SCORES of runners were nursing weary limbs and sore feet after taking part in the annual Dartmoor Vale Races. The rotary-organised races got under way from Sibelco's Kingsteignton plant with people of all abilities completing a 10k race, half marathon or full marathon on Sunday, October 16. Amid dry weather more than 600 runners took to the roads in their bid to set a new personal best, raise money for charity or just enjoy a countryside run. Dartmoor Vale Rotary Club organises the annual event which also raises thousands of pounds for charity. Although there was a hiccup with the 10k race, club secretary Jeffrey Brown said the overall event went 'very well'. Teignbridge-based charity The Helen Foundation fielded a team of runners, including foundation founder Roger Kirk who raced in the 10k. Roger said: "The team has raised around £4,000 so far. The efforts make a huge difference to whether the charity can continue to thrive." The rotary club hopes to distribute funds to various charities within coming months. 

Torbay AC had a presence at the event, which had 757 finishers, and was won by unattached runner Graham Hedger in 2.45.28.

 Martyn Breslan finish in 5th place and gained a PB at the 10000 metres at Exeter Arena, smashing his previous PB by 5 minutes. Eric Barber was first MV75. 

Lee turner wins again, 2 race wins within 3 days & 1st, 3rd, 4th & 6th at Lustleigh for Torbay Athletic Club.

The Lustleigh 10k race was an amazing success this year with a record 170 entrants taking on the gruelling course around the Lustleigh borders and throughout the Cleeve. Despite the warm weather making exposed parts of the course difficult to handle, racers starting pouring back into the show field in fantastic time. The winner, Mr Lee Turner of Torbay AAC sprinted home in just 34:48mins, swiftly followed by Sam Hupton and Peter Monaghan.

The testing 5.1 mile course took runners up the steep Weeke Hill before levelling out through Stoke Fleming and turning back towards Little Dartmouth for the long run back to the finish via the South Embankment.

It was 1 & 2 for Torbay Athletic Club as Lee Turner wins the Dartmouth Regatta Five Mile Road Race with his team mate  Pete Monaghan finishes 2nd less then a minute behind. Torbay Athletic Club claims the team prize.

Dartmouth Regatta > RESULTS CLICK HERE <

Lee Turner Race Winner 2nd Lady Wendy Urban 2nd Pete Monaghan

Lee Turner Race Winner 3rd Lady Cathy Fewings 3rd Lady Cathy Fewings

TORBAY AC scooped the men's team prize among several accolades when their team of 26 runners turned out for the Totnes 10k. With the first six runners to count, Torbay AC had three finishers in the top 10 to win the men's team award.

Lee Turner (36:57) was their fastest runner in fourth place, while Peter Monaghan (38:02) finished in seventh overall and was also top runner in the male veteran 45 category. Ninth place overall was enough to see Jon Parkinson (38:15) finish second in the men's vets 40. Torbay's next three were Russell Hart (24th, 40:51), Frank Reay (34th, 42:30) and Stuart Parkes (54th, 45:07).

Torbay AC's ladies team finished second in their section, with notable places including Anne Lucas breaking the female vet 60 record in 59:07

The event, alongside the River Dart, had 494 finishers from the 544 entrants.

KAIRN STONE led the South West challenge at Sunday's Plymouth Half Marathon. Stone, a runner-up 12 months ago, settled for sixth this time round, with a time of 1hr 9mins 00secs. Birchfield Harriers' Edwin Kipkorir won the race in 1:05:49, ending a run of three successive wins for Jean Ndayisenga. Harriers clubmate Ndayisenga was third in 1:07:45. In overcast conditions, and with threatening rain, the course followed a city centre route before taking in the greenery of Saltram Park. It returned to finish on the Hoe Promenade.

Torbay's Helen Dyke was 63rd overall in 1:23:06 — and third in the FV35 class.
Ray Brown was the quickest of the Torbay AC club runners, clocking a time of 1:38:25 that was good enough for fourth place in the MV60 class.
Tessa Hearfield went one better, taking third spot in the FV55 class thanks to her time of 1:55:02. 

Four intrepid Torbay AAC running colleagues travelled to Edinburgh to join in the 14,000 other runners taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon. With passports and travellers cheques in hand Nigel, Russell, Tim and Wendy set off on the long drive.

The marathon starts in the city centre and then follows the coast before looping back and finishing in Musselbrough. The course is normally a fast course with a slight down hill start and then flat for the rest of the route, however the weather soon put paid to taking the best advantage of this. With strong winds and heavy rain showers at times it felt more like January than May, but maybe that’s because we are soft southerners!!

Because of the slight downhill start, the race started at a quick pace, however this meant that, with the congestion of so many runners, accidents where bound to happened - Wendy and Tim narrowly avoided a pile up within 800 metres of the start., when two other runners collided and ended up on the floor.

Bearing in mind the weather it was testament to all the training prior to the marathon that Nigel and Tim both obtained Personal Best times, and Russell - in his debut marathon with only his first year of running behind him - ran a fabulous time of 3 hours and 10 mins.

Seventeen Torbay Athletic Club members turned out in force for the local 'Exterminator' 10k Race which took place on Saturday 7th May at 5pm, the start and finish point being at South Devon College’s main campus Vantage Point, Long Road, Paignton.

