Club Scrubs Up For Awards

Blood, sweat and tears were exchanged for champagne, gins and beers as Teignbridge Trotters swapped their trainers for ballgowns, top hats and tails (well, not quite) at the club’s annual awards evening at Newton Abbot Rugby Club on Saturday 17 December.

The great and good of the club gathered in the Marquee setting and celebrated some remarkable achievements across the diverse range of membership in a successful year following the fallow period of the pandemic.

The crowd were kept on tenterhooks as the club champions were not revealed until the evening itself. And this year’s winners were eventually revealed as Roger Easterbrook and Deb Hart. For Roger it crowned a memorable year of multiple podium appearances and for Deb, it put the icing on the cake of a year that saw her claim the ladies over 60s club record for the half marathon in Bideford.

There were special awards for the fastest runners of the year. For the men, this was Julian Scanes (Marathon, 2:56:38), Kevin Woodard (Half Marathon, 1:20:37) and Jamie Barnett (10k, 32:43). Among the ladies, the swiftest were Helen Anthony (Marathon, 3:10:00), Susanna Goffe (Half Marathon, 1:29:24) and Chloe Olford (10k, 41:20).

The award for the most improved male went to James Saunders, who picked up a brilliant hat-trick of club records for the M60 class over 10k, half marathon and marathon this year. Among the females, Susanna Goffe was rightly recognised for a superb year that has seen her set new PBs over 5k, half marathon and marathon.

And for the newbees, the immediate impact of Hamish Rae and Isabelle Cummings was acknowledged as the Most Promising Male and Female awards. The Committee Cup went to Nigel Barnett for his monstrous contribution to club events and operations. Lucy Evans collected the John Scott Trophy and Bon Rymel won the Ross Cup.

Finally, Ian Langler was voted as the club’s favourite run leader or coach this year and was awarded Dennis’s Cup, in memory of Dennis Milstead.

It was not all drinking and eating though, a trio of Trotters took on the Fairytale of Newquay Coastal Marathon earlier in the day and got more than they bargained for. A re-routed course after permission to race through Padstow was withdrawn, meant runners had 31 miles to cover rather than the traditional 26.2.

Along with the extra five miles, Trotters Derek Skinner, Neil Rutley and Ruth Johnson had frost, beaches and muddy terrain to overcome on a brutal Cornish outing. Derek placed 41^st in 7:18:16, one place ahead of Neil in 7:19:14 with Ruth 50^th in 7:35:51.