SEVERAL brave Okehampton Running Club members took on the Winter Traverse in challenging conditions on Saturday, February 21.

Pete Roissetter took on the Ultra 50km route, while Mary Roberts and Claire Thompson took on the 30km route. ORCs, Matt Grint and Ian Ripper, also took on marshalling duties for the event.

This event, run by Climb South West, is a fully supported 50km journey from South to North Dartmoor, through some of the most remote parts of the moors. The 30km option goes from Princetown to Meldon. Both distances are open to runners and walkers.

Pete completed the 50k in 7:26 and coming in 32nd. He said: “The conditions were tough - wet, windy and mud everywhere. Got stuck in a bog and fell over three times but it was a great event and enjoyed the challenge.”

Mary and Claire completed the majority of the race together, showing real team comradery and motivating each other throughout, coming in as sixth and seventh woman. Mary finishing in 4:04 and Claire following closely behind in 4:11. Claire said it was “most certainly challenging underfoot and thick fog the whole way” and Mary adding it was a “mud fest.”

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Sophie Casavieille Lacaze completed the Exeter City 10k in an impressive (unofficial) time of 43 minutes.

This flat out and back 10k, starting at the Quay, heading out to Riverside Valley Park, is a speedy run with real PB potential. At the time of this report official results had not been published.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Pearl Barnes completed the Leicestershire Half Marathon, coming fourth in her category with a great time of 2:16:39.

Pearl said it was great to be part of such a big event with a few thousand runners enjoying the spring sunshine.

The race starts and finishes at Loughborough University, well known for being one of the top sporting universities in the country. Pearl said the course was very hilly (800ft ascent) mostly on road but with around four miles on very muddy tracks.