By Ayesha Gillespie

MANY Tamar Trotters met together recently to relish in their recent marathon successes.

Lots have been following spring plans and it was a relief to finally get together and share their stories and enjoy a few chilled beverages – not so good for the upcoming Edinburgh marathon runners who still have a little longer to wait.

Arlene Powell and Cat Simms travelled to sunny Manchester to take on the 26.2 mile challenge on Sunday, April 27. Arlene did it in 4:21:15 which was a 24-minute marathon PB and Cat heroically did it in 5:46 despite being injured.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Damian Grinter (3:37:59), Darren Blenkinsop (5:08:57), Richard Morton (4:28:59) and Ayesha Gillespie (3:31:20) travelled to take part in the record-breaking London Marathon with its 57,000 participants.

Harriet Housam (3:59:01) won the club place and got a sub four-hour marathon for her debut, although there was a lot of disappointment as the heat meant PB plans were scuppered.

In April, Kat Darby (3:25:32) and Steve Bullen (3:53) travelled to Newport in South Wales where Kat achieved a PB of more than 30 minutes.

While a marathon is impressive, we’ve also had hardened and novice attempts at ultra marathons with Cris Peck (10:13:50), Helen Ralph (10:13:52) and Matt Harries (10:13:40) taking on the Smuggler’s Way which is 37 miles and has an elevation of over 4,000ft.

Robert Warner had the goal of getting a sub three-hour marathon and he didn’t just do it once, he did it twice and only 21 days apart in Barcelona and then Brighton.

Two Trotters – Kev Edwards and Rich Ezra-Ham were chosen to represent Team GB in the European Duathalon Championships in Poland on April 27.

Rich has even since travelled to Spain with fellow Trotter Luke Attwood to do the Ironman Mallorca 70.3 on May 10.