Trotters take on Forest Flyer

A large team of Trotters convened on Haldon Forest, to take part in the Forest Flyer.  Excellently organised by the friendly Dawlish Coasters, this is a favourite in the race calendar for many local runners and because it takes place on a Friday night, it is a brilliant way to kick off the weekend.

In good conditions, the 4.8-mile course took runners through some of the trails around Haldon Forest.  The first 3-miles of the route are undulating, as if to lure runners into a false sense of security with regards what is about to come!  The fourth mile is a steep down hill section, which of course means the final mile is a steep up hill to the finish, which is a stiff test for most runners.

There were 131 finishers of the race, and the results for the 30 Trotters who took part are:

Henry Hart (3, 27.59), Kevin Woodard (6, 31:16), Sam Crowe (14, 33:14), Kevin Lofts (27, 36:14), Garrie Edwards (28, 36:22), Derek Skinner (29, 36:48), Graydon Widdicombe (32, 37:20), Annika Longthorpe (33, 37:23), Craig Churchill (34, 37:25), Duncan Knight (35, 37:33), Pete Hayward (PB, 41, 38:16), Roger Hales (42, 38:25), Hannah Jones (45, 38:55), Neil Rutley (48, 39:03), Kate Lenthall (55, 40:03), Kathryn Steemson (56, 40:05), Jim Donovan (59, 40:24), Claire Ayling (69, 43:19), Nathan Elphick (70, 43:20), Ruth Johnson (74, 43:56), Kim Knight (78, 44:32), Emma Ray (79, 44:44), Mark Wotton (96, 47:02), Eamon Crowe (98, 47:30), Emma Foreman (100, 47:33), Eleanor Taylor (106, 48:57), Abigail Woodward (114, 51:58), Stuart Moulson (115, 52:09), Suzie Mills (125, 54:21) and Louise Stokes (129, 57:13).

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Sally Ingledew and Lance Mason travelled to Salisbury to take part in the 54321 trail event, which is a favourite of theirs.  The event hosts a choice of distances from 5K to the more challenging 42k/Marathon distance, and also a 50k Ultra, with Lance and Sally chose the marathon distance this weekend.

This event is always a favourite of theirs and it is very popular with runners, due to the various distances on offer and with the fact that it is well organised.  For the event, it was a warm sunny morning although there were plenty of water stations along the way, and thankfully some cloud cover helped later on.  The course takes the runners along footpaths, bridle ways and quiet country roads in the Salisbury area, and through estates not usually open to the public.  Lance ran well to finish 13^th overall for 1^st MV55 in a time of 3:48:58 and Sally managed a course best for her with a 4:51:34 for 73^rd.  There were 237 finishers in the marathon.

Meanwhile, Rob Cooper and new Trotter Jason Kidwell tackled the 33k option and finished in 3:12:06 for 29th place and 4:01:56 for 93^rd respectively, out of 140 finishers.

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Lucy Payne completed the Two Lighthouse Challenge, which was a 5-mile run on Sunday organised by the RNLI as part of their Torbay Lifeboat Week. The event started at the top of the Breakwater Car Park in Brixham and ran out to the lighthouse and back along the breakwater. The route then took runners past Berry Head Hotel, through the lanes and woods and up to Berry Head Lighthouse. The route then returned to Brixham harbour, again going via the Breakwater lighthouse.

The route was quite hilly but Lucy found it really enjoyable, and it was also very well organised by the RNLI. Lucy finished in a time of 48.10.

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