TWO Okehampton Running Club members, Angela Martin and Jeremy Tandy, took on a seriously tough challenge on Exmoor last Sunday.

The Coastal Trail Series, run by Endurancelife, are a series of coastal races throughout the year of varying distances and degrees of difficulty according to terrain and total feet of ascent. The Exmoor course is widely regarded as the toughest in the series and is a gruelling test of endurance for even the most experienced trail and fell runners.

The course encompassed steep climbs, open moorland, wooded coombes, cliffs, rivers and a stretch of coastline of unsurpassed beauty.

On a glorious sunny day, that was more like June than April, the runners appreciated this beautiful scenery, but it made for hot running conditions. Angela opted for the most testing race, doing the 45 mile ultra plus, while Jeremy ran the 26 mile marathon.

Despite the heat and a slight calf niggle, Angela finished this brutal race in 11 hours 23 minutes 36 seconds to be second lady, making it her hardest challenge to date after the iconic Lakes 50. Jeremy was also on form finishing the marathon in 4.3.53 to finish 15th overall, and despite being his slowest marathon ever, he was pleased with this time due to the hard terrain it was over.