Exmoor Coastal Trail Series 2017 - Event Review

"I'm not quite the sadistic person to organise that journey, but you have a very twisted sense of humour!"


I can confirm that the classification by EnduranceLife of the Exmoor Coastal Trail Series run as 'Extreme' is an accurate representation of the terrain that we ran over last weekend! 1,300ft of elevation gain on the 10km route (that was actually 11.4km!) certainly tested the legs in more ways that they have been tested in recent months, but the main concern for the day (the weather - after hearing how good it had been for the last couple of years) was definitely not something to spoil the day, the glorious sunshine certainly showed off the best of the stunning landscape that we ran through…

The first challenge of the day was to navigate our way from where we stayed in Combe Martin, over to Hunters Inn where the start was - narrow country roads with runners crossing at several points made it interesting to get there, and that was before we had to get to the car park, but I'll leave the car park details until the end of the race! Once at the start/registration it was a nice simple case of getting your race number, and t-shirt before making sure everything was sorted and listening to all the dogs at the start having a bit of a chat - most of them had the right idea and wouldn't be joining us on the run, but there were still a couple more apart from our two who were coming on the climb up and down the coastal trails.

One disadvantage of running with the dogs is the fact that you end up having to start at the back of the bunch at the start, and as the first mile included a couple of pinch points where nearly everyone slowed to a walk or complete stop this meant that you couldn't always get into a rhythm of running (or if you had tried you'd have probably taken out half the other people around you with the lead!) and so when the route ramped up on a number of switchbacks we were well and truly in-amongst the largest group of the 10km race. At this point I would like to say that I lightly jogged my way consistently up the footpath without needing to walk, however the punishing 10% average gradient meant that I was also slowed to a walk from around halfway up just like nearly everyone else - save the real fast individuals!

Once you got to the top of the first climb (which must have accounted for at least half the total elevation gain) the views definitely made it worth it - deep blue sea and clear blue sky, and gorse all along the coastal path did make me want to stop to take a quick snap more than once but I was there to run wasn't it?! The next few miles were along the edge of the cliffs (luckily for me concentrating on was going on ahead rather than how far down it was) and the pace always following a similar pattern of getting to a decent jog when on the flat and then having to slow to a walk up any inclines where those at the front of the group did and there being no space to pass.

One problem with the 10km not starting until 11am was that the heat was already starting to take its toll within the first few miles, Leia was running along in any shade she could with her tongue out trying to capture any dew that was still lingering and any puddles or small streams we came across I was stopping to let her dunk her paws and get a bit of a drink, and Ali was having the same with Chewy. I'd like to say thanks to the lady who was running with her dog Sammy who was kind enough to let both our dogs drain her water bowl when she'd stopped running to let her dog drink from - although both the dogs were getting some water on the run they were definitely exceedingly grateful for the bowlful of clean water!

As we ran further along the coast the path widened out, meaning that Ali was able to join back up with me after getting stuck back in the chain of people winding their way up the paths, it also meant that other runners were able to get past us every time we stopped at a bit of water for the dogs! Several muddy puddles later after the dogs had taken on more liquid we turned left to a narrow track through the heather up to the highest point of the course - this wasn't anywhere near as steep as the initial climb but you can be sure that it still sapped a large amount of energy from the legs and there were a number of people who ended up walking this bit. The cruellest thing was that the event photographer was happily stood at the top of the climb (where great photos were being taken) so you then had to put on a jog to ensure that the one of you round the course didn't make it look like you walked the whole way!

After a short, not overly steep but very uneven decent we were at the one drink station for our route, a quick drink of water and the offer of drenching the dog with a watering can (I don't think the stewards expected me to take them up on it!) and we were back off on the last part of the course and it was downhill pretty much all the way. This, however, was probably harder work than the uphill part of the route as the dogs were refreshed and up to pace again which is really very tricky to control down gradients over 10% with tree roots and alike sticking out all over the place!

Any of the places we had made up on the last few bits of climbing were quite quickly taken back by other runners as we were forced to take it a bit easier making sure we had control, and Chewy deciding that she was going to take a toilet break halfway down (therefore meaning that we needed to stop to clear up after her!) One of the guys who I passed up to the final high point on the course had actually asked "when does it get a pain in the arse running with the dogs?" so when he passed us as Ali was clearing up after Chewy I made sure to point out that this was one of those points when it's that pain in the arse!!

The trail continued down through the forest which was very welcome after the continuous sun and heat of the moorland, and we were very quickly back down to the river level where we had started and on the final section that was along one of the lanes we had driven in on. One dodged post can later and we were rounding the final couple of corners to the finish... At this point Ali decided to announce that she still had the energy to sprint for the line, i was pretty dead on my feet, so luckily for me Leia decided to cross over into Ali's path and muck up her sprint to the line and help me finish at the same time! (She can be such a good dog at times!!)

As with all the EnduranceLife events we were quickly through the finish area with post run snack in hand and times printed out - initially we were given exact finishing places to our race numbers, but actually ended up losing a place somewhere between here and when the final results were published (not quite sure how that happens with a mass start all at the same time though?...) Our final times were 1hr 37mins and 20secs for the record, although Strava gives me a moving time of 1:31:50...

My sister and brother in law were there with their daughter to support us, so thanks to them for some of the photos and going with Ali to fetch the ice creams after the race! My initial review of the event was "too bloody hot!" when asked - Ali's was that it was awesome - and I had to agree that it was probably the best scenery to have run through this year (apart from maybe our run up the snowy mountain whilst on honeymoon) and it was a properly challenging route! Such was the heat that my usually perfect features were working all funny (maybe) - this being the obvious reason why the stupid face being pulled in the photo of us with our medals!

Overall I have to say that it was a great event - a challenging route, well organised and superb weather! We're already signed up for three more Coastal Trail Series events this year, and if they are as good as this one it's going to be a treat! Judging by the previous ones that Ali has done I have no doubt they will be - keep your eyes peeled for them and my posts on here!

One thing I have to mention before finishing this post that I briefly mentioned earlier - the car park..... I'm not quite sure who was the sadistic person to organise that journey from the finish line back to the car park, but you have a very twisted sense of humour! It was around quarter of a mile long, up a road that just climbed the whole way from the valley floor to the top ridge where the parking field was, with gradients of up to 25%!!! The wall down there to the start line was bad enough because of the impending dread that not only was the route going to be going up stuff like this, but once you'd completed that you had to come back up this road!

Hope you've enjoyed the review, we'll be back for more, hopefully you'll be back to read about them!

One Life - Liv 4 It, Love It