EAST Mill Tor Loop Fell Race was the final event in the South West Seniors and Okehampton Running Club’s own series, taking place on Saturday 21.

Starting and finishing in the village of Belstone, the race has three junior distances of 2k, 3k, 4k as well as the 6-mile senior race.

A last-minute change was required for the safety of the youngsters and so a well-marked and marshalled relay route kept them in view without giving Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team too much to do on the day.

For the seniors, the route was self-navigational and all runners returned safely, with Luke Stannus as 1st ORC home and 3rd overall.

For the overall ORC fell race series, Luke was the top male ahead of Joe Lane and Charlie Temperley. In the female section, Lou Duffield took top spot and she was followed by Charlie Lane and Clair Watkins.

Now for a trip to Wales for the 21-mile Black Beacon Trail race with Simon Partridge and a friend taking part.

The 1600 metres of ascent and slippery paths made the going pretty slow. A late 2.30 PM start meant Simon finished late into the evening at 19.45.

He described the event as well organised with fab aid stations. The variety of distances attracts elite athletes to novices and walkers, so it is super inclusive and he thought, very friendly.

Finally to the War Horse 10k, and as ever, this popular event sold out very quickly indeed.

Nine ORCs braved the rain on Sunday to take part in the sixth annual event, billed as a stunning 10km race with cracking views of Dartmoor, but sadly that wasn’t the case this year. The enthusiasm wasn’t dampened either way though, even with the heavens opening during the race briefing.

This popular and well-organised local race attracts a great following and this year it was supporting Farms for City Children and Devon Air Ambulance. The route takes the runners out of the village along the lanes, through the privately owned Ash House and Hill Farm. Around the 6k mark, the dreaded ascent starts up Smytham Hill, which seems to go on forever until the descent back into the village at around 9k.

Fortunately, the rain did ease up after the start and was just light drizzle for most of the rest of the race.

ORC did very well, winning three Vet category awards, Carole Loader FVet 50, Ian Ripper MVet60 and Paul Evison MVet70.

Oli Hunt had a great race in seventh place overall, he was the first ORC home in a time of 42:55, followed by Carole Loader third female (47:33) who was closely followed by Ian Ripper (48:01), Paul Evison (48:53), Lu Walsh (56:23), Chris Fulford-Brown (1:00:32), Lucy Gooding (1:02:55), Jacqueline Shields (1:03:36) and Victoria Evison (1:08:24).