This weekend saw the team taking on the mighty Grizzly, a 20 mile race held annually in Seaton, East Devon. The event, organised by the local club Axe Valley Runners is famed for its ability to slay even the toughest of characters with its knee shattering multi-terrain course that takes in the finest hills, beaches and bogs that the South-West Coast Path has to offer. Now in its 24th time of offering, this year’s Grizzly, ominously nicknamed “The Valley of The Bogs,” certainly didn’t disappoint!
Much to the bemusement of the other competitors that we spoke to before the race, the team treated the event as a training run, a mere doddle, after the previous few weeks’ hectic training schedules! From the off, the atmosphere of the event was incredible, with crystal clear blue skies beaming down on the excited/petrified competitors as they headed off along the beach from Seaton. Myself, Tom and Ceri resisted the temptation to get caught up in the event and settled down to our usual shuffle as the course slowly began to wind its way up onto the cliff tops to the west of Seaton. The scenery was absolutely spectacular with unobstructed views along the Jurassic Coast all the way to Portland Bill to the east. After all the fantastic weather that we’ve had over the last few weeks, the path along the cliff tops was firm and dry and we started to question whether this “Valley of The Bogs” business was just a lot of scare mongering! Perhaps we would go home with dry feet after all! This foolish optimism was soon put to rest as the path plunged steeply downhill onto the beach at Branscombe, where the event organisers had kindly directed the route through a foot deep pool of water! This was very much a sign of things to come as the route twisted its way inland through wooded sections by the river where the infamous bogs were lurking! Many of the bogs were more than a foot deep and left the competitors scrambling desperately to stay on their feet. Despite a few close shaves I managed to keep my shoes on, however the same cannot be said for a few poor competitors who were left digging around franticly on their hands and knees for their shoes. The route continued in this vein for the next 15 miles or so, taking us up and down some particularly steep hilly sections and across churned up farmland. The locals were out in force along the way, providing fantastic support and much needed encouragement and jelly babies for the competitors. The rip-roaring rendition of “Twist and Shout” by the Beatles performed by some local farmers in a barn was particularly amusing and helped take our minds off the battering that we were putting our bodies through!
After about 16 miles of heavy ascents/descents through bog ridden valleys, the route eventually opened back out onto the beach at Branscombe to a crescendo of drums played by a local group. The route organisers, being the sadistic bunch that they are put the next mile or so along the stony beach. After the abuse that our legs had already taken, this section of loose pebbles proved to be quite difficult and seemed to last for an eternity. In order to take my mind off the pain I focused my attentions on scanning the beach for any washed up BMW’s or pieces of priceless art work that may have been missed after the contents of the container ship MSC Napoli were washed ashore here 4 years ago. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any treasures and were left to tackle the steep switch backs up the cliffs towards Beer. The next few miles saw us heading back along the cliff tops and back along the beach to the finish at Seaton. The 3 of hobbled over the finish line in a time of around 3 hours 40 minutes, with a great bit of training under our belts and our bodies just about in one piece! At the finish we were met by hundreds of cheering locals and the fire brigade who kindly hosed down our mud-caked legs!
The whole event was a resounding success, and I would strongly encourage anyone to give it a go next year. The atmosphere along the entire route was absolutely fantastic, and a big thank you has to go out to the event organisers who did an awesome job of marshalling the route, and providing us with an epic challenge that I’m sure none of us will forget in a hurry! Bring on The Grizzly 2012!
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