| 21 October 2007, 8:26 pm |
| Exmoor Stumble report |
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| Donna with fellow Carnies before her 'Stumble'. |
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| Donna reports... |
As I was in North Devon for the week I thought I’d have a go at the Exmoor Stumble for a change instead of the Redruth 10k which runs right past my front door!
10 Carnies had gone on ahead and camped overnight so they were there just as early as me this time. We soon met up and after suffering an hour of light hearted abuse about not doing the Stagger we went for a photo shoot and to warm up for the start.
I wish I had done the Stagger and did feel a bit of a cheat but my longest run since London has been 1 hr 30ish so after I heard that the Stagger was gong to be about 2hr 30 ish I felt it was just too much and a 7 mile off road race is plenty a good enough training run for XC.
We all lined up and the hooter started us off along a short road section and then into the woods for the beginning of the 3 mile climb. There were a few breathers on the way but not much. First Glyn and Hodgey caught me up then I could hear Barrie breathing down my neck so I thought I must be going too slow as they had another 9 miles to do than me and they were all going past! Once I heard Barrie I got a move on a bit and I came to the point where the Stumble went one way and the Stagger the other, out onto the moors for lots of hills!
I ran the next half of the race on my own because there weren’t many in the Stumble but the course was very well marked and there was only one point I was a bit confused but it was completely downhill all the way back.
After my race mum, dad, me and Charlie waited to see the front runners from the Stagger come in in 1 hr 54 and then a steady trickle of Carnies. Glyn was our first home, an experienced runner like him had to stop several times to re-tie his shoe laces and I think he’d been attacked by a vampire on the way round! Vest covered in blood! Perhaps we could have a whip round for some Vaseline and lace locks for him! LOL!
Hodgey, Chris Harper, Barrie, Rory, George, Emma and Helen all finished well and survived but will they be back next year?!!?
After all the ribbing at the start at least I won the Ladies race so it was worth it!
Donna
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