Strong finishes at Fast 5000 and Christmas Canter for Torbay Triathlon Club

The final City Runs event of the year took place at Torbay Velopark over the weekend, with Torbay Tri Club athletes lining up for the popular Fast 5000 on the flat, fast circuit.

The Start Fitness Fast 5000 attracted a high-quality field competing over three laps of the Velopark. Runners were split into two races, with the A race reserved for those targeting sub-18-minute times and the B race for runners over 18 minutes.

Competing in the A race, Torbay Tri senior man Charlie Higginson produced a strong performance, finishing in a quick 17 minutes 51 seconds, placing 72nd in a field of 80 in a highly competitive race.

The B race saw several notable performances. V35 Naomi Flanagan continued her excellent season by finishing first in the race in 18 minutes 31 seconds, placing 15th overall, third female overall and first in the V35 category. SM Matt Giles achieved his season goal of breaking 19 minutes, crossing the line in 18 minutes 49 seconds in 28th place. SM Harry Pierce followed with another solid run, finishing strongly in 19 minutes 27 seconds for 43rd place.

Veteran runner V65 Peter Hayward rounded off a successful year with an impressive 24 minutes 17 seconds, placing 97th overall and second in the V65 category, in a total field of 124 runners.

Elsewhere, athletes also took part in the festive Christmas Canter, an event organised by Winding Paths and held at Sampford Peverell near Tiverton. The unique seven-hour challenge offered a range of distances from 10k through to marathon, ultra, or anything in between, along the scenic Grand Western Canal.

The route followed the canal towpath from Sampford Peverell to Burlescombe and back, with runners turning at a marshal point just beyond the aid station.

V45 Hannah Davies took on the “long 10k” option and enjoyed an excellent run, finishing 17th out of 145 competitors in a time of 1 hour 13 minutes 22 seconds, rounding off a successful and busy weekend of racing.