What a fantastic, bizarre, surreal and humbling experience the 2018 Grizzly was, writes Dave Mutter.

“May the course be with you” was the subtitle for the 31st Grizzly - and boy was it! Never before have we experienced near Siberian blizzards on Beer Common, with temperatures feeling like minus eight degrees, or the magical wonderland when running through calmer wooded sections of the course.

Because of the adverse weather, everyone knew in advance that a modified Cub route of 10.5 miles or a shorter version of 9.2 miles were the only races that would take place.

Despite the weather, 1,266 runners completed the courses with no major incidents. One reason for that was the absolutely fantastic group of volunteer marshals, coastguards, medical teams, drink station helpers and many more helpers, who without exception were cheerful and encouraging to us runners.

All helpers deserve the highest respect and thanks and, of course, the hardy, rowdy and encouraging spectators that were drifted all over the route.

Race director Tony Smith and his superb team of helpers got the race underway on time, but the slipway down to Branscombe beach was really icy, so, after the first three runners went through, everyone was diverted to the shorter route.

That meant Jake Smith, 1:10:19, James Green, 1:11:01 and Ryan Prout [?time?] were the only finishers in the longer version.

David Green of Northampton Road Runners was first home in the shorter route in 1:01:08 with AVR’s Matt Clist taking second place in a time of 1:04:34 while third was Samuel Kelly of Exmouth Harriers in 1:04:43.

There were many exceptional AVR results and the rest of the 91-strong gang finished as follows: (times are chip times, positions are the position the finish line was crossed) Tim Lenton, 4th, 1:05:12; Matthew Hewer, 19th, 1:10:06; Robert Collier, 27th, 1:10:41; Karl Hodson, 37th, 1:13:23; Emma Kiernan, 50th, 1:15:22; Anthony Chadwick, 53rd, 1:15:38; Rupert Pady, 69th, 1:16:53; Murat James Guler, 95th, 1:18:19; Chris Keeffe, 109th, 1:19:19; James Sibley, 119th, 1:20:08; Karen Eyre, 125th, 1:20:24; Clare Hansford, 130th, 1:20:38; Chris Polley, 141st, 1:20:53; Simon Davey, 142nd, 1:20:57; Jonathan Day, 166th, 1:22:06; Eleanor Wood, 168th, 1:22:38; Graham Newton, 190th, 1:23:51; Justin Sloman, 218th, 1:25:31; Alex Todd, 229th, 1:25:52; Iain Horlock, 241st, 1:25:52; Tim Sibley, 257th, 1:26:36; Patrick Kinsella, 289th, 1:28:23; Kerry Board, 290th, 1:28:15; Alex Boon, 313th, 1:29:35; Louise Tucker, 318th, 1:30:31; Georgia Dommett, 344th, 1:31:42; Fran Hodson, 347th, 1:32:21; Steve Haines, 348th, 1:31:41; Steven Lewis, 357th, 1:31:53; Alan Morbey, 374th, 1:32:52; Margaret Pearce, 375th, 1:32:56; Peter Knox, 377th, 1:33:06; Lizzie Fontes, 393rd, 1:34:20; Susan Hayes, 419th, 1:36:14; Andrew Hartnell, 421st, 1:35:25; Richard Jackson, 433rd, 1:36:46; Kevin Feeney, 445th, 1:36:58; Chris Hill, 447th, 1:37:09; Tracey Anning-Beckett, 456th, 1:37:28; Susan Tubbs, 467th, 1:38:28; Wayne Tooze, 472nd, 1:38:57; Ferenc Kovacs, 480th, 1:38:26 [STEVE ?1:39:26?] ; Ian Clements, 488th, 1:39:45; Keith Agland, 500th, 1:41:07; Louise Burridge, 556th, 1:44:16; Adele Foxwell, 557th, 1:44:15; Tony Wood, 567th, 1:43:39; May Wood, 568th, 1:43:39; Mark Spraggs, 570th, 1:44:46; Phil Bayliss, 599th, 1:45:13; Anna McLoughlin, 617th, 1:44:57; Gillian Peach, 653rd, 1:47:45; Yvette Hill, 654th, 1:47:41; Sarah Shepley, 691st, 1:49:21; Garret Maher, 696th, 1:49:41; Henry Smith, 710th, 1:50:48; Ragnhild Kordt Richards, 714th, 1:52:13; Caroline French, 716th, 1:52:09; Laura Kerr, 717th, 1:52:14; Richard Dodge, 722nd, 1:51:51; Geoff Woodward, 745th, 1:52:46; Eleanor Carr, 785th, 1:55:16; Barry Follett, 816th, 1:57:35; Kirstin Harwood, 864th, 2:01:19; Fiona Pyle, 875th, 2:02:06; Samantha Tooze, 876th, 2:02:03; Elaine Hourihan, 878th, 2:01:02; Dave Mutter, 879th, 2:01:04; Chris Boyd, 886th, 2:01:30; Nick Adams, 890th, 2:01:49; Robert Kerr , 909th, 2:03:01; Christopher Driver, 914th, 2:04:49; Hayley Eate 942nd, 2:06:33; Stephen Morbey 950th, 2:06:19; Lynn Sloman 990th, 2:09:25; Gill Day, 1,043rd, 2:11:50; Amie Sibley, 1,051st, 2:14:11; Emma Ellynn, 1,061st, 2:12:38; Martin Kerr, 1,097th, 2:17:25; Esme Markham, 1,099th, 2:18:31; Sammy Barry, 1,131st, 2:20:11; Pam Goddard, 1,173rd, 2:24:30; Janet Woodward, 1,197th, 2:27:45; Emma Grigg, 1,198th, 2:27:42; Vicky Austin, 1,199th, 2:27:45; Gill Parker, 1,200th, 2:27:45; Rachael Tattershall, 1,201st, 2:27:44; Kirsty Farrington, 1,202nd, 2:27:45; Carolyn Nation, 1,203rd, 2:27:42; Tamsyn Bate, 1,225th, 2:34:58; Kirsty Willett, 1,226th, 2:34:59; Sam Summers, 1,238th, 2:39:27 and Denise Burges, 1,249th, 2:42:51.

So ends another memorable Grizzly weekend, but since the main event was cancelled there will be course marking-out material still on the route for a few days until the rather tired AVR team can gather it all in.

Please be patient as it will be collected ASAP. Many thanks once again to the race sponsors: East Devon Sports Therapy, Seaton, Scimitar Sports and Lyme Bay winery and, of course, the landowners allowing the race to be run over their private land and anyone who helped in any way in those horrendous, but beautiful conditions.