ONCE again, there was a great turnout of Okehampton Running Club members for Friday evening’s Haldon Relays.

This was a trail relay race where teams of four ran 3km legs on undulating tracks through Haldon Forest. Out of a total of 63 teams competing, ORC fielded six teams - two male, two female and two mixed.

The ORC female F50 team (Mary Roberts, Keeley Phillips, Louise Chancellor and Carol Loader) won their team age category. The ORC male M17-39 team was the fastest ORC team (Rob Gooding, Eirin McDaid, Shaun Fryett and Chris Turner) finishing 8th overall.

Individually, Chris Turner won the M35 age category, Sophie Casavieille-Lacaze won the FU16 age category and Paul Evison won the M70 age category. A fun evening of racing and supportive cheering!

Meanwhile, Pearl Barnes and Alan Stewart took on The Crossing. This 54km ultramarathon is a north to south crossing of Dartmoor starting in Belstone and finishing at Ivybridge.

Almost entirely off-road, the route is wild, remote and beautiful taking in Oke Tor, Hangingstone Hill and Sittaford Tor for approximately 1100m of elevation. After the long spell without rain, underfoot conditions were perfect - dry and bog-free if a little dusty.

This was Alan’s longest ever run and he said he enjoyed most of the beautiful route though the last 10km seemed to go on forever. He was pleased to finish his first ultra in 7hrs07.

Pearl found the weather conditions very hot and dehydrating so paced her race sensibly to finish in 8hrs30 and first in her age category. Well done both.

ORC’s Ian Duffield and Emma Brock were on sweeping duties collecting up the hundreds of flags used to mark the course whilst making sure all the runners reached the finish safely.

Alongside The Crossing, OuterEdge Events also run a long half marathon designed to offer a taste of Dartmoor running and Garry Sprague took up the challenge.

The route began in Princetown and followed the final 25km of The Crossing course taking in the Erme Valley and Abbotts Way before finishing in Ivybridge. Garry had a great race finishing 17th overall in 2:26:47 also first in his age category.

Also on Saturday, Neil Agnew and Sarah Rawlings ran the Tiverton Summer Grand Canal Canter 10k by Winding Paths.

Heading along the picturesque Grand Western Canal from Tiverton, the course was flat and fast along hard packed gravel canal paths.

Neil enjoyed the flat route (which are something of a rarity in Devon!) but with no shade it was hot work in the sun and he said the last 2miles were a struggle. He was pleased to finish 12th overall in 47:42. Sarah was not far behind in 50:54.

On Sunday, Laura Venton and Peter Roissetter ran the Totnes 10k by Teignbridge Trotters.

Almost 11km long, the varied and scenic mostly off-road route followed the beautiful River Dart starting and finishing at Borough Park. Laura enjoyed “the brilliant trail route” and was delighted with the beautifully designed kingfisher finishers medal.

Both found the race very well organised and one definitely to be repeated. Though the conditions were very warm they both ran well (results are pending).

Elsewhere, Keeley Phillips was in Cornwall for the Indian Queens Half Marathon. Part of the Cornish Grand Prix running series, the undulating race route took runners around country lanes and minor roads with about 5miles of the course on the Goss Moor trail.

Keeley found the event very hot and hilly but with great support all round she absolutely loved it. She finished in 1:55:48. Well done to her for setting a new half marathon personal best.