HOGWEED TROTTERS
Club Latest news
SUNDAY, April 13 was the day that a large group of Hogweeds had spent the winter preparing for. Hopefully the months of hard training would pay off to produce the performances they deserved at the London Marathon.
Our first finisher was David Fitch, who broke into the top 1000, coming 903rd in an impressive time of 2h58.10s. Next was Geoff Doyle, who lowered the club record for MV50 to 3h0m48s, an improvement of nearly 7minutes on his 2007 time.
Justin Littlechild, finished in 3h2m49s, just 14 seconds ahead of Julian Lewis in 3h3m3s. John Curtis ran well to finish in 3h23m43s with Dave Wintle a little further back in 3h30m3s.
Our first lady finisher was Trinity Booth, whose time of 3h31m34s was 52 minutes faster than 2007. Pat Curtis was next home in 3h33m11s, which placed her as 20th LV50. Andy Cooknell, in his first marathon, and Kevin McConville both finished in under 4hrs in 3h54m15s and 3h56m respectively. Rob Smith crossed the line in 4h28m28s, just ahead of marathon debutant Sue Hutchinson (4h32m13s), who was 6 seconds ahead of Lynette Bonnick, her training partner.
Other Hogweeds to break 5 hours were Bob Emery 4h34m20s, Sue Mundy in 4h35m22s (pb), Jill Bendeaux 4h40m51s and Anne Draper 4h43m50s in her first marathon. Rebecca Dainton came home in 5h12m21s before Tania Kirsti and Harry Minas finished together in 6h56m5s.
Ronan Conlon also ran a marathon at the weekend but far from the crowded streets of London. He took part in the Exmoor Coastal Marathon, which included 4200 feet of ascent, and completed the course 59th in 6h46m38s.
Some of our triathletes raced at Swindon in the Duathlon, which was a 10k run followed by 40k bike ride and 5k run. Simon Spedding was 66th in a combined time of 2h15m24s ahead of Stuart Wilkie (2h23m32s) and Mandy Spedding )2h42m3s).
ABOUT US
THEY may have been in existence for just a handful of
years but Hogweed Trotters have shown they’re no slouches when it comes to the recruitment game, as their impressive 250-or-so membership list reveals.
This fabulous road running club, based in Chipping Sodbury, south Gloucestershire, caters for adults aged 18 and up, and with some members in their 70s, that is quite literally an open invitation to all!
Secretary and club founder John Clapp explained: “We are a road running club rather than an athletic one. We do multi-terrain but we’re essentially about running all around the country lanes of the Cotswolds during the summer. During the darker nights of winter we stick to town running around Chipping Sodbury and Yate.”
Trotters have three main training nights, on Wednesdays, Fridays (for beginners) and Sundays, although there are always different strengths of ‘tests’ to suit the wide-ranging abilities at the club.
John added: “We are a good, enthusiastic club and more than half of our membership are ladies. We stage two main meetings a year and we give a special training programme to runners who want to achieve something in the sport.
“Not only that, but we can also hold cycling and swimming sessions for budding triathletes.”
contact
Who
to contact: John Clapp (secretary) 07768 445907;
Bob Bell (chairman) 01454 325886
Where to go: Hogweed Trotters are based at Chipping
Sodbury Cricket Club, St John’s Way, Chipping Sodbury
Club website: www.hogweedtrotters.co.uk
Email: jlc@hogweedtrotters.co.uk
Main sponsors: Sodbury Tyre and Exhaust Centre