In spite of some tough opposition, Torbay runner Arran Tocknell won the race by the comfortable margin of one minute from his considerably older team mate Pete Monaghan, who put in an amazing performance in the MV45 category. Fifteen other Torbay runners produced rewarding times on this extremely hilly course, which at times reduced many of the 197 runners to a walk.

The race took the athletes into the beautiful South Hams countryside along little known bridle paths and farm tracks, right down to the Mill Pond at Stoke Gabriel, with much of the route covering an area of outstanding natural beauty. The race, which was organised by South Devon College in association with South Devon Athletic Club, has been described as ‘one of the most scenic 10ks in the South West’.

Race Director, Helen Honnor, said “This is our third year and we’re trialling moving it to a Saturday late afternoon/early evening. The course remains the same – a fairly tough, but stunning 10k route. For those who came last year, you’ll know all about the fantastic free kids activities that we put on in the sports hall to keep them entertained during the main race, so it’s a really family friendly event with loads of free parking and home made cakes!!! The fun run is ¾ mile and open to all and there are medals to all fun runners.” 

Ten athletes from Torbay Athletic Club travelled to Exeter to compete in the now well-established Great West Run Half Marathon last Sunday.  The race consists of two laps of the course, with the athletes twice navigating the centre of the town where a considerable number of spectators had turned out to applaud, in spite of the cold Easterly wind that greeted the runners that morning.

Good times were recorded by all ten runners, Lee Turner coming in 10th overall, a very commendable position bearing in mind the high class of runners who took part, whilst the ever-reliable Wendy Urban was fifth lady home in addition to being second in her over 45 age group.  Two extremely veteran runners, Ray Brown and Alexandra Pickford, came in 2nd MV60 and 4th FV60 respectively.   However, the success of this popular event was sadly overshadowed by the death of a young runner half way through the race.   

Torbay Athletic Club shine on a blistering day. Basking in one of the hottest and most glorious Easters ever recorded, the new Haldon Heartbeat Race got off to an impressive start on Easter Saturday. Organised by the newly-formed Haldon Trail Runners Club, the race started from the famous Exeter Racecourse, giving the nearly 300 runners the added excitement of a nearly 2 miles lap of the circuit before heading out into the woods via a short section of country lane.

Once in the Haldon Forest, the course followed the horse riding trails along a grassy gallop stretch before heading down into the lower part of the woods on forest roads and tracks. With around 460 feet of climb, it then headed back up the hill on a forest road before completing a long sweeping section of fairly flat track with fantastic panoramic views, to arrive back at the country lane and the racecourse, finishing by the winning post on the inner service track.

Considering the unseasonal July-like weather with temperatures up into the mid 20's, some seriously fast times were produced, with two members of Torbay Athletic Club picking up the first two places. Arran Tocknell stormed round the 8.5 mile circuit, setting the first course record in a blistering 48 minutes and 50 seconds, with the amazing MV45 Pete Monaghan trailing into second place by exactly one minute. Pete was just half a minute in front of the ever-reliable Teignbridge Trotter, Dave Tomlin, who came in third around 30 seconds later, whilst an impressive 28 runners managed to squeeze in under the hour. Eight Torbay AC runners produced these impressive times in spite of the unexpected heat. 

More than 1,000 runners finished the race, won by former Tavistock AC runner Peter Freedman — now representing Coventry Godiva Harriers in 1:08:06.

Torbay AC were well represented among the early finishers thanks to Nigel Fenn, whose time of 1:20:17 guaranteed him 33rd. Torbay AC's Russell Cleave was 44th in 1:21:48. Torbay's Tim Peters followed in 76th in 1:26:05, while the club's fastest lady Wendy Urban bagged top spot in the FV45 age category after crossing the line in 1:27:00 for 87th overall.

LEE TURNER was one of the main victims of the marshalling mix-up that marred Sunday morning's Plymouth Hoe 10.

Torbay AC's Turner was among a group of top county runners who went on the wrong route about three miles in as they chased runaway leader Kairn Stone. Former Torbay runner Stone wasn't affected by the gaffe and won in 51mins 16secs, but a dozen of his nearest rivals — including Devon duo Mark Jenkin and Tom Merson — opted for a Plymouth training run instead.

Turner rejoined the race and, to his credit, salvaged a respectable 17th overall in a time of 1:01:57, but he lost more than six minutes compared to his 2010 time. The marshalling blunder also meant race organisers were forced to cancel the men's Peninsula Challenge, which is an annual contest between Devon and Cornwall's top athletes. 

Third again for Jon Parkinson on familiar territory and Helen Dyke has a convincing ladies' win.
Torbay's Jon Parkinson is no stranger to top-three finishes in North Devon, and the Torbay AC runner was at it again on Sunday morning with a strong finish in the Braunton 10.

Parkinson was one of Bideford AC's leading runners before relocating to South Devon a few years ago, and he returned the familiar roads up north to claim a third-place finish with a time of 59mins 02secs over the hilly ten-mile course.

His former Bideford club mate Kevin Heywood won the race in 51:47, setting a new course record in the process and beating Exeter-based Andrew Chambers (56:33) by nearly five minutes. Third-placed Parkinson was the first veteran runner home and took the MV40 category prize.

Torbay's Helen Dyke made a successful return to road racing with a convincing ladies' win.

Dyke finished 22nd overall in 1:05:22, and had nearly seven minutes to catch her breath before runner-up Helen Heard of Bude Rats crossed the line.