ON TUESDAY evening, the first of the six race 5K Summer Series took place at Exwick playing fields in Exeter. Two from Okehampton Running Club were up for the challenge. Andrew Vernon finished second MV55 in a time of 19:15 and Paul Evison was second MV70 in a time of 23:26.

On Saturday, Winding Paths were back with their series of Total Coastal Trails on the SW Coast Path. Lois Rowlands opted to run the 10-kilometre race which she said was a stunning out-and-back route between Shaldon and Maidencombe with some challenging hills and steps. Lois commented that it was very enjoyable with its small field of runners and she was pleased to finish in 1:55:17.

OuterEdge Events were back with two brand-new trail routes at Fingle Bridge. In his first race as an ORC, Simon Partridge thoroughly enjoyed the wooded trails of the 17km Beltane Brightfire route and said it was great for practising your ascents and descents. He was pleased to finish in 2:09:27.

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Simon Partridge at Beltane Brightfire Trails. (Contributed)

Perhaps named so as this race was previously run at night, The Green Lantern follows the Green Circle walking route around Exeter. One of the more varied race courses, the 14-plus-mile green route takes in streets, parks, lanes and pathways on all manner of surfaces.

A good field of runners lined up at the quayside for the green route. Paul Evison was amongst their number alongside Rob Richards who was sweeping. Last time he ran it, along with others, Paul did well over 15 miles through not being alert. There were no such problems this year and the weather was extremely kind. Handily, the route passes Paul’s house and, at this point, he took advantage of a seat and a chance to refill his water bottle. Additionally, to the amusement of other runners, he was attacked with a bottle of sunscreen! Paul’s finishing time by his watch was 2:46:00.

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Paul Evison at The Green Lantern. (Contributed)

Since its first running in 1981, the London Marathon has become one of the most popular marathons in the world known for its festival atmosphere and legendary crowd support. With the runners starting off in waves on Sunday morning from Greenwich Park, the route takes in many of London’s best landmarks.

This year, in perfect sunny-but-cool running conditions, approximately 50,000 runners took part including five ORCs. They all ran brilliantly, enjoying the amazing crowd support with Chris Turner running his first London marathon and first ORC home in 2:56:44, Jo Page in 3:19:17, Ian Ripper in 3:40:34, Anne Binns in 3:54:34 and Vicky Bond had a great run in her very first marathon, finishing in 4:57:55.