Trotter men take on some "Tough" races this weekend........

Saturday 13th April saw Roger Hales and Travis Wood travel up to North Devon to take on the "Exmoor Coastal Marathon” which is part of Endurancelife’s coastal trail series. The event took place in the lesser known western area of Exmoor national park, which is considered a trail runner's mecca. The course encompasses stiff climbs, long descents, open moorland, wooded valleys, historical ruins and the highest cliffs they have ever seen. The Exmoor course is widely regarded as the toughest course in the series and is a grueling test of endurance with over 4,700ft of ascent. Roger Hales completed the course in a time of 5.12.06 and was 27th and Travis Wood followed in shortly after with 5.23.55 to be 40th out of a field of 144 survivors.

On the Sunday, Chris Rogers ran the “Bridgwater 10K” in 54:27. There were very strong winds and lots of off–road sections that slowed the runners down. He was 156th out of 350 finishers.

Up in Worcester, Roger Hayes completed the “Worcester Marathon” organised by Threshold Events which was a 2 lap race combined with a half marathon over a very undulating course. It was dry but very windy with the start and finish at Worcester Warriors rugby club. Roger's time of 3:24:09 was 20 minutes quicker than last week’s Taunton marathon, and he was 25th out of 226 finishers.

Peter Kirby took on the “Brighton Marathon” in Brighton. His time was 3:41:22 which gave him a finishing position of 1198th out of 9067 finishers.The conditions were very good for running and there was excellent crowd support along Brighton and Hove sea front.

Over at Honiton, Jimmy Donovan did the” Honiton Hippo” finishing 44th out of 171 in 1:09:00. The terrain was extremely muddy and even though runners waded through the River Otter right at the end of the race giving them a brief wash, they were still plastered almost from head to foot as the field out of the river seemed to be the muddiest part of the whole run. Runners were taken through woods, fields, paths and roads all managing to boast a hill or two. Half way through the race runners are taken down a steep hill before entering the Land Rover Experience just to climb all the way to the top of it again! Runners are then treated to a Land Rover Experience of their own with the ground pre-churned by 4 wheel drive vehicles.

Good luck to all the Virgin London marathon runners this weekend. Hope you all have a great time.

Also congratulations to Carrie-Ann Hewings who married Ryan Labdon last weekend at Kingsteignton Church .

Report by FIZZ

PHOTOS - TOP - Travis and Smokes on Exmoor   MIDDLE - Chair on a roll at Taunton last weekend BOTTOM - Jimmy just loves his mud !!!!