OKEHAMPTON Running Club members have been involved in Cotswold Way Ultra 100k Challenge, Riverside 10k, The Loop, Badminton marathon, Woolacombe 10k and the ORC Sunday Social, making for a busy report!

Starting on the Friday evening with the Exeter Riverside 10k and there was a trio of ORCs in action here.

Andrew Vernon, Ged Fitzgibbon and Vicky Evison took on this event which follows a picturesque route along the River Exe and is a tempting one for runners who are chasing that PB- being traffic free and flat.

Next, on the Saturday, Mary Roberts completed day one of the Cotswold 100k Ultra Challenge. A very hilly 53km across fields, forests and villages on the hottest day of the year!

Mary said: “The feed stations were fantastic with huge selection of food and drinks so really it was several picnics with a bit of running in between. Highly recommend this route but maybe on a slightly cooler day.”

On to The Loop and four ORCs, Paul Evison, Matt Grint, Lou Duffield and Izzi Davison, took on this 20-mile race, with approximately 4000ft of ascent, starting and finishing on the Broadsands Beach in Torbay.

From the beach, the route heads inland through Churston, Galmpton, Greenway then into Long Wood and Hoodown Wood, before crossing the railways to the River Dart and Kingswear, where the route meets the Southwest Coast Path.

Matt said it was his toughest run to date given the hills and heat. A fantastic scenic route along the SWCP made it a great run. The ORCs all put in a great performance with finish times of Matt Grint (4.37), Lou Duffield (5.18), Izzi Davison (5.21) and Paul Evison (5.39).

Elsewhere on Sunday, Jo Page took on yet another marathon, this time heading to Badminton. This event, organised by Relish Running, consists of a fun run (2km), 5km, 10km, half and full marathon options.

The routes take in the best parts of the beautiful Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire and the course was a mix of solid stone paths, woodland trails and open grass meadows. The route was largely flat, with some little rises and falls- the marathon course was a 2-lap route.

Jo said it was ‘Lovely weather but rather warm for marathon running’. She finished in an unofficial time of 3:48:16 (official results not yet published).

Meanwhile, Pearl Barnes took part in the North Devon Hospice Woolacombe 10k trail race in soaring temperatures. Pearl managed 13th in her V50 category in a time of 1:13:20, finishing 125th out of 212 overall entrants. This event consists of three distances: 10k, half and full marathon.

Finally, on a bit of a humid and drizzly Dartmoor morning, 13 ORCs headed off on the Sunday Social run from the Pump and Peddle which took in Kings Wall, Great Nodden and Sourton Tors. The route was just over 11km and contained a mix of hilly bits and flat bits.

The social runs are a great way of exploring the moor and running with people that you may not normally run with on club runs. Also, the best bit, coffee and cake at the end! Thanks to Danny for guiding this event.