Captain Teed triumphant in the Falklands!

Breaking news: On Sunday March 17th, Exmouth Harriers' ladies' captain, Dawn Teed, won the Stanley Marathon, in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, in a superb time of 3:50:24. This is only 15 minutes short of her life-time best for the distance. At 49 years old, Dawn saw off some much younger international competition, most of whom would not have just stepped off a 15 hour flight and have been travelling for 2 days to get there to run! Her time seems even more outstanding when you know that it was achieved on a course which advertises itself as one of the toughest international marathons, where the gradients, the weather, the terrain and the exposure all add to the difficulty. 

Dawn's partner, Hugh Marsden, who has recently been working on South Georgia, is himself a former Stanley Marathon winner and has represented the Falklands territory over the 26.2 mile distance at two Commonwealth Games. Dawn can now boast having achieved the same and we are sure that Hugh will be very proud of her, having done all the training without him, through the long, hard winter months, back here in Devon. 

After lying in second place for much of the race, Dawn passed the long-time leading woman with about 4 miles to go. Interviewed on Falkland Islands Radio afterwards, Dawn modestly pronounced: “I just kind of reeled her in”! Explaining that her opponent had experience of Half Marathons, while the full distance places a much higher premium on endurance. This might explain why her opponent started to fade in the latter stages of the race, whilst Dawn remained strong, dug in and worked hard to get past her. As her club-mates, we can all tell you that it was nothing more complicated than good old fashioned training miles that have given her that endurance and no magical potion on the day, other than determination. Her winnings for the event - which is sponsored by the Standard Chartered Bank - will most certainly have paid for her flight out there and practically lift her into the ranks of the elite! This little piece of international glory could not have been granted to a nicer person and Dawn, we'd just like to say that all of the Harriers are thrilled for you and extremely proud of you. Good work Captain!

Dawn takes the tape as the first female!

Dawn receives her winnings: a rather large cheque (in both size and amount!). Small wonder she is grinning from ear to ear!