Fabulous Grizzly fun

After a week of snowdrifts it was with trepidation that the forecasts for the Grizzly were watched, each predicting doom and gloom. As it turned out there were only a couple of showers, but boy, did that cold wind did blow. Trying to describe the actual race all I can come up with is Wow! Twenty true multi-terrain miles including energy sapping beaches and gargantuan climbs, but the highlight was the Bog. What a monster! About 150 yards of twisting trails through a deep black gloop that varied from three inches to three feet deep and there was no way to tell the difference. Safe to say they don't use stuff like that in beauty salons! John Macfarlane of Thames Hare and Hounds won the Grizzly in a very impressive 2:19:21. In his BBC TV interview he did admit that the Grizzly was a hard race - we could have told him that! John was actually level with 2nd placed Ryan Prout (2:25:43) at the bogs (12 miles) but really pulled away in the last eight. Toby Pearson, another Thames Hare and Hounds runner was 3rd in 2:27:30. Perpetual Grizzly runner and often winner Neil Holmes, could only manage fourth this year in 2:30:14. First lady home was Nicola Juniper of Thrift Green Trotters, 41st overall in 2:49:15. Elizabeth Kendon was 2nd lady, 51st overall in 2:51:50 and Camilla Mathison of SCCS 3rd lady, 120th overall in 3:03:58.Of the locals Jonathan Day roared away from the start and was the lead AVR for a while until a much improving Ian Apps passed him. Well done to Ian who finished 78th in 2:57:48. Due to a call of nature Jonathan was overtaken in the bogs by Bernard Fry. A good battle then ensued with Bernard pulling away at the end to finish 96th, 3:01:06 with Jonathan 101st, 3:01:24. Jamie Lambert was 135th, 3:07:01 and Chris Shrubb 153rd, 3:10:17.Richard Hale blasted past Eleanor Wood at the 3 mile mark with a cheeky remark. That came back to haunt him as Eleanor, who also had a ding dong battle with Roger Bramley until the bog grabbed him, passed Richard in the Beer Jubilee gardens near the finish leaving him whimpering in the distance. Eleanor was 317th, 3:25:38; Richard 335th, 3:26:51 and Roger 360th, 3:29:42. Paul Johns was 393rd in 3:32:20. Retro Reynolds ran for a while with big Si Davey, but left him at the caravan park. He caught Ian Walker at 9 miles only for Ian to scuttle past at the bog. After the bog Retro finally passed Ian only to be caught by Iron Man White on Branscombe beach. Chris Polly must have passed Retro just after this and after a bout of cramp Retro finished 526th, 3:42:25, Iron Man 449th, 3:36:06 and Chris 485th, 3:38:43, 35 mins faster than last year. Ian was 571st, 3:45:39. Sue Tubbs ran very well to finish 603rd in 3:48:21. Dave Mutter was having a great time until he came a cropper just holding a cup of water at a drink station! He had big Si in his sites but just could not catch him. Si was 702nd, 3:54:53 and Dave trundled across the line 742nd in 3:56:53. Peter Hughes was hoping to beat Dave this year, alas it was not to be and Peter finished 789th in 4:00:55.Rebecca Creese was a bag of nerves at the start, but she really enjoyed the race and finished exhausted but happy 816th in 4:02:41. The bogs knocked the stuffing out of Charlotte Tubbs, but she still finished 913th in 4:11:12. Rob Murdy, in his first attempt at the Griz was 1084th in 4:27:35. A mixture of lack of distance training and setting off a tad fast meant Dan Kiernan was really struggling after 10 miles. He did not give up and finished 1,203rd in 4:40:59. Dave Braunton finished a few minutes after Dan and was dead chuffed with his performance having beaten many of his younger boxing chums. Gary Davies decided after completing in 4:46, 35 min quicker than last year, that his longest training run of 7 miles was not quite enough! There may be other AVR's that finished - or are they still wallowing around in that bog! As well as the Grizzly there was also the 9 mile Cub Run. Many runners decided enough was enough and turned back early resulting in 273 finishers. Local man Martin Owen was the first home in the Cub, blasting around in 1:04:34. However he was not the winner as the Cub is officially for younger runners, ladies and over 60 year old men. 17 year old Daniel Bailey of Victory AC was the Youth winner, he was 2nd overall in 1:06:08. The Ladies winner was 4th placed Emma Hitchins of South West Road Runners and Lingfield RC's Reg Garrido was