ATC’s roller coaster ride as the camaraderie builds

Mike Way climbs ahead of Rob Gregson (left) and Dave Hockey. Pic by Andrew Le Poidevin. (https://www.guernseymotorsport.com)

‘Have you seen Mike Way?’

‘He’s probably running.’

And so he was – he often is.

The second stage of the Trident Trust All Terrain Challenge, a 5km rolling road race at Pleinmont, was over and he was out on the coast road cooling down and getting some extra miles in as part of training for October’s London Marathon.

Mike is a fixture on the local running scene, a supportive and welcoming character. He rarely misses a race and the refrain ‘come on Mike Way’ will ring out regularly, even when he is spotted out training.

The road race offered a contrasting challenge to Sunday’s opener on the cliffs.

‘It was warm tonight and you always forget how hilly it is going out there and back, it’s a bit of a roller coaster ride,’ he said.

‘That makes it hard work and you just have to pick a pace and stick to it when you can. You just have to fight the hills when they come up and keep yourself going and motivated, because you know you are not going to be out there that long.’

Runners at the start of Stage 2. Pic by Andrew Le Poidevin. (https://www.guernseymotorsport.com)

The internal rivalries through the divisions that characterise the ATC are now beginning to take shape.

‘There’s always going to be little battles, that’s what makes it so good, the camaraderie of the whole thing. And obviously we know after tonight what divisions and things we are in and how we have all been split up.

‘It’s usually great fun just cheering on your fellow league mates, the others flying on in front of you and those behind, all trying to work as hard as they can in their divisions they are in. It just makes the whole week really good fun and enjoyable.’

‘It starts a bit slower, there are the same faces each year you know, those from the athletics club. But there are always knew faces and it gradually gets more and more rowdy as more and more conversations go on throughout the week as people get to know each other a bit more.’

The varying terrain as the ATC progresses shows up people’s strengths and weaknesses.

‘It’s amazing how different people are and how better people are at one things or another and it just ends up being more of a debate and a chat throughout the week.’

Mike’s long warm up and cool down around the races are not just about marathon training, it also is aimed at injury prevention.

‘Even in this heat you’ve got to make sure the muscles are warmed up, you can’t go flat out into a race without doing a warm up because you are more likely to get injuries.

‘Because I’ve done it [the ATC] so many times you know what to expect about how hard it will be, it is seven races over seven days and you have to be sensible and not go too mad early on because you won’t last the rest of the week.’

Mike is a motivated runner, but what drives that?

‘It’s a whole mixture. It’s definitely the fitness, that one reason to do it, and it’s definitely really good for the mind and body. It just helps with the stresses of work and all the rest of it to get out and have something different that you are committed to.

‘It just gets you meeting different people that have the same sort of thoughts and ethoses as yourself and enjoy going out running. This week makes it even better because the camaraderie all week is just brilliant, and the new faces you meet just makes it a different thing.’

Two leaders’ yellow vests were handed out before the start of yesterday’s race.

Will Bodkin is the leading man and Rosie Williams the leading woman.

Both led home at Pleinmont too.

Visit our Facebook page to see the competitors in action.

Stage 2 Results.

