Ultra challenges for Torbay athletes

Torbay AAC have been busy on the ultras and off-road events, bringing home tired limbs and great times. 

Craig Davies ran in the inaugural ‘Pagan Trails’ half marathon, a new race from OuterEdge Events offering an experience of midwinter trail running in Dartmoor. The course set off from Chagford and took in the views from Meldon Hill, Hookney Tor, Fernworthy Reservoir and Kestor Rocks. C

raig finished in 29th place in a time of 2:32:32. Cassandra Harrison, Deb Webber and Nadine Lee took on The Blackdown Beast…nearly 17 miles of mud and hills, a self-navigating event with plenty of challenges. They really enjoyed it with highlights being the pasty and mulled cider stop and hot tub recovery!

The Arc of Attrition is a fifty-mile ultra race on the costal path in Cornwall. Gemma Radcliffe and Anita Merritt smashed some of the most gruelling miles on the ARC50 with tight cut-offs for the tough terrain - Gemma narrowly missed a cut-off and Anita had to retire due to an injury after 22 miles - no doubt both will be back in 2025 to give it another crack.

There were great runs from Torbay Athletes at the Devon Schools Championships. Annalise Little (year 7) set the scene with a superb second place over this hilly and particularly muddy course. Then, in the junior girls, race Scarlett Muscott had a strong run to take the silver medal while Ella Richards ran an impressive 9th place.

Leon Snell and Marlow Kirby had great races in the junior boys 4k race (years 8 and 9) , especially as both boys have another year in this very competitive age group. They were 10th and 21st, respectively.

Paige Quinn (year 10) outpaced all of the year 10 /11 inter girls as well as the year 12/13 senior girls in a combined race over 4k. Another gold to add to her collection, with Olivia Steer of Exeter Harriers, but also running for South Devon, close by in second place for the inter girls.

Theo Glew (year 10) was first in for a Torbay in the inter boys race (years 10/11) in a solid 7th pace with Josh Bradley Reece chasing him over the line for 8th pace and Harry Kendall also running for South Devon in 9th place. Gwilym Lewis (36), Oscar Eve (38) and Lucas Vandeweghe (42) ran well in a tough race.