Four Okehampton Running Club members turned out in morning drizzle to run the notorious Christmas Caper organised by Torrington Amateur Athletics Club.
It is a race with a reputation for knee deep mud and water, muddy hills and, this year, it came with added ice.
The race is well-known for its flooded lane which runners have to wade through for quite some distance. This year the lane was full of floating broken ice which had to be moved slowly otherwise it bruised and took skin off one’s shins.
Despite a route detour to avoid sheet ice the race route was still a tough 8.5 miles long. The optional Christmas fancy dress seemed to have been rejected by ORC runners for more weather suitable running gear but this did not detract from the fun.
Finish line goodies consisted of mince pies, a Christmas pudding and clotted cream. Sarah Marvin was the first ORC home with a time of one hour and 21 minutes, followed by John and Anne Binns in one hour and 30 and Kate Wilson in one hour and 40 minutes.
l Runners Jo Page and Karen King travelled to Newquay for the inaugural Fairytale of Newquay event.
This festive, coastal half-marathon – which turned out to be 15.3 miles – took runners along the north coast of Cornwall, starting at Harlan Bay along the coast path and finishing on Porth Beach, Newquay.
This was a timed self-navigation run where you collect essential trinkets at the themed checkpoints along the way. The race was fantastically organised by Purple Gecko and the scenery was absolutely beautiful which helped take your mind off the very undulating course.
The route took you right along the coast path and along the stunning beaches of Harlyn Bay, Constantine Bay, Treyamon Bay, Porthcothan, Mawgan Porth Beach around Watergate Bay and finished on Porth Beach. A race not for the faint-hearted and thankfully apart from a few spots of rain at the start, the day turned out beautiful.
Jo finished in a time of two hours 37 minutes, coming in at third lady and Karen came home at three hours 16 minutes, making her the 15th lady.