The Kraken on the Coast 5 September 2010
Paul Teck reports from the
Beast.
It was on what was
surprisingly a dry start (considering that it was raining when I got
up), that I lined up to the start of the 17th Beast which this year was
called The Kraken On The Coast along with more than 20 fellow Wacers,
of which at least two had changed sex (Robin replacing Ann Marie and
Julie replacing Andrew) and one who had got younger by about 20+ yrs
(Steve Headley replacing Dave Wild) and 468 other runners from as far as
Ipswich.
The start was the
usual mad rush of getting nowhere fast as 488 runners descend down the
short stretch of road which was no more than 6 metres wide before you
hit the first bit of heathland. This consisted of a few short sharp
climbs and two little bridge crossings before you were then greeted by
the same crowds who cheered us off at the start at the top of Corfe
Common.
It was at this point
that I spotted Ian about a dozen places in front of me so decided I was
going to try and keep him in view as a point of focus. At about 2 miles
is when you hit the first of about six stiles which are great for a
chance to catch your breath.
The next couple of
miles are mainly fields, narrow tracks with ascents and descents before
at about 5 miles you go through a farmyard and start the one and a half
mile stoney track up to St Aldhelm's Head. I was feeling quite good at
this point as I still had Ian in sight but was not making much progress
in catching him. I reached the coastguard lookout at St Aldhelm's Head
and was greeted by the most spectacular view along the coast overlooking
Chapmans Pool. For those of you that have never entered this race, the
view that you get as you reach this point is worth the entrance fee
alone and fortunately on this day it was as clear as I have ever seen
it, and I could not help but stop to admire the view for a moment.
It was at this point
that my feet were starting to hurt and I knew that blisters had
developed on the bottom of both feet. This was down to my trainers which
I knew were coming to the end of their life but I had hoped they were
going to get me around this course for one last race. Silently cursing I
continued on and reached the first of the long descents down steps that
are cut into the hillside. I was joined at this point by Kevin who
decided on a rather novel way of descending these steps by what I can
only describe as bum tobogganing down the grass to the side of the
steps. Luckily he managed to make it to the bottom in one piece but I
decided on a more sedate method of getting down and before I knew it I
was on the ascent up the 60 or so steps on the other side (no I didn't
count them just a guess). Reaching the top, I caught my breath and
admired the view one last time before continuing on.
For me at this
stage, the race was now about finishing, I had given up the idea of
catching Ian or anyone else as I no longer had him in sight and had last
seen him ascending the first set of steps as I was descending them. The
next few miles followed the coastline before you dropped down into the
valley to a water stop.
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Debbie and
Tim in full flight
|
Having reached this
point I knew that I was not far from the second, and final, set of steps
and as I approached them all the runners were greeted by a enthusiastic
group of about 20 walkers who cheered every runner who went past and
gave a welcome boost I'm sure to all concerned. Now these steps are
considerably shorter than the first set but to this day the Beast
remains the only race where I have to pull on the material of my shorts
to actually get me up the steps and I'm sure I wasn't the only one but
soon enough we were at the top knowing the hardest bit was now over.
Continuing on I was
joined by Robin who kindly offered to stay with me as he could see my
feet were hurting, I tried to stay with him for a while but the feet
were having none of it but reached the last water stop where I knew
there was only about two miles to go. It was at this point that Jerry
popped up again taking photos, I tried to look fresh but failed as the
picture below proves.
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Paul takes
a breather at the final water station
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Pressing on I
continued along the track and then reached the pub where you take a
sharp left and then descend through the wood and then you reach the open
fields and are greeted by the site of Corfe Castle sitting on top of its
hill.
Great, only one to
one and a half miles to go which takes you down the fields,
stopping briefly to get around a horse which was not going to move and
then onto the final stretch on Corfe Common. At this point I was joined
by Georgie, overtaken by Georgie, and then left by Georgie, in the last
half mile and finally the finish was in sight and I got over the line in
2 hours 16 minutes 41 seconds which was a slight improvement on my time
from two years ago. To summarise, for me this still remains one of my
favourites races to date, hard but rewarding and when blessed with good
weather the views are spectacular and you get a nice T-Shirt at the
end......
Paul Teck
WACers results:
7
Colin Read 1:29:57
64 Rich House 1:44:08
80 Ian Donnelly 1:45:47
110 Steve Headley 1:51:09
118 Phil Whitehurst 1:52:12
163 Ian Kennedy 1:57:50
197 Kevin Elliott 2:02:06
216 Jeff Hinsley 2:04:29
248 Robin Hughes 2:09:13
271 Nick Solomon 2:12:38
276 Terry Simms 2:13:10
287 Annie Dougall 2:14:29
293 Georgie Hougham 2:15:44
302 Paul Teck 2:16:41
342 Paul Hougham 2:21:11
343 Carol Howe 2:21:13
246 Ruth Parker 2:21:30
411 Adrian Mead 2:34:29
412 Julie Mead 2:34:29
425 Debbie Whittle 2:38:11
434 Tim Box 2:40:07
487 Julie Gosling 3:20:48
