On Saturday two junior ORCs took part in the inter-schools X-country at Stover School,
representing East Devon which oddly Okehampton comes under. With very wet and slippery conditions underfoot, both boys put up strong performances in very competitive races. Representing years 10/11, Sam Priday held off his nearest rival in a strong sprint finish to come 5th. Matthew Richards led for the first lap but was eventually overtaken by a chasing group and finished in 4th place for years 8/9.
The marathon season kicked off with Roger Voaden running the Plym Trail Double Weekend, coming 2nd on Saturday and 4th on Sunday, winning the Double Day on aggregate. At the same venue Kate Wilson ran the Half Marathon finishing in 1.57.00.
Paul Evison headed to Gloucester to run the Gloucester Marathon. This is a looped course which also included a half marathon course leading to some confusion and mis-direction. In very icy conditions Paul ran a great race to complete his first sub-4hour marathon, finishing in 3.56.57, a 10 minute PB, a new club record and giving him a Good for Age time for London. A pretty good performance for someone who never even thought of racing when he joined the club a couple of years ago!
Sunday saw two Orcs venture down to Camborne to tackle the Storm Force 10, one of the Cornish Grand Prix series of races. After an icy start the paths soon thawed and both ORCs had great runs, Andy Vallance finishing in a superb time of 59.46 to be 15th overall and 3rd MV40. Chris Turner continues to improve after injury finishing in an excellent 1.04.42.
In another 10miler on the same day Jo Page and Dave Bates also faced icy roads making for
difficult running in places. The Braunton 10 has two tough hills but the last 4miles are mostly downhill. Jo had a great run, finishing 2nd lady in 1.11.13. Despite not running since injuring his knee at the Brown Willy run, Dave ran an impressive race here to be 1st MV60 in 1.15.04.
There was a good club turnout at the popular First Chance 10k in Exeter where eighteen ORCs steered their way through congested paths and icy patches in this competitive race. First home for Okehampton was Steve Sincock who’s time of 38.30 gave him 2nd MV55 and a new club age category record. Claudine Benstead was the first club lady home in 42.47 for 1st FV60 while Jane Richardson took 3rd FV65 as there was no FV70 category in 59.46. The first three men home, Steve Sincock, Graham Bryant and Andrew Thorne were 13th team out of 21 while the ladies team of Claudine, Jo Bradford and Jackie Dawes 6th out of 22 teams.
Other ORC times; Graham Bryant; 39.11, Andrew Thorne; 47.09, Jo Bradford; 47.59, Jackie
Dawes; 50.21, Lucinda Walsh; 52.48, Viki Heyer; 54.31, Katy Speak; 55.45, Jo Burrow; 56.03,
Vicky Bond; 58.13, Michelle Luddington; 59.42, Ruth Bushell; 1.01.40, Cheryl King; 1.04.56,
Kathryn Volkelt-Igoe; 1.08.17, Vanessa Keast; 1.08.21, Joanne Teixeira; 1.13.57, Lynsey King;
1.13.58.