THE one thing that can be guaranteed for the Westward League’s fixture at Westward Ho! is that it will be windy, but on Sunday it was the full force, energy sapping type of wind that was never behind runners but always shoving them about.

The pancake flat course is right on the coast with no protection from the wind, whatever the direction. It was much drier underfoot than in many winters, but there was plenty of thick, black mud in the ditches that had to be negotiated, knocking the runners off their stride.

There was a good turnout of Okehampton Running Club members here with two juniors, and nine runners in both the men’s and ladies’ teams. First to be put to the test round this different type of course was Matthew Richards, a newcomer to the league races who has been training well with the club in recent weeks and had an excellent first run for the club in the Under 13 boys.

Harrison King had to miss the December fixture due to an injured foot and has not been able to train much since, but got some good points here in the U15 boys’ race.

The ladies were lead home by Jo Page once again, barely seeming to be affected by the wind, setting an excellent pace for the conditions. Sarah and Molly Marvin were next, with Claudine Benstead, Issy Edworthy, Jo Bradford and Karen King not far apart. This is Issy’s first year in the U17s category and she ran well. They were followed by Jane Jackson, Christine Fritsch and Mags Jarvis.

In the men’s race Paul Crease ran his usual great race to finish well placed and first for the club. This fixture saw the return of Andy Vallance to the race circuit and despite perhaps lacking his usual level of fitness he put in a solid performance to be next home. Paul Carter was hunted down in the last lap by a superb performance from young Christian Davies who is going from strength to strength with each of his league runs. Graham Bryant ran well too to be next home, to be followed by John Sincock, with Indigo Ramsey, another improving young runner, behind him and then Stuart Page. Ian Page ran a great race, picking off runners in his age category one by one and finishing strongly.

One ORC, Mike Westland took on a different sort of race when he ran the nine-mile Oh My Obelisk on Sunday, organised by Dawlish Coasters. Starting and finishing at the Dawlish Leisure Centre, this was an all terrain race which includes plenty of mud, country lanes and forest trails, with some spectacular views. Mike ran well in his first race for a while, finishing in one hour 32 minutes 20 seconds in cold and windy conditions.