Battling The Quantock Beast

On Sunday July 7th 2013 Paul Cooke and I headed out to Fyne Court, Broomfield just north of Taunton for the Quantock Harriers ‘Quantock Beast’; a 5.7mile multi-terrain race. Although less than 10k I had heard that the Beast was not to be taken lightly and it would turn out I wasn’t wrong. 

The organiser informed everyone at the start that this was the first year in a long time that the course was actually dry; however given the predicted temperatures of 27C I think the runners would have been glad of a bit of cooling mud! After the starting air horn had gone off and the initial jostle of the 50 entrants had eased out a bit we left the road and headed off onto twisting paths uphill through thick woodland. This then gave way to dusty tracks in open fields with glorious, summery views across the Quantocks and the Vale of Taunton where the windless heat hit you like a wall. A steep descent into managed forest and the cheeky call of “All flat from now on!” from a marshal (as his nose visibly grew longer) did nothing to prepare me for the beast of a hill to come; it just kept going! I think my training on the hills of South Molton and Mid-Devon paid off as I gradually began to shuffle past people who had given up and were walking. Every turn and bend revealed an even steeper section beyond, dotted with brightly coloured and very sweaty runners. After 1 mile plus of evil hill we were treated to a few hundred yards of downhill and a water station which was also handing out water melon, providing an additional and unexpected challenge to the runners – how do you eat melon whilst running?! There was little time to contemplate this challenge though as the route immediately led us onto more uphill woodland paths and came back out into the hot airless, but slightly flatter, fields. These then led out onto the road and the final, downhill stretch of the race finishing back at Fyne Court.

The Strugglers representatives claimed very respectable positions with Paul Cooke completing the course in 00:37:02, first in age category and second overall only 20seconds behind the leader and me coming in at 00:53:20. Despite the heat it was a very enjoyable and well organised race especially as so much of the course was off road. I will definitely be looking this race up again next year, but hope it will be a bit cooler and maybe with a bit of mud too!

By Naomi Hughes