TEAM ORC were out in strength the next day at the Bideford Half Marathon, always a hugely popular early season race over a fast and flattish course. Starting by the Blues’ clubhouse on the Quay, after a short loop round the streets, the runners followed the undulating main road to the Puffing Billy in Torrington before returning to Bideford via the Tarka Trail.

Conditions were pretty good with a brief shower during the race and the Tarka Traill providing shelter from the blustery wind. First home for the ORCs in a terrific time of 1.22.01 was Paul Carter, winning the first male veteran 50 category and a bottle of bubbly on his birthday, beating training partner Roger Voaden who came home in 1.23.54. Roger took third MV50, both of them securing platinum club awards and showing their London Marathon training is on target.

New member Hayden Bond was next with a stunning time of 1.35.53 in his first half marathon and having only taken up running in the past few months, showing there is more to come from this young man.

First home for the club ladies were the incredible Marvin duo of mum Sarah and daughter Molly. Having recovered sufficiently from representing Devon at the cross-country championships the day before, Molly ran her first half marathon here. After a long day’s travelling to Loughborough and back, they ran together to finish in identical times of 1.46.53, Sarah setting a new club age group record.

Mike Westland loves this course and always runs well there, came home in 1.49.59 followed by Karen King running her first half marathon for many years after a long break from running and pleased to have paced it well and finished strong in 1.52.36. She had run some of the way with Jane Jackson who has finally put her health problems behind her and, despite only aiming to complete the race, ran well to finish in 1.53.53, coming third FV60 and securing her platinum club award.

Jo Turner was just a few seconds behind Jane, having run the tough 14 mile Deep River Race the day before. Jane Jones was pleased with her time of 1.54.27, but would have been home sooner had she not suffered a bad attack of cramp in the last mile. Personal bests were run by Jo Burrow who knocked a seven minutes off her previous record to finish in 2.08.56; Geralidine Walter, had a great run in 2.01.33 and Vicky Hall improved by more than two minutes with her time of 2.12.58.

Other ORC times; Abi Colton; 1.58.42, Tom Andrew; 1.59.22, Chris Fullford-Brown; 2.01.58, Gaz Williams; 2.04.30, Tracey Mills; 2.05.27, Rachael Haydon; 2.12.58, Chris Turner; 2.26.06 and Jane Richardson; 2.31.29.