THE sudden rise in temperature together with wet conditions underfoot ensured that the aptly named Grizzly Race organised by Axe Valley Runners was as a tough a test of endurance as ever.

The first and last miles are on the pebbles alongside Seaton sea front in East Devon and in between are steep hills, a notorious bog and the infamous 'Highway to Heaven'. The event always sells out within hours of opening and this year for the first time, places were allocated by ballot.

Okehampton Running Club members Adrian Kettle, Robert Kelly and Monika Richards were successful and lined up at the start with more than 1,500 other runners. Adrian finished in the top 100 with an excellent time of 2hrs 58mins 15secs. Monika, taking part in her first Grizzly, completed in 3.46.56. Rob was going well before he was sadly forced to withdraw due to an injury at mile 16.

At the Bath Half Marathon ORC Chris Aylen finished in 1.56.03, a bronze award time. The Bath Half is one of the longest established city half marathons. This year more than 11,000 runners took part.

Another ORC on their travels was Mags Jarvis who ran in the Trafford 10K in Manchester. Mags Jarvis usually takes in a race when visiting her family and this time ran in the Trafford 10k along with daughter Sarah. There were several internationals in the field of 820 runners, including Nick McCormick and Helen Clitheroe.

Mags ran her best 10k for four years to finish in 49.47, a gold award time. It was a good day for the family as Sarah ran a great PB in 36.39.