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Chagford, Edinburgh, Dartmoor & Burrator- A busy Bank Holiday week for Team ORC!

Traditionally held on May Bank Holiday Monday, this year’s Chagford Two Hills race took place in beautiful sunshine after early showers cleared and with good going        underfoot. The name aptly describes this typical fell race, where the runners struggle up one hill to then immediately descend it the other side and then repeat this with the second hill after negotiating the bog that lies between them. Okehampton Running Club was well represented here with eleven runners all enjoying the three mile course with it’s 1,100ft of ascent. First home was young Mathew Richards, flying up and down the hills to come 4th in the boys 11-15 age category in a time of 31.29. followed by Elliot Hails in 34.53.                        Okehampton’s first lady home was Katherine Murray with a great run to be 5th female over 16 in a time of 39.17 while Christine Fritsch came third in her age                            category in 41.14 despite getting stuck up to her knees in the bog!
Other ORC times; Quincy Richards; 41.58,                                                                Vinnie Richards; 43.09, Rob Richards; 43.58, Heston Richards; 43.58, Kate Wilson; 44.16, Debs Crome; 46.14, Deborah Cunningham, 53.54.

Anne Binns was hoping for a good run at the Edinburgh Marathon where she had run her  marathon PB in 2016, but sadly things didn’t go so well for her here this year. The course which starts in Edinburgh and follows the coastline south to Musselburgh can be susceptible to the wind and the runners had been issued a weather warning for severe winds on race day, but having run her previous race in in similar conditions Anne thought she could cope with this. Unfortunately though she became unwell after 15 miles but continued on at a slower pace to finish in still a respectable time of 4.17.12.

The Dartmoor Discovery, or DD as it is affectionately known, is the longest single lap UK road ultra marathon. 32.5 miles in length with just under 4000ft of elevation.
6 ORC’s took to the course on a warm day with varying degrees of success. Simply getting round the course is an achievement in itself, the DD is known as fairly brutal and it lived up to expectations!
First back for ORC was Robert Kelly who was 4th overall and flew back in 4.10.42. Next back was Jeremy Tandy, fresh meat on the DD course with a time of 4.39.02, good enough for 11th overall and second in his age                  category.
Jo Page had a great run, first                  female, first newcomer and 23rd overall in 4.50.40. An excellent achievement on her maiden                         voyage around the course.
Paul Carter was next in his 10th DD, finishing second M50 in 4.48.15. Next was his partner in crime Roger Voaden who found the going tough and came back in 5.28.                      Finally Graham Bryant came back in 5.35. A good day at the office.

Okehampton’s super fast lady vet, Claudine Benstead, set yet another personal best and age group club record at the Exeter Riverside Parkrun on Saturday. In warm conditions she stormed round to finish in 19min 41sec giving her an impressive age-graded percentage of 95.85%.

Sunday saw two lady ORCs complete the Burrator 10k. This race is held in the           beautiful setting of the Burrator Reservoir, where a fast and flattish course takes the runners round one and two thirds loops of the water. After controversy over the                distance last year, the course has been               re-measured and the start is now right on the Dam bridge. First home was super-vet and youthful septuagenarian                                              Jane Richardson who finished in 59.36, an improvement of nearly 6 mins on last year’s time. Katie Sherjan was ORC’s other                  representative, coming home in 1hr 11 min.