Okehampton’s Simmons Park Parkrun was the venue of choice for several of members of Okehampton Running Club (ORC) on Saturday (December 20).

Both Claire Grubb and son Rory were pleased to achieve parkrun PB’s of 22:58 and 22:48 respectively. Well done to them and to all taking part in this festive gathering.

Pearl Barnes was busy again this weekend, with Bushey Parkrun (the home of the original parkrun) on Saturday and taking on the Wimbledon Common 10km on Sunday (December 21). The race was billed to include mud, mud and more mud…. maybe not as much as we are used to in Devon though.

Pearl said it was a great day out, with a massive turnout and many of the runners were in festive fancy dress. Pearl completed the race in 01:00:47.

On Sunday 7 ORC’s put on their festive attire to take on the Christmas Caper at Torrington, which is almost 10 miles of mud, forest trails, rivers, and hills, and is as scenic as it is tough.

Despite puddles that were over knee deep, all the runners put in amazing efforts, and they finished: Ian Duffield (1:16:13), Paul Carter (1:16:45), Deane Andrew (1:28:41), Emma Jewell (1:38:53), Matt Grint (1:38:54), Andrew Thorne (1:42:00) and Peter Roissetter (1:46:35).

Emma said it was a thoroughly enjoyable race, very well organised and a great festive atmosphere, an ideal way to start the Christmas week!

Also on Sunday 14 ORC’s headed to the moor for a festive social run, fortunately before the rain started. It was a great morning (including a history lesson from one of the team!) for members to run together, chat and enjoy exploring our local area in a relaxed environment – it’s not all about racing.