, so she was delighted with her time.  It was also Claire Ayling’s first attempt at the Half Marathon distance.

There were 962 finishers, and Trotter results were: Mandy Wheeler (193, 1:41:11), Kirsty Bowman (419, 1:54:17), Kim Nichols (440, 1:55:19), Claire Ayling (435, 1:56:06), Eamon Crowe (447, 1:55:40), Lucy Evans (448, 1:55:39), Lorna Martin (620, 2:05:46) and Sharon Bowman (753, 2:16:05).

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Tracy and Nathan Elphick represented the Trotters at the Exe to Axe race in Exmouth on Sunday, which is a 22-mile race organised by Sidmouth Running Club. The event is a very tough one with close to 4000ft of climbing, slippery terrain underfoot in places and very hot under the sun.

Tracy went under 4hrs for 6^th lady, whilst Nathan said he didn’t fare so well as he struggled from around 11-miles, but with a lot of running/walking/ambling he finished in just over 5hrs. Well done to both.

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Four Trotters completed another popular marathon on Sunday, as they travelled to Manchester Marathon.  It was ran in glorious sunshine, which progressively got warmer as the race went on but the crowd was great, and the largely flat course was set in the backdrop of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium.

Kevin Sampson claimed a PB, with his first ever sub-4, finishing in a time of 3:54:08, whilst it was Oli Prouse’s first full road marathon and he finished in 4:18:24. Craig Hobson finished in 4:23:24 and Lucy Payne crossed the line in 4:26:44, which was first in her V65 age category at this large, city marathon.

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