the over 60 winner, 34th overall in 1:27:28. Luke reed was the highest placed AVR, 3rd in 1:06:53. Young Emma Kiernan ran very well to finish 18th, 1:17:32; Joe Rodgers was 30th, 1:25:01; Mike Calvert 40th, 1:29:41; Jane Calvert 88th, 1:39:45; Jessica Tubbs 124th, 146:39. Debbie and Mike Barry ran together but Debbie snuck away at the end to be 125th, 1:46:40 with Mike 126th, 1:46:43. Good plan that Mike! Sue Willer was 186th, 1:59:23; Becki Davey 193rd, 2:01:13; Gill Day 229th, 2:11:00; Elly Potter 247th, 2:16:50; Debbie Scotter 250th, 2:18:29 and Celeste Ingarfield 270th, 2:36:52. Well done to them all, especially Jonathan Day's training group, a terrific performance.There has been much positive feedback from those who raced, this was from Jason Derrick - "Thank you for such a well organised and fantastic day, I think it's the best race I've ever taken part in, far better than the London Marathon! I will be back next year for sure and a massive thank you to all the marshals, they were so supportive." This is from Christine Armstrong - "A huge 'thank you' to you and your team for a fabulously well organised race and the marshals were, without exception, absolutely wonderful. It was my first Grizzly but hopefully not my last." You can see a common theme here; everyone wants to thank the marshals, drink station personnel, course clearers, police, coastguards, St John Ambulance and all spectators who helped cajole the runners on their way. A Runnymead Runner summed it up on Sunday evening. She said it was a great event with the locals making the runners feel very welcome. AVR would like to thank all those who helped, especially those exposed to that wind but carried on with great humour. Thanks also to the many landowners who let over 2,000 marauding runners charge over their land. So well done to race director Gary Phillips and the man who glued it all together, Garry Perratt, plus of course all of the Grizzly committee. Honiton runners once again hit the Grizzly race in numbers on Sunday with 21 finishing the main race and 13 in the Cub. Kevin Hawker kept up his excellent recent record by leading the Honiton pack home in 12th place in 2.39.17. Paul Davey and Guy Paddon were next home and look on course with their training for the Jurassic Coast Marathon (three marathons in three days). Paul finished 129th in 3.06.28 with Guy 139th in 3.08.14. The next runner home was Judy Davey with a superb run in 248th, third in her age category, her London Marathon training paying dividends. Judy finished in 3.19.58 just in front of her husband Steve who had been running well until the final few miles. Steve finished very tired in 284th with 3.22.56. Ceri Oak had a great run last year but was disappointed not to have been able to do enough training but still managed a good time in 294th with 3.24.11. The bog exceeded all bogs in recent memory as it was probably 150 yards of calf-deep and knee-deep thick mud. Runners were clutching the guide ropes, trees and each other in order to stay upright - some didn't. Many had to be pulled out by marshals! This probably contributed to the many runners who succumbed to cramp after that trial and who had a painful few miles to the finish. Other finishers: 328 Vernon Gillard 3.26.17; 353 Bruce Strawbridge 3.29.15; 361 Julian Gigg 2.29.45; 413 Geoff Foster 3.33.36; 419 Richard Harris 3.34.20; 632 Maria Wadey 3.50.32; 673 Grant Boyd 3.53.05; 682 John Burgess 3.53.24; 751 Sarah Lowman 3.57.41; 858 David Gage 4.06.24; 871 Simon Hall 4.08.34; 1006 Gary Enticott 4.18.41; 1051 Claire Pomeroy 4.22.35; 1170 Pete Lyus 4.36.48. Vanessa Glyn Jones and Tracey Strawbridge also finished.The organisers managed to shock the cub runners by starting them with the main race all down the beach and then right back down the Esplanade through the start again. There were also good performances for Honiton with Leisa Lavender leading them home in 29th place in a time of 1.24.25 followed by Sarah Warren in 60th with 1.34.41. Pippa Westall made an excellent return to racing, finishing 69th in 1.36.18. Pippa was closely followed by club chairman Paul Lowman in 74th with 1.36.48. Other results: 106 Nicola Campbell 1.43.12; 108 Louise Saunders 1.43.46; 109 Anne Ephraums 1.44.22; 141 Sandra Thorpe 1.50.05; 155 Kim Werner 1.53.33; 162 Sarah Spence 1.54.56; 170 Jackie Costello 1.56.38; 181 Pat Croucher 1.58.19.

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