Park Run Down Under
On Christmas Day Garry Letheren did his first non-UK Parkrun, and indeed the farthest Parkrun of any of our members to date – he was in New South Wales, Australia!
It was a very rocky and hilly trail route in the bush with a leap over the water. It was a lot warmer than Garry’s normal parkruns, so slower too at 27mins. He is hoping to try a couple more in next few weeks whilst in Australia.
Final Countdown 10k
For their final race of 2022 on Saturday 6 ORC’s set off for the Final Countdown 10k at Dartington. This 10k route starts and finishes at the Dartington Estate, and provides a mix of riverside paths, woodlands, hills, fields and maybe another hill or two, all in the stunning Devon countryside.
It was a particularly muddy race, just as a trail race should be! The course had to be changed the day before due to the river bursting its bank and some trees had come down in the winds.
Chris Turner had an excellent race to finish in second place with a time of 0:43:52, just 22 seconds behind the winner. Jo Page finished next in a time of 0:49:37 giving her 13th place overall and 4th female. Ian Ripper and his son George, who was home from university, raced together for the first time and finished in 1:02:00. They were followed by Karen King in 1:04:18, Lucy Gooding in 1:19:45 and Janet White, returning from injury in 1:37:57.
There were 255 entrants in total and all who finished gained a bespoke “Final Countdown” medal.
Brown Willy Run
To mark the new year on Sunday 1 January 2023 7 ORC’s and 2 junior ORC’s took part in the Brown Willy Run from the Jamaica Inn at Bolventor.
This is purely a social run, not a race, therefore there are no race numbers, official timings or medals. The run is approximately 7 miles long on boggy and rough terrain, billed as probably the best hangover cure ever!
The run is mostly on open moorland, which may be wet, slippery, boggy or frozen, and steep in places which adds to the fun. Fortunately, the rain held off, although it was very muddy. Even if it doesn’t feel too cold at the start at Jamaica Inn, it may be freezing and blowing a gale on the top of Brown Willy as the photo testifies!
Jo Page, in her second run of the weekend finished in a time of 1:05, giving her the title of second female home. Jo-Anne Turner finished in a time of 1:23, Angus Farrelly in 1:26 along with Sarah and Molly Marvin, closely followed by ‘team Hicks’ in 1:27.
Rob Hicks was running with his son Stanley on his 1st BW run and probably his longest run to date. Despite struggling to fight off a winter cold, Stanley wanted to join his dad and brother Arthur on the run. Although Arthur pulled away from them Stanley stayed focused and battled on. The terrain wasn’t too different to our local moorland, although the wet and muddy conditions were predictably energy sapping. Walking on the steep climb of Brown Willy was the only option!
Stanley picked up the pace as they descended, and briefly re-joined the happy chatty ORC contingency. The spectators lining the road offered warm applause and congratulations.
It was another record year for BW with 534 runners taking part and £2,490 raised for Cornwall Search and Rescue. A great start to 2023 for all the runners.
