UKC

Has anyone here run the Grizzly before? I did the cub last year but am aiming to do the full race this year. Have you got any hints or tips? I was thinking it would take about the same time as a marathon, is this right or is it significantly harder?

Thanks

In reply to Uluru:

Hi Uluru, I've done it 3 times although not for about 12 years but yes it's best to assume your time will be equivalent to a road marathon. Make sure your laces are securely tied when you go through the 'bog' section so you don't blow a trainer. The camaraderie is brilliant. I do recall coming back onto the beach one year at Branscombe and there was a feed station and the guy said water on the left ale on the right, so we did what any normal person would do at 18 miles with a stretch of pebble beach before the climb up stairway to heaven - we chose the ale!! I also recall one year a man by a stile offering cider out of a teapot in china teacups at about 19 miles - we took him up on his hospitality! It's that kind of race. Eat really well for a couple of days before like you would for a marathon but most of all enjoy it!!

La Sham

In reply to Uluru:

I've done it twice, including last year and I am doing it again this year. The full race has lots more mud than the cub, so be prepared for that. Marathon time sounds about right.

Good luck!

In reply to Uluru:

Ooo I like the sound of ale or cider La Shamster. Fingers crossed someone is doing that this year.

Thanks for the advice, especially about the shoes! Wouldn't want to me searching for one in the bog.

Good luck too mbh. Hope the weather is kind to us.

In reply to Uluru:

Apart from the mud, I should have said that the cub includes all the stretches of shingles, which I found the hardest thing of all, so there's nothing more to fear on that score. I think the route is the same as last year, so if conditions are the same, the worst mud should be a long stretch of gloopy forest path where you go in up to your ankles, but there won't be a comedy bog section with marshalls in waders in up to their chests, like there was the first time I did it.

Think of it as two Cubs, one after the other, but don't think about the second until you've done the first.

I hope that guy playing loud Thorogood style guitar is there again near the start.

My wife is going from cub to full race, just like you.

In reply to mbh:

Hey mbh, how did your wife go? I did have a horrible cold in the week so was wondering if I'd be able to do it. But I did it. It was really muddy! I was wondering what was the official bog!

Unfortunately no alcoholic drinks near the end this year.

In reply to Uluru:

Hi,

Well done! Hope you have recovered now.

My wife did 4:59 and is really pleased.

Either I had a memory blank, or the bog was just worse this year than last. It was that stretch, in mile 13, I think, where we were in it up to our knees and hauling on ropes. There seemed to be more than one bog.

No alcohol and no George Thorogood this year, but still a jolly atmosphere , I thought!