On Wednesday two ORC’s took part in the Buy With Confidence Exeter 10k, held in the evening on Exeter Quay. This is another flat fast course on the footpaths and cycle tracks around the river Exe and Exeter Canal. Both had good runs and clocked new PB’s with Chris Turner finishing in 40.18 and Mark Hawkins very pleased with his time of 44.39, being in the middle of training for his first marathon.
Saturday saw a new event on the calendar, a double bill of distances organised by pureTrail. There was a choice of The Crossing, an Ultra marathon starting from Belstone and crossing the moor from north to south, or The Great Escape, a half Marathon starting from Princetown and taking in the last 13.2 miles of the longer race. Katie Littlejohns chose the Great Escape, which involved some tricky uphills despite having a largely downhill profile, crossing the head of the Erme valley and following the Abbots Way before the long downhill into South Brent. Dartmoor running is second nature to Katie and she had a great race, coming in third lady and 18th overall in a time of 2.00.56.
Miles away in Snowdonia, Ray Lawrence, took to the Welsh mountains to run the Snowdonia Trail Marathon. This immensely challenging race has over 1,685m of ascent and follows spectacular, scenic trails which circumnavigate Snowdon and eventually climb it at mile19. Unfortunately a wet day, with thick fog and mist making for difficult, slippery conditions on the wet rock, meant Ray could not really appreciate the scenery. He still ran well though and was relieved to finish in a very good time of 5.52.28.
Many thanks to Jane for the run report
