In blistering heat last Tuesday evening 2 runners from Okehampton Running Club (ORC), Claudine Benstead and Jane Richardson tackled the RunExe 5k.
This is a great traffic free and pancake flat 5km run on footpaths and cycle tracks around Exwick Playing Fields and the River Exe Flood Relief, suitable for people chasing PB’s along with novice runners.
The RunExe 5k are a series of runs in June, July, August and September, with runners welcome to take part in individual races, or the series. The best results from 3 of the 4 races count, with medals for everyone completing 3 or more races.
Keeping up their winning streaks both Claudine and Jane came first in their age categories, with Claudine completing the race in 20:17 and Jane in 28:10 – hopefully it won’t be quite so hot for them in the August race!
Not content with doing a team 24 hour challenge recently, ORC Jo Page decided she would do a solo challenge, the Endure 24.
The event on the 23rd – 25th July 2021 was held at Temple Island Meadows, Henley on Thames. There were 108 solo female runners and 212 solo male runners, along with numerous teams entered in the race. The tag line was ‘Epic, brutal, relentless’ and I’m sure it was all of those things!
Solo runners started the race on Friday at midday, and they carried on running as many laps as they could in the 24 hours, finishing on Saturday at midday. They could stop for rests and food whenever they wished during this time.
Jo covered an amazing 161km, smashing her expectations by completing not just her first 50miler, 100k but also 100 mile race. Her furthest distance before was 32 miles, so she was over the moon with what she achieved, especially as she was nursing an injury. In her own words “I can’t quite believe that I have run 100 miles, I am completely broken now, but it was worth it!”
Amazing isn’t really a big enough accolade for this fantastic achievement! Well done Jo.
The club is not just about racing, with many members enjoying the comradery and support of group runs and the popular Dartmoor runs that are put on by the coaches. There will also be another Couch to 5k intake in September for new runners, more details will be on the website in due course.
