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Back to the Pavilion, Mamores Vertical Kilometer & Warhorse 10k

Last week saw the return of running as a club from the Pavilion in the Park after almost 18 months. Head coach Rob Richards offered an Interval Training taster session for all members to try as although interval sessions are designed primarily to be fun, they are also essential for strengthening, technique and all-round fitness.

There was a great turn out of current and new members keen to get involved. This heralds the return of the regular Tuesday runs and Thursday training sessions, with moor runs on a Wednesday.

As well as the welcome return to group training for the main section of the club, the Junior division also returned from the summer break. 39 children trained across the 3 sessions, which included some new starters. There are spaces on the Thursday 5pm group, which is ideal for new athletes, open to any children who are over 8 years of age. Contact okehamptonrunningclub@gmail.com if you’d like more information.

Saturday saw one brave ORC, Christine Fritsch face a challenge she had not attempted before, the Mamores Vertical Kilometer, which is described as:

“An incredible leg burning and lung-busting ascent from sea level to Munro summit – an epic vertical challenge.”

The Salomon Mamores VK follows the well-established International Skyrunning Federation Vertical Kilometer format, in which participants follow a marked course gaining 1000m of height in less than 5km. Participants set off at timed intervals with the winner having the fastest overall time to the summit.

The route included some extremely steep and pathless terrain which meant participants were on all fours at times. Christine managed to complete the route in 1:42:00. Her training was cut short by a painful achilles, so she was very pleased with her time and said the views from the top made up for the pain!

On Sunday 14 ORC’s ran the local War Horse 10k race, set in the beautiful Warhorse Valley that remembers the role that horses played in WW1. This popular, scenic run, which raises funds for North Devon Hospice, starts and finishes in the village of Iddesleigh.

The threatened rain held off which made for great running conditions on what is a mainly uphill course reaching 180m. The route, which is actually a little over 10k, takes the runners out of the village on a round trip on roads, with a short off-road section through private land. The last kilometer is downhill which gives a welcome decent back to the village and the finish line.

There were 148 runners competing, with Chris Turner the first ORC home in 41:08 at fourth position overall. He was closely followed by Andy Vallance in 41:43, who fortunately didn’t have a recurrence of his recent injury. Mike Saywell had a good run, finishing strongly in 47:21.

Jessie Guscott was the first ORC lady home in 57:38, closely followed by her sister Ellie in 57:51. Her mum Catherine was also running, competing in her first ever race, so a great family achievement. Lu Walsh had a good race as next ORC lady home in 1:01:20 – well done to all the runners.