Highways & Skyways

Following on from the newly introduced Night Runner earlier this year, Axe Valley Runners have come up with yet another winning formula for an event, namely Highways and Skyways.

This is a self navigating “race” starting and finishing in Charmouth and taking in eight “tops” as it crosses stunning countryside and climbs a total of 760 metres with the bonus at the end of a choice whether to run a couple of miles along the beach or climb another 600 feet to follow the coast path.

About 50 runners assembled at the start on Sunday morning in brilliant September sunshine, and following a briefing from race director Garry Perratt, we set off up the cliff path (officially closed but still passable with a slight detour) on the start of our adventure. Martin and I had decided to run together to maximise our chances of staying on the right route and we did have the advantage of having completed a training run around the route with Garry earlier in the summer.

After climbing to Stonebarrow, crossing the outward route of the Charmouth Challenge and swooping down the other side we came to the first road crossing at Morecombelake, and then began the arduous climb up the other side. At this point we had a few other runners in our sights and one of them had also done the recce run with us so we didn’t have to worry too much about navigation initially.

However after a few miles we came to a section where we thought we had turned off the obvious path and climbed a steep field and at this point our little group split. One local runner was adamant that he knew the way and that we should continue straight on, a few of us followed him and it wasn’t until five minutes or so later that I realised that Martin had gone with the other group and disappeared from view. I was now faced with a dilemma as Martin had both the map and the route description and I wasn’t sure that I could maintain the pace that the rest of the group were running at. We climbed up the seemingly endless Coppet Hill, the fifth “top” and still there was no sign of Martin. Had he taken a short cut and got ahead of me or had he got lost and fallen behind? Much to my relief, a few moments later he appeared on the summit of the hill, and we regrouped and carried on.

We stayed together for the loop around Quarry Hill but then decided that we didn’t feel like killing ourselves in an attempt to keep up with the others and they gradually pulled away from us as we headed up Colmer’s Hill and then dropped down to re-cross the main road at Miles Cross. As we climbed up through the woods we caught the last glimpse of the others up ahead and then they disappeared, which was a shame as we then had a few navigational issues before re-emerging onto the coast path with the welcome sight of Thorncombe Beacon ahead.

There were no more route choices to make now and we could relax and enjoy the rest of the run, simply keeping the sea on our left - especially the long downhill stretch to Seatown – trying hard not to look ahead and watch the ants climbing Golden Cap ahead of us! All too soon we were those ants as we laboured up the fields and finally the steps to the highest coastal point in Dorset – stunning views all round but no time to stop and admire them as we plunged down the other side.

No choice necessary as we reached the bottom – we headed for the beach and the hazardous steps down to St Gabriel’s Mouth, although once we hit the shingle and tried to coax our legs back into a run we felt we may have made the wrong decision. We could see Charmouth ahead but it didn’t seem to be getting any closer and it was such a relief when we finally hit some hard sand, although that coincided with the appearance of the late holiday makers and fossil hunters meandering across our path. At last we reached the end of the beach and crossed the bridge where we overtook an Axe Valley Runner and headed for the finish side by side.

Now I haven’t mentioned this beforehand, but I did have to wait for Martin on several of the climbs (his excuse was that he hadn’t fully recovered from Corfe) so I felt entirely justified in waiting until we approached the finish and then throwing in a sneaky sprint finish to get over the line ahead of him.

All that remained was a delightful dip in the sea, positively balmy compared with our last plunge in Cornwall and the post race refreshments. We waited for the presentation as I had finished first lady but it turned out that there was only one prize for the overall winner. However Garry had decided to award the prize to the first age graded finisher and due to my advanced age that was me!

Garry is already planning next year’s event (and we can thoroughly recommend it) although he is keen that this doesn’t turn into another Grizzly. However it was mentioned that the first Grizzly, some 24 years ago, sported a field of just 30 runners, so who knows where Highways may lead?