The 4 Trigs (for those who could do the math....)

On the same day that Exmouth was holding our Fulford 5 race, the off-roadie contingent in the Harriers decided to head up the coast to the neighbouring town of Sidmouth to participate in Sidmouth Running Club's '4 Trigs Challenge'.

This is a 17 mile self-nav event that requires runners to find their way to, then summit, the 4 local trig points that surround the town. Due to the self-nav element and the scale of the climbs involved, this is actually categorised as a fell race and suits those with either local knowledge or an aptitude with an OS Map and a compass!

The 4 Trig points, to be visited in order, are High Peak, Fire Beacon, Bucton Hill and Weston. Competitors must stay off road at all times, making use of public footpaths, by-ways and the South West Coastal path to travel between the 4 points.

First runner home was Exeter based fell runner Tim Lenton, in a very impressive time of 2h20. First lady home was local runner Jessica Kayner (nee Watkins) of Sidmouth RC, proving that local knowledge is a definite advantage, she finished in 3h08.

There were 4 off-road loving mudsters taking part for the Harriers and top of the pile was Richard Bishop who had a fine run, completing the event in 2.31.41 for 8th place over all.

Not far behind him was Jon Croome who took 11th place in a time of 2.44.57.

Jim Pyne, no doubt competing with his trusty dogs in tow, took 2.53.17 to navigate the 4 points for a 15th placing.

Finally Jon's wife, Lorraine, cantered home in 3.17.45, giving her 33rd spot over all and a highly commendable 4th place in the ladies race.

Meanwhile, Scott Jordan needs to be sent back to school. It would appear that he lost count of how many trigs he had bagged somewhere along the way and cruised home to victory in a highly selective race of just 2 competitors who chose to tackle the scaled down '2 Trigs Challenge'...!
Scott won this by 6 minutes over rival (singular!) competitor Robin Carter. I shouldn't give Scott too much stick though as he is in hard training for the London marathon and was no doubt running this event as a training run, but for future reference, Scott, 2 + 2 = 4!!! ;-)