The Grizzly – The Survival Course

This year’s Grizzly (Sunday 9^th September) was the one postponed from its usual slot in March. Some Italian ship had decided to park itself on the beach at Branscombe in Devon at the time, and spill BMW motorbikes all over the shingle. Needless to say, the usual arctic conditions were replaced by hot sun with temperatures in the low to mid 20’s.

This event is known as the 3^rd most popular run in the UK, after the London Marathon and the Great North Run. Every year it is a battle to get a place, with the website entries closing after only a few days. This year, however, the postponement meant a smaller than usual entry, with a mere 996 finishers in the main event.

Wells City Harriers were represented by 5 stalwarts at the Grizzly finishing line, with one or two others deciding that the shorter Cub race (8.5 miles) was the better part of valour (and injury resistance). Grizzly finishers are properly termed “survivors”. This year’s course was just short of 20 hot miles. It changes every year so that no-one can really claim a personal best, and it was probably the toughest ever. Words like “gruelling” and “challenging” are totally inadequate. Just for a bit of extra, this year the amount of vertical climb was increased by 20% to 3,000 feet overall, but most participants said it felt like 50%! The bogs, the cliff paths and the several miles on shingle all added to the fun.

First to finish for Wells was Jenny Moore, who got the prize for 3^rd Lady overall, 44^th place out of 996 Survivors in 2hrs 55 mins. Next was Pete Darton, 179th in 3.17, followed by Bob Powell (357^th in 3.37), Gary Tubridy (519^th in 3.54) and Nick Edwards (692^nd in 4.16). Simon Jones did the Cub run and finished 44^th out of 137 in 1.46.

Anyone up for next year?

Bob Powell