LAST weekend saw some great running by Okehampton Running Club members.

Young Molly Marvin had started the cross-country season late but after running the Newquay leg of the Westward League series she was so disappointed with her time she could not resist the challenge of improving.

Such was her improvement she qualified to represent Devon at the national Inter-counties championships which meant a trip up to Loughborough on Saturday.

Having experienced the mud-bath conditions at the Plymouth meeting, Molly coped well when faced with even worse mud here, even managing to enjoy her run and finishing in the top 200 in the country. So bad was the mud, Molly had to be hosed down before making the return journey home!

At the Deep River Races on Saturday, Jo Turner and Ali Holiday continued their quest to do some off-road races in preparation for their upcoming four day Ultra.

There are two distance options at these races organised by PureTrail Running, a 10k and a half marathon which is in fact 14 miles. Using tracks the Woodland Trust’s Fingle Woods the runners start from near Castle Drogo with both distances crossing the River Teign via the iron footbridge to run to Fingle Bridge along the riverbank. Here the 10k runners cross over and follow the path along the opposite bank to return to the starting point while the longer race takes runners along hilly woodland paths and tracks, including twice visiting the highest point in the woods.

The conditions were not great with rain and plenty of mud following the snow-melt.

Two other Okehampton runners took on this tough course with Stephen Gentle having a fantastic run to finish fifth overall in a very impressive 1 hour 50 minutes 19 seconds and Stuart Page coming home in 2.43.34. Jo and Ali were happy to finish in 3.18.39, as this was a training run more than a race and with Jo having the Bideford Half Marathon to run the next day.

Jo’s husband Phil Turner took the shorter race option and completed the 10k in 1.12.19.