1 Will Bodkin 15:53; 2 Luke Richards 16:51; 3 Chris Norman 16:59; 4 Ben Foote 17:17; 5 Toby Mann 17:17; 6 Fabio Teles 17:26; 7 David Mosley 18:06; *8 Mikey Ingrouille 18:07; *9 Paul Hewitt 18:13; *10 James De Garis 18:16; *11 Andy Hatton 18:24; *12 Paul Moriarty 18:37; 13 Matthew Atkinson 18:45; 14 Adam Grogan 18:49; 15 Simon March 18:50; 16 Samuel Goddard 18:56; 17 Aaron Walden 19:04; 18 Sam Walden 19:07; 19 William Fish 19:10; 20 Adam Dorey 19:12; 21 Ross Allen 19:13; 22 Rosie Williams 19:15; 23 Elise Bott 19:17; 24 Marc Isabelle 19:21; 25 Michael Le Page 19:30; 26 Daniel Legg 19:35; 27 Melanie Nicolle 19:42; 28 Gearoid Lee 19:46; 29 Steve Wilson 19:50; 30 Iain Bailey 20:05; 31 Dave Hockey 20:30; 32 Hannah Fitchet 20:32; 33 Nick Hynes 20:32; 34 Dan Hunter 20:32; 35 Jon Sexton 20:38; 36 Steven McCracken 20:42; 37 Mickey Haimes 20:42; 38 Derek Beatty 20:45; 39 Tim Wilson 20:46; 40 Michael Way 20:51; 41 Robert Gregson 21:00; 42 Jordan Smith 21:06; 43 Agris Dulbinskis 21:12; 44 Tom O’Neil 21:15; 45 Jenna Jackson 21:24; 46 Darren Rouse 21:28; 47 Matt Wadley 21:29; 48 Daniella Le Flem 21:31; 49 Lorna Castle 21:37; 50 Tania Shires 21:43; 51 Caroline Barby 21:46; 52 Jocelyn McLellan 21:47; 53 Penny Freeman 21:47; 54 James Starkey 21:48; 55 Jason Powers 21:53; 56 Vicki Joyce 22:01; 57 Angus Kirby 22:01; 58 Brett Bewey 22:06; 59 Ruairi Harnden 22:09; 60 Emma Beardsell 22:14; 61 Nick Boughay 22:20; 62 Natalie Finlayson 22:48; 63 Luc Blanchard 22:48; 64 Chris O’Neil 22:52; 65 Andrew Sexton 22:59; 66 Peter Beausire 23:03; 67 Paul Domaille 23:06; 68 Divon Crouse 23:07; 69 Katy Hodgetts 23:08; 70 Craig Collins 23:13; 71 Cecil Carter 23:20; 72 Gemma Le Sauvage 23:27; 73 Steve Sarre 23:28; 74 Paul James 23:39; 75 Jeanne Svejstrup 24:00; 76 Nathan Galliene 24:07; 77 Suzi Druce 24:42; 78 Matt De Carteret 24:49; 79 Martin Boyde 24:52; 80 Lucy Le Cocq 24:56 ;81 John Duggan 25:07; 82 Paula Dodd 25:09; 83 Darren Smith 25:28; 84 Nicola Sharp 25:28; 85 Gregory Josey 25:40; 86 Matt Mason 25:47; 87 Alison Lihou 25:52; 88 Ali Mason 25:55; 89 Louise Critchlow 26:16; 90 Isabelle Mariess 26:21; 91 James Soden 26:25; 92 Tomas Wilkins 26:27; 93 Harley Gavey 26:46; 94 Joe Armstrong 26:58; 95 Juliette Yeaman 27:03; 96 Laura Havard 27:05; 97 Susan Atkinson 27:09; 98 Brendan Wilms 27:12; 99 Maree Wilms 27:12; 100 Sam Sexton 27:14; 101 Jemma Crouse 27:27; 102 Emma Alford 27:31; 103 Tony Veillard 28:35; 104 Alun Williams 29:08; 105 Sam Ingrouille 29:11; 106 Terry Harnden 29:22; 107 Cath Birnie 29:34; 108 Jos Ensink 29:42; 109 Mark Finlayson 30:45; 110 Berni Gilman 32:41.

* Adjusted time due to traffic incident

General classification

Division One

1 Will Bodkin 0:40:33; 2 Luke Richards 0:43:01; 3 Fabio Teles 0:44:02; 4 Chris Norman 0:45:35; 5 Ben Foote 0:46:01; 6 Toby Mann 0:46:26; 7 James De Garis 0:47:49; 8 Mikey Ingrouille 0:48:30; 9 Matthew Atkinson 0:48:51; 10 Andy Hatton 0:48:55; 11 Will Rutherford 0:49:10; 12 Adam Grogan 0:49:25; 13 David Mosley 0:49:23; 14 Marc Isabelle 0:50:00; 15 Aaron Walden 0:50:05; 16 Ross Allen 0:50:19; 17 Samuel Goddard 0:50:21; 18 Paul Hewitt 0:50:50; 19 Paul Moriarty 0:51:07.

