MEMBERS of Okehampton Running Club took to Dartmoor in the running of the Original Mountain Marathon.

This prestigious event has not visited Dartmoor since 1982, so it was a good opportunity to show what ORCs could do on their own doorstep.

Dave Rickwood with his partner Guy Shayler took on the 'medium score' event in which they were given a selection of checkpoints on a map and had to navigate to as many as possible in the allocated time of six hours on Saturday and five on Sunday. This pair finished a superb 43rd out of 283.

Gavin Punchard ran the 'B class' event with his brother Richard; this was an event where you had a route to follow on a map with checkpoints on the way.

On Saturday the brothers covered 22 miles with a further 17 miles on Sunday and they finished a respectable 152nd with many behind them unable to manage the distance.

The other ORCs in the event were Andy Vallance and Nick Pearson who together choose to take on the longest event the 'elite class.'

Coverinig 32 miles on the Saturday and 25m on the next day the pair covered most of Dartmoor right down to Ivybridge and came in, in a 25th out of 64.

All runners did really well as they all had to carry everything they needed for the whole weekend including a tent for the over night camp and all the food for the two days. They also had to navigate using a map and compass throughout.

Okehampton Running Club now has more than 80 members and has runners of all abilities running on Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30pm from the football club in Simmons Park if you are interested or would like more information go to its website at okehamptonrunningclub.com