The Grizzly

On Sunday 7th March 2010 Axe Valley Runners hosted their famous "Grizzly" which for this year was called the Beauty and the Beach. The Grizzly is a race over 20 miles of East Devon's beautiful countryside and is complimented by "the Cub" which is just nines miles in length.

Both of the races were hilly and included rough ground, much of it steep, slippery or both, and some of it exposed to the elements. The terrain included roads, tracks (some very stony), paths, shingle beach, fields, woodland, bog and other surfaces. On previous years runners had been up to their waist in mud and water but this year the weather looked more favourably upon the athletes. The Grizzly is likely to take nearly as long as a marathon.

Nearly 1500 runners lined up at the start for this epic race and amongst the number were ten members of the Exmouth Harriers.

The first runner to complete the course was John McFarlane of Thames Hare and Hounds who finished in a time of 2 hours 29 minutes and 36 seconds.

The first Exmouth Harrier to complete the race was Dave Stone who finished in 20th place in a time of 2-46-43.

Mike Musgrove finished in 44th place in a time of 2-52-21.

John Croome finished in 90th place in a time of 3-02-49.

Terry Oldham finished in 357th place in a time of 3-32-36.

Lorraine Croome finished in 381st place in a time of 3-35-05.

Emma Dupain finished in 384th place in the same recorded time.

Lucy Hodgeson finished in 497th place in a time of 3-41-34.

Steve Merry finished in 508th place in a time of 3-43-06.

Ben White finished in 575th place in a time of 3-47-18.

Paul Champion in his first race since suffering a foot injury over six months ago and completing very little training finished in 896th place in a time of 4-11-37.

The last runner to cross the finish line was Chris Stables in a time of 5-51-05.

(RW)