Iconic marathons for Torbay Tri Club

A dozen members of the Torbay Triathlon Club proudly graced the London Marathon in hot conditions, tackling the world famous races alongside over 55,000 runners.

First back in a quick time of 2.48.15 was SM Jason Hurford, followed by Steve Waters 3.26.48, V40 Kate Maslin 3.33.21, V40 Kate May 3.38.19, SL Katie Potter 3.55.40, SL Samara Taylor 3.58.30, V40 Tim Lewry 4.00.38, V50 Jo Jo Loten 4.04.33, V35 Jon Hiscoke 4.08.46, V35 Alix Ripley 4.35.04, SM Joshua Poston 5.19.28 (debut marathon), and another first time marathon runner V 45 Sarah Sweatman 6.42.20.

Another big marathon took place up north, and Manchester is getting a bigger and more popular each year, with 30,000 taking part in 2025!

First back from the club and a second marathon in two weeks was V35 Naomi Flanagan in another sub 3hr run, 2.56.50, 7th lady overall, followed by an impressive first marathon by SM Matt Giles in 3.19.54.

The European Championships Standard Duathlon took place in Rumia Poland, over a 10k run, 40k bike and 5k run. It was a good day for V60 Frank Reay, coming back strong from a bike injury to finish in 2.21.58,13th in age category. Also competing was Simon Mills, V50 2.15.37 9th.

The popular Taunton Flyer offers a mixture of open, flowing, flat roads, combined with a couple of testing climbs in the Blackdown Hills (an area of outstanding natural beauty). The Taunton Flyer offers you a choice of three routes, the Spitfire (37 miles), the Dakota (63 miles) or the Wellington (101 miles).

V40 Chris Martin was 1st back in the (Spitfire 37miles) in a swift time of 2.02.47, followed by V60 Pete Shorland in 3.08.16 (36th) out of 70.

A more popular distance was the Dakota (63miles) where eight members took part. Riding as a group, V50 Glynn Hughes, V50 Tony Hodge and V60 Wendy Urban finished in 4.33.57, positions 66/67/68th. Wendy was 1st V60 Lady.

Not far back and 2nd V60 lady was Anne Fairey in 4.42.51 (80th), next was V65 Steve Maddock in 4.55.27 (100th), father and son team just dipped under the five hours V50 Vivek Kulkarni and Daniel finished in 4.59.01, followed by a V50 Rachel Longthorpe 5.19.32.

Taking on the Wellington (101miles) and riding as a group were V40 Jonathan Cowling, V40 Kevin Crocker, V40 Paul Whitehead, V50 Gary Brenton, V50 Bobby Singh All finished in 7hr 40mins.