Tamar Lakes Couch to 5k Finale, Bideford 10 miler, New York Marathon & Shetland Park Run

Tamar Lakes Couch to 5k Finale

This week saw the finale of the couch to 5K which took place at Tamar Lakes as part of the regular Saturday Parkrun. Okehampton Running Club offer this well known 9 week course to introduce people of all ages and abilities to running. Starting at week one with nothing more than brisk walking and just a minute running, increasing each week in small increments till at week nine running the full 5K. The weather was anything but pleasant for the five who took on the challenge, being wet and windy. However with a good number of club runners there in support all five ran well and completed the one lap circuit. First home was Phil Read 30:39 followed by Kirsty Gates 35:30, Susan Read 40:17, Pam Evison 40:26 and Janet White 42:01. Well done to them all and good luck to those who weren’t able to take part for one reason or another but are continuing their running journey.

Bideford 10 miler

The Bideford 10 miler loops to Yelland and back and Sundays field of very near 500 is not unusual for this popular race. The runners head off over Bidefords historic Long Bridge and take in a short gradient soon after. Then it’s out past Instow to Yelland with a few undulations but once the runners make the turn here, at just over 5miles, they have level running beside the Estuary all the way back. There is good support at many points along the route and as the finishers enter the last 200m there are many spectators to clap them in. For the seven ORC’s taking part the weather was far better than everyone expected pre-race. It stayed dry and the feared head wind in the Estuary was only slight. There was some excellent running from the ladies with three of them getting Podium places and a PB for the fourth. First of our runners to cross the line despite a heavy cold was Claudine Benstead in 1:08:20 (FV60 1st) followed very soon after by Andrew Vernon 1:08:42, Claire Watkins 1:16:31 (FV45 3rd), Paul Evison 1:18:31, Andrew Thorne 1:24:52, Kate Wilson 1:25: 06 (FV55 3rd) and Victoria Evison in a personal best of 1:46:54.

New York Marathon

Anne Binns and Jo Page crossed the pond for the New York TCS NY Marathon which turned out to be the hottest day for the event on record. Hopes of a personal best were abandoned before the race even started. In addition to the heat, travel to the start is not for the faint hearted. They had a subway journey at 4AM to catch a 5.30AM ferry to Statton Island , the start of the A to B route. The marathon passes through 5 boroughs which are Statton Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Manhatton, finishing in central park. Jo finished in 3:32:08 and Anne in 4:19:18.

They were both happy to finish and collect their massive medal and Abbot World Major star. The 5th for Anne and the 3rd for Jo.

Shetland 5k

And just to demonstrate the far reach of ORC running. Marianne Brown who was in Shetland for work/family completed the UK’s most northerly Parkrun a couple of times in October. With both races being wet and windy she was glad just to make it over the  line in one piece (28:33 and 27:53)