IN his bid to run 50 marathons before his 50th birthday, Okehampton Running Club's Roger Voaden went to Barrow, Suffolk, for the Great Barrow Challenge — a ten day festival of running. He completed 'The Quad' section, which involved running four marathons in four days.

Despite hot and humid weather, Roger (pictured right) did not slow down. He completed the first marathon, self navigated, on day one in 3hrs 36mins despite running 27.3 miles instead of 26.2!

The route on day two was forests and trails, which he completed in 3hrs 48mins. Day three took place mostly on the roads and saw him post 3hrs 40mins. On day four he clocked his fastest time finishing in 3hrs 33mins. Roger won the trophy for the fastest overall time in the quad section.

The next week he travelled to Stoke-on-Trent for yet another marathon, again in hot weather and on a hilly route to complete his 46th marathon in a fast 3.15.48.

THE North Devon AONB Marathon is among the toughest and most scenic marathons in the country. This was the one chosen by ORC's Jeremy Tandy for his marathon debut. He had an idea what he was letting himself in for having completed the half marathon last year and put in a great run to finish in 4.13.56.

THE inaugural Run in the Park at Simmons Park was a success with many club members both running and helping. Special thanks went to the members of the Round Table, the ladies on registration and the club members who battled on with marshalling and time keeping during a thunderstorm of biblical proportions.

ORC times: 2.5k Abby Metherell 16.00; 5K 1st Will Lamerton 18.21, 2nd Andy Vallance 18.47, 3rd Andy Vernon 19.54, 4th Chris Turner 20.31, 5th Paul Carter 21.28, Kate Webber 22.51 1st lady, Bryan Friend 23.15, Andy Collyer 24.04, Paul Crease 25.00, Fiona Mugliston 26.00, Claire Sprague 32.50, Liz Harris 35.30.