Torbay Tri Club athletes shine in Chicago, Torbay and Bournemouth

Torbay Tri club members enjoyed a successful week of competition, recording personal bests and impressive age-category performances across three challenging events in the UK and USA.

Steve Mason and Katie Giles made the trip across the Atlantic to compete in the prestigious Chicago Marathon, one of the world’s leading road races, which takes runners through 29 city neighbourhoods amid huge crowds.

Months of dedicated training paid off for both V45 athletes. Steve completed the 26.2-mile course in an impressive 3hrs 46mins 51secs, narrowly missing his personal best, while Katie celebrated a new PB with a superb time of 4hrs 38mins 32secs.

Closer to home, club members took on The Loop, a demanding 20-mile trail event organised by Winding Paths.

Starting at Broadsands Beach, the route heads inland through Churston, Galmpton and Greenway, before crossing woodland trails towards Kingswear. Runners then follow spectacular sections of the South West Coast Path, passing coves, beaches and coastal hills before finishing after a challenging journey back towards Brixham.

Leading the club home was SL Molly Pimm, who finished 25th in an excellent 4hrs 24mins 23secs.

V45 Alix Ripley and V40 Shaun Ripley ran together, crossing the line in 4hrs 35mins 21secs to finish 30th and 31st respectively.

Evergreen V70 Andrew Kilner produced another outstanding performance, finishing in 5hrs 17mins 24secs. He placed 62nd overall among 110 runners and claimed first place in the V70 category.

At the Bournemouth Festival, which features half-marathon, 10K and 5K races, Ben Flower continued his impressive form in the Supersonic 10K.

The fast, flat coastal course passes both Bournemouth and Boscombe piers, attracting almost 1,600 runners.

Ben’s excellent run saw him cross the finish line in a new personal best of 40mins 19secs, securing an outstanding 25th place overall.