SATURDAY evening saw the third race in the Wildnight Run race series. There are two options at this fixture with the tough 10mile off road Burrator Noir taking in some stunning terrain over open moorland, including a punishing ascent to mile two with an almost continuous uphill to mile five. The compensation was views to the lights in Plymouth and the night atmosphere of the open moors.

An exhilarating descent follows from Gutter Tor to the river at Meavy Splash where runners had the option of getting wet legs or taking a longer route to avoid the river crossing, followed by another harsh climb in the last mile. Although having never done the Burrator Noir before, Okehampton Running Club’s Christine Fritsch is an experienced night runner, and she had a good run here to finish in 1.57.09, coming third female veteran 40.

The Burrator 10k is an ideal first step into night running, and is a fast, flat road race, where a route of one and two-thirds laps of the reservoir, finishing at the visitor centre, gives the runners an exact 10k race.

A new ORC member, Tom Andrew, took on this as not only his first night race but his first 10k race too. Tom had previously only completed a half marathon and a 10 miler and this was his first race since joining Okehampton. He was pleased to come eighth in his age category here, finishing in 54.08.

At Sunday’s Westward League fixture in Exeter which hosted the Devon Cross Country Champion-ships, there was another impressive turnout of ORCs despite some not making it through injury. Okehampton now has a good strength and depth of competitive runners ready to take on the challenge of these tough, fast races and there were some good performances over a muddy and energy-sapping course.

In the ladies’ race, an extended distance due to a marshalling error, Sarah Marvin was the first ORC runner home with a great run to come fourth in her age group for the championships. She was closely followed by her daughter Molly who ran a brilliant race to come eighth and go forward to represent Devon at county level.

Gill Spinney was next home followed by Jane Jackson, beginning to come back to form after several injuries, with Anne Binns next and Mags Jarvis having a great run at a faster pace than last year despite the worse conditions underfoot to come third in the female veteran 60 category. Issy Edworthy was the only representative for the club in the under 15 girls race where she held her own among some talented opposition to come ninth, making her first reserve to represent Devon at inter-county level.

Ten ORC men tackled the longer course which by now had become even worse underfoot, with on-form Paul Crease coming home first for the club with a brilliant run which gave him third place in the MV45 category. Andy Vallance was next, followed by Rob Kelly making them sixth and seventh in their age groups.

Chris Turner and Hugh Robinson were next home, these five making up the team results for the league, while Paul Carter ran well to maintain a good placing in the league’s MV50 category but not entering the Devon Championships.

Graham Bryant finished next, followed by Ed Dumpleton having his debut cross-country run and enjoying a baptism of mud and hills, with George Haskell next and then new member Stuart Page, also running his first Westward League race and Andy Humberstone.