Eden Project Marathon
On Sunday 20th October, Oli Hunt ran the Eden Project Marathon. A popular fixture in the Cornish running calendar, the event offers a challengingly hilly, multi-terrain route through areas of mining heritage and beautiful countryside. In true Cornish style, all runners receive a pasty and a beer alongside their finishers medal.
Very wet and muddy conditions on the day combined with some significant elevation made for a tough course and Oli was very pleased to finish in 12th place overall in a time of 3:44:36.
Haldon Forest Halloween Run
On Friday evening, stage 2 of the 2024/25 Canicross Championship, organised by Purple Gecko Events, took place at Haldon Forest. Carole Loader ran the 10km and Keeley Phillips the 5km, both braving the forest at twilight and escaping the zombies hunting them down (including fellow ORCs Emma Jewell and Matt Grint who were there volunteering as zombie runners!)
Carole commented that it was a tough course with the first half of each lap of her two lap course being uphill! She was pleased to finish first female in 56:38. Keeley ran well despite suffering with a cold finishing in 36:08 and thought it was another brilliant event by Purple Gecko. It was an evening much enjoyed by runners, canines and zombies alike!
Inaugural Simmons Park parkrun
Saturday saw the long awaited Okehampton inaugural parkrun in Simmons Park. Mid Devon has been missing a parkrun and after an incredible 5 years with 21 proposed courses the race director’s hard work finally paid off. Amongst others, ORC helped provide marshals for this exciting first event.
As with all parkruns it is a 5km course that people can walk, run, push buggies or take their dogs round. The Okehampton course is mainly on tracks and features a few loops round the river in the park.
120 runners were treated to the most glorious Autumn day for this long awaited event which was kept secret until the last minute to stop it being overwhelmed with eager competitors. This paid dividends as it went like clockwork.
The first competitor back was Jamie Howard running with his dog in a time of 19:51. The first ORC home, also the first lady and fifth overall, was Jo Page in a time of 21:56. She was followed by the second lady and second ORC Carole Loader in 22:48 who was battling it out with fellow ORC Ray Latham who she pipped to the post.
Well done to the organisers and the ORC marshals and runners for making this such a successful inaugural event. The parkrun will now take place every Saturday at 9am from the Pavilion in the Park.
ORC Couch to 5k Update
Also at Simmons Park on Saturday, the ORC Couch to 5k group used the parkrun as part of their training, completing a section of the course in line with their schedule for the week. They found running alongside so many other diverse athletes was a great inspiration for them. They are all doing very well and enjoying the programme with just two weeks to go before their 5k finale run. As for last year the Couch to 5k will be followed by the 5-10k challenge. If there are any runners who are not currently members that would like to join in the training for this please contact Robert Richards at coaching@okehamptonrunningclub.com
Tavy 7
Tavistock AC’s long-standing 7 mile road race was back on Sunday. As popular as always, the race attracted over 400 runners. Held on Dartmoor on an undulating but fantastically scenic course, it starts at Plaster Down on the western edge of Dartmoor and goes past Pew Tor and the hamlet of Sampford Spiney. The course is run on narrow, quiet tarmac country roads apart from the start and finish itself which is in a field.
Four ORCs took up the challenge this year in lovely weather conditions achieving some great results. First ORC home was Luke Stannus finishing 6th overall in 40:08 setting a new overall club record. He was followed by Andrew Vernon in 47:12 (3rd MV55), Mark Peck in 50:06 and Ged Fitzgibbon in 59:51 (3rd MV70) also setting a new club MV70 record.
