Bys Vyken The Woods
Ben Ranson did 6 hours and Claire Grubb entered 12 hours. Claire said: “I participated in the Bys Vyken The Woods 12 hour Oak course yesterday. 12 hours to see how far you can go, whilst running a four mile loop. I started off strong and was on course for my target distance of 100km. But the humid conditions meant copious amounts of sweating and I really struggled to maintain fluid intake and fuelling. I decided to stop at 10 hours when I had run 50 miles. I was so grateful to be on the start line for this race 2.5 months after the Montane Spine and major abdominal surgery. It’s a lovely supportive race and really nice to see people achieving distances they aspired to complete.” Ben ran 48km in the 6 hour time. Ben said it was a “beautiful route but very testing with lots of good runnable sections and steep climbs.”
Dragon’s Fire
Emma B. An epic adventure traversing 112km and 25,669 ft of elevation over Snowdonia. Starting in the Conway Castle the route takes you over the iron Crib Goch. Emma finished with a big smile on her face, feeling satisfied that she’d given it her best.
Worchester Half Marathon
Pearl said it was a “great route through the medieval city centre along the river Severn and past the Cathedral. Flat and fast route. Although humid, the drizzle helped enormously. I felt strong with 2 hours 10 minutes – my third best time. I wanted to run this route because I grew up in Worcestershire and played the cello for Worcester junior orchestra – a lifetime ago! Happy days.”
Exeter Half Marathon
Mark Peck ran the Exeter autumn half marathon but reckoned he should have stayed in bed. Mark says he’s had a virus for the last few days and was about 7 minutes slower than his target but is focusing on recovering for Barnstaple. Chris Turner had a successful morning taking the win! Chris led the pack and crossed the line in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Chris said it was tough but he was pleased to see it through.
Dartmoor Volcano
Kathryn Volkelt-Igoe and Pete R. Pete says “I ran the Outeredge Volcano Race this morning. 10.5 miles of open moorland with 650m ascent, rivers, bogs, hills, wind and more hills and bogs. It is a tough but fantastic route and will go on my list of favourite races. Watch time of 2 hours and 3 minutes. Matt Grint and Sarah Marvin supported the event by sweeping and collecting flags. Matt says that given the number of flags they ended up with, he can confirm it is a very well-marked course!
Sourton Fell Race
Lorna Critchlow reports: “there was a great turnout of Okehampton Running Club members for the annual Sourton Tors fell race, the final race in the club’s fell race series. The course was, as usual, approximately 5km for seniors and 2/3km for juniors and hilly, although was unusually dry underfoot this year. There was some fantastic running from all members with special congratulations to Rory Grubb who won the junior under-10 2km race with a time of 07.35 and Luke Stannus who took first place on the seniors course with a time of 21.44 and retained the men’s fell series trophy with Rob Gooding coming in second in the series. No ladies completed the three out of four races required for the ladies trophy so there was no winner this year. To top it off there was an excellent selection of homemade cake in the village hall post-race.” Lorna Critchlow happens to also retain the ladies series title.
Crediton Crunch
A group of ORCs headed over to Mid Devon for the mixed terrain Crediton Crunch 10km. The run starts with a lap of the school fields, then leaves the school via the main entrance onto Stoneypark Lane. The route follows a series of footpaths around fields, past a white cottage and back near the school before heading through residential paths and countryside tracks past Lower Parks Farm and Great Parks Farm.
Runners cross a bridge over the Tarka Line, continue through fields and alongside the River Yeo to Salmonhutch, then follow country roads via Uton Barton and Folly Bridge. The course then returns to public footpaths, passing Denbury and Beare Mill Farms.
For the final section, runners tackle Breakheart Hill, climbing through fields and gates back to Stoneypark Lane, before re-entering the school grounds and finishing in the school field.
The route is fully signposted with direction arrows, and kilometre markers are provided throughout. Shaun Fryett came 8th overall in a time of 42:34, Jo Page was 3rd female in 47:36. Andrew Smith took part as his first competitive 10km and finished in 1 hour and 3 minutes alongside wife Ann who finished in 1 hour and 11 minutes. Laura Venton completed the course in 1 hour and 9 minutes. Well done all!
