Gary leads the way for Torbay Tri

The Autumn Torbay Sprint Triathlon, organised by Sportiva Events, played host to Torbay Tri Club's Championship race as members came away with a number of impressive performances, podium placings and first time finishes over the Sprint distance format.
Gary Burman was leading club member home and took a hugely impressive second place overall while Laura Wilby took top female honours as first lady across the line.
For Heather Maddock Andrea Wall and Lizzie Hurford it was their debut in a sprint triathlon and testament to all their committed training. It was made all the more impressive as Heather also made it on to the podium for her age group.
Gary Burman 57.43, Mark Colombini 1.00.51 (3rd AG), Laura Wilby 1.01.05, Peter Hayward 1.03.14 (1st AG), Frank Reay 1.06.48 (2nd AG), Laraine Gibbins 1.17.02 (2nd AG), Jo Atkins 1.19.06 (3rd AG), Paul Thomas 1.20.40, Brenda Finney 1.27.30 (1st AG), Heather Maddock 1.32.42 (3rd AG), Andrea Wall 1.33.57 and Lizzie Hurford 1.40.29
In the Swim Bike Run event Libby Milsom completed her race in a time of 60.13. Starting and finishing in the beautiful grounds of Stover School, Teignbridge Trotters hosted another fantastic event with the Templer Ten attracting a trio of club runners to the multi terrain 10-mile run. In what has been a hugely successful and grueling year for Chris Martin it was one last race as he finished in a great time of 1.20.17 and was joined by Rachel Longthorpe 1.36.18 and Howie Bruger 1.41.13
Heading across the border into Cornwall, although for a very brief visit, Andy and Helen Chapell took part in the Tamar 10k. Given the unique chance to run across the Tamar Bridge and back, Andy finished in 46.15 and was followed home by Helen in 50.57 who was 3rd AG.
In the latest round of the club's running Grand Prix series, Sharpham Parkrun turned orange as 15 members made the short trip to Totnes for Devon's newest Parkrun. A far cry from the flat Velopark Parkrun that many were used to, the undulating course provided a testing route to speed around but that didn't stop Jason Hurford 18.00 and Debbie Burman claiming 21.12 top positions.
The first fixture of the Westward League Cross-Country season also took place at Newnham Park, Plymouth with Stephen Wilbraham the club's sole representative running the 9,150m course.
That weekend for Torbay Triathlon Club started with several members involved in an end of season BBQ and, despite some dodgy burgers where you could still hear the cows mooing, there was some impressive results across the board.
In swimming action over in Montenegro over four days was Nick Cull, Davina Cull, Rachel Carter, Richard Humphreys and Gary Brenton taking part in the UltraSwim 33.3 challenge.
Overall, in 17th place was Nick Cull with a time of 9hr 14m 33s, Richard Humphreys was next in 11hr 57m 33s, Gary Brenton in a time of 12hr 36m 59s, Rachel Carter was next at 13hr 07m 01s and just behind was Davina Cull finishing in a total time of 13hr 32m 16s.
Many club members took part in Park runs on Saturday around the country, including as far away as Stuttgart in Germany!
Sunday came around and Chris Martin was racing at the Barnstable Marathon with an impressive time of 3hr 52m 31s. Also running was Wendy Urban doing the Cardiff Half Marathon 27,000 runners and a fantastic atmosphere, as Wendy came across the line in 1hr 41m 54s.
Over at Thruxton, three Torbay Tri members took on the UK’s fastest race track with Julian Smith and Ben Flower in ‘Standard distance Duathlon’ action in the morning and Dave Brown in ‘Sprint distance Duathlon’ action in the afternoon.
With Smith edging the run and Flower edging the bike, there was only 42 seconds separating both of them at the finish, with Julian first across the line in 2hr 2m 35s. Dave Brown paced the afternoon’s race well, with some thrilling draft legal action going on and doing enough to qualify for the age group World Championships next year in Australia with a time of 1hr & 30s.