Bicton Blister tests Trotters

On Sunday 25th November, The Bicton Blister & Blister Lite was organised by the Exmouth Harriers. This race was the penultimate club championship race of the season, so therefore a strong contingent of Trotters took part. The race distances were 4.5 miles for the Blister Lite and 10 miles for the Bicton Blister. 

The start and finish of the races were within the grounds of Bicton College, East Budleigh in Devon. The multi -terrain races took the runners across open fields, along rough forest trails, through a couple of stream crossings, and several inclines. In fact there was over 1100 feet of elevation!! The weather conditions were dry and cold for the start and the under foot conditions were as expected for this time of the year with muddy puddles to negotiate. Starting with the results of the Blister Lite. 

The winner was Ben Sheridan in a time of 32:12. Two Trotters represented the club in the race, Zilpath Walton and Andy Distin. They both ran really well. Andy finished in 59th place in a time of 54:07 & Zilpath finished close by in 61st spot in a very respectable time of 54:14. There were 99 finishers.

The Bicton Blister was won by Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers in a storming time of 57:13. In 6th place was our very own Roger Easterbrook in a time of 1:04:58. There were some notable performances from the Trotters. Tim Pratt (9, 1:06:36), Gary Smart (12, 1:07:12), Ewan Walton (21, 1:09:19), Martin Randall (67, 1:17:41), Susanna Goffe (1:18:20), Gavin Forbes (110, 1:23:38), Paul Dean (116, 1:23:51), Jason Trevenen (130, 1:25:12), James Saunders (131, 1:25:22), Stephen Barker (154, 1:27:36), Louise Gentry (159, 1:28:06), Kate Williamson (176, 1:29:49), Eamon Crowe (253, 1:39:02), Lucy Payne (294, 1:43:56), Sue Brown (327, 1:50:02), Graeme Baker (328, 1:50:08), Sharon Bowman (362, 1:55:11), Paul Sharples (363,1:55:15), Teresa Holmes (418, 2:24:02), Louise Stokes (424). There were tired finishers.

Four of our 21 representatives collected age category prizes. Congratulations go to Gary Smart, Roger Easterbrook, Lucy Payne and Graeme Baker. Well done to Roger who also collected an award for his 6th place finish overall.

The event was superbly organised, with plenty of enthusiastic support coming from all the marshals dotted around the course. A very enjoyable race and one that should be put in the diary for 2019!

Graydon Widdicombe travelled to Spain to take part in the San Sebastian marathon, held on Sunday 25th November.

This is quite a large event, with a 10k and Half Marathon races taking part on the same day, with the Marathon course being a two-lapper.
Although the weather in the days before the event had been good, the forecast for race day was terrible. 

Thankfully, the race started in the dry, although it did start raining about 1hr 15mins into the event. The first part of the lap was around the stadium area, before taking the runners to the beach front, out and back through a tunnel, back along the beach front and then through the stadium area to begin lap two. It was a flat and fast course with PB potential, and although Graydon didn’t manage a personal best he was pleased with 3:20:35, pacing it pretty evenly throughout the event.