A strong team of Musketeers took completed the Six Moor Miles – a tough cross-country race on the lower slopes of Dartmoor near Yelverton.
Caroline W, Mark, P, Neil W, Lorraine D, Sarah A, Steve M, Barry D, Rich, Sharon A and Bryan ran the tricky route which was made even more hard under foot by a heavy shower.
The route was wetter than us townies were expecting as it rains more often high on the moor, despite recent hot and drier weather. The grass was therefore, boggy, the woods muddy and the stones and tree roots lethally slippery while the ferns soaked muddy runners’ legs.
Barry went off like a fox being hunted and stragglers like Guy, Steve and Rich were left behind.
The rain hit us a couple of miles in and was refreshing, but we cared little as the route became harder with treacherous footings and steep stony hills.
Tackling slippery paths and grass and avoiding falling over and the runner in front is very taxing, more so than a road run of he same length, but that is part of the attraction. The variety and scenery also helps make runs go faster.
However, being longer than six miles – hence the ‘moor’ title, there is an extra 0.7 of a mile to run. The end seems to drag a little because it is hard to judge where the finish is exactly and how far you have to run and how much effort to put in and whether it is worth trying to over take some one.
Despite the difficulties, after you have finished it all seems worthwhile, though Caroline seemed to doubt it was. May be she was dreading running back home with her coach Neil and Sarah and Louise (who ran from home to the start, but did not race) to train for a forthcoming Amsterdam Marathon.
The well organised race gives you a non-technical t-shirt, two toothbrushes and bottle of water in the goody bag.
I would recommend the run on the wild side, it is close to home, well organised and lots of support from friends and on beautiful Dartmoor, what more could you want.
By Guy