Don and Lucy are crowned Club Champions during a night of celebrations

The Teignbridge Trotters held their annual awards night last Saturday (13th) at Buckland Athletic Football Club. There were well over 100 members present who enjoyed an excellent buffet and then danced the night away at the disco.

However, before that took place, there was the small matter of awarding a large array of trophies, many of which were beautiful cut glass crystal. Club Chairman, Roger Hayes, who was compere for the night, invited Club President, Roger Hales, up onto the stage to present the prizes.

The fastest times during the year were;

• Men’s fastest 10K - Donald Brooks 33:23
• Men’s fastest Half Marathon - Alex Sparks 1:14:39
• Men’s fastest Marathon - Alex Sparks 2:44:05
• Ladies fastest 10K - Chloe Olford 40:26
• Ladies fastest Half Marathon - Helen Anthony 1:30:14
• Ladies fastest Marathon - Helen Anthony - 3:09:57

Next up was the Club Championship awards. Members needed to complete 6 races out of the 16 on offer during the course of the year. Distances and terrain varied, and the results were worked out on age grading. Prizes were awarded to the top 10 men and ladies.

The Ladies Club Champion was Lucy Payne. Helen Anthony was runner up followed by Mel Brooks 3rd, Tracy Elphick 4th, Liz Nuttall 5th, Kathryn Steemson 6th, Lucy Evans 7th, Chloe Weeks 8th, Deb Skinner 9th and Kim Knight 10th.

The Men’s Club Champion was Donald Brooks. Roger Easterbrook was runner up followed by Duncan Knight 3rd, Roger Hayes 4th, Neil Rutley 5th, Alan Kember 6th, Ewan Walton 7th, Ben Elphick 8th, Steve Weeks 9th and Derek Skinner 10th.

Then came a series of awards voted on by the Club’s Committee. Nominations were restricted to a maximum of 5 members for each category.

• Most Promising Male Newcomer - Jamie Moore
• Most Promising Female Newcomer - Sarah Doxey
• Most Improved Male - Neil Rutley
• Most Improved Female - Lucy Evans

The Committee Cup is awarded to a member for services to the club. This is always hotly debated and this year was no exception. All five nominees picked up votes. The overall winner was Ian Langler; Ian has been responsible for producing the results at all our races for the past 20 years.

Dennis’ Cup is awarded to our Coach/Leader of the year. It’s an award in memory of one of our members, Dennis Milstead, who tragically passed away whilst leading a group of Trotters during a training night. This award is voted on by the members, each of them able to cast their vote online. As with all of the awards presented, no one other than the Chairman knew who had won what! Allen Taylor won it and in doing so became the first leader, rather than a coach, to win it.

The club’s 4-mile handicap race, which also happened to be the last race of this year's Club Championship, was won by Cheryl Dunn. Sarah Blanchard took second place followed by Susanne Westgate in third place.

The club organise five races each year, more than any other running club in Devon. It’s a huge undertaking and relies on the support from all club members. Each member is given a ‘marshal point’ for helping out at a race. There are a maximum of six points on offer, this includes one point for baking three cakes during the year for the sale at our races. Those with the maximum six points are entered into a draw for the club’s London Marathon place. The lucky winner this year was Duncan Knight.

Summarising the evening, Chairman Roger Hayes was full of praise for those who had won an award. He said: ‘The set of fastest times was pretty amazing this year. As a club we are getter stronger and stronger up the front end. The club is continuing to grow in size and we now have more lady members than men, which is great to see. He went on to say: ‘I was particularly pleased for Ian to win the Committee Cup; he’s done such a great job producing our results for so many years now.’

The Trotters next race is the Dartmoor Discovery Ultra Marathon on 6th June. The race is already well over half full. You can enter it via their website. Their next 10 week Couch to 5K course starts on 5th January. If you would like to register please contact their Membership Secretary, Jacki Woon, whose details can be found on their website.