Division Two

1 William Fish 0:51:06; 2 Simon March 0:51:20; 3 Michael Le Page 0:51:23; 4 Rosie Williams 0:51:33; 5 Adam Dorey 0:51:56; 6 Daniel Legg 0:52:02; 7 Elise Bott 0:52:12; 8 Sam Walden 0:52:17; 9 Nick Hynes 0:52:35; 10 Gearoid Lee 0:53:15; 11 Dave Hockey 0:53:17; 12 Iain Bailey 0:53:28; 13 Melanie Nicolle 0:53:59; 14 Steve Wilson 0:54:07; 15 Mickey Haimes 0:54:35; 16 Tim Wilson 0:54:39; 17 Dan Hunter 0:54:43; 18 Jon Sexton 0:54:49; 19 Hannah Fitchet 0:54:49; 20 Derek Beatty 0:54:54; 21 Robert Gregson 0:55:00

Division Three

1 Steven McCracken 0:55:23; 2 Agris Dulbinskis 0:55:29; 3 Michael Way 0:55:29; 4 Tom O’Neil 0:55:32; 5 Jenna Jackson 0:56:15; 6 Daniella Le Flem 0:56:24; 7 Darren Rouse 0:56:37; 8 Penny Freeman 0:56:38; 9 Jordan Smith 0:56:45; 10 Matt Wadley 0:57:03; 11 Jocelyn McLellan 0:57:51; 12 Nick Boughay 0:58:31; 13 Angus Kirby 0:58:39; 14 Jason Powers 0:58:45; 15 Caroline Barby 0:58:46; 16 Chris ONeil 0:58:47; 17 Vicki Joyce 0:58:53.

Division Four

1 Tania Shires 0:59:19; 2 Paul Domaille 0:59:34; 3 Emma Beardsell 0:59:41; 4 James Starkey 0:59:43; 5 Brett Bewey 1:00:12; 6 Peter Beausire 1:00:12; 7 Ruairi Harnden 1:00:15; 8 Natalie Finlayson 1:00:24; 9 Divon Crouse 1:01:064;10 Lorna Castle 1:01:06; 11 Cecil Carter 1:01:09; 12 Katy Hodgetts 1:01:32; 13 Andrew Sexton 1:01:52; 14 Craig Collins 1:01:56; 15 Steve Sarre 1:02:03; 16 Luc Blanchard 1:03:40.

Division 5

1 Paul James 1:04:05; 2 Matt De Carteret 1:04:18; 3 Gemma Le Sauvage 1:04:30; 4 Nathan Galliene 1:05:345; Lucy Le Cocq 1:06:10; 6 Martin Boyde 1:06:47; 7 Nicola Sharp 1:07:00; 8 Paula Dodd 1:07:04; 9 Suzi Druce 1:07:24; 10 John Duggan 1:08:11; 11 Darren Smith 1:08:43; 12 Tomas Wilkins 1:08:53; 13 Matt Mason 1:09:21; 14 Jeanne Svejstrup 1:09:38; 15 Isabelle Mariess 1:10:05; 16 Laura Havard 1:10:12; 17 Alison Lihou 1:10:18; 18 Juliette Yeaman 1:10:37; 19 Harley Gavey 1:10:44.

Division 6

1 Ali Mason 1:11:23; 2 Jemma Crouse 1:11:35; 3 Gregory Josey 1:11:49; 4 Joe Armstrong 1:11:53; 5 Louise Critchlow 1:12:29; 6 James Soden 1:12:57; 7 Emma Alford 1:13:03; 8 Sam Sexton 1:13:15; 9 Susan Atkinson 1:15:02; 10 Terry Harnden 1:16:48; 11 Tony Veillard 1:17:58; 12 Maree Wilms 1:18:17; 13 Brendan Wilms 1:18:17; 14 Cath Birnie 1:19:32; 15 Jos Ensink 1:20:01; 16 Sam Ingrouille 1:22:08; 17 Alun Williams 1:22:25; 18 Mark Finlayson 1:26:34; 19 Derek Gilman 1:27:08; 20 Berni Gilman 1:29:53; 21 Catherine Griggs 1:34:13.