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The Exmoor 2010 - West Buckland School, North Devon by David Chittock

Spot the Almost

This is one West Country race that will not appear as you search RunnersWorld.com for your next fix, nor as the picture shows is it dominated by the purple of the AAs. It is however reputedly the toughest school cross country in the UK & for any "lovers" of Mayhill, is a terribly familiar experience.

I was a pupil at West Buckland from 1977-84, deep in the heart of Exmoor where trust me its combination of rain, rugby, rain, sub zero dormitories in anything outside 10 days of June, rain, cross-country running & rain made it good character building stuff. (The dormitories bit was just my bravado, I was a nancy day boy).

For those of a more cultured background, R.F.Delderfields' "To serve them all my days" is based on the school. Delderfield was an old boy and many landmarks in the book are notable points on the run.

Anyway, that's enough culture, this is the AAs for goodness sake.

West Buckland has always been a big sporting school. For myself though not being made of that stern rugby playing British bulldog spirit, which was probably never helped by once foolishly trying to tackle future England prop Victor Ubogu in a house match & being "despatched" about 3 postcodes to the left by his "hand-off", I chose the cross country as my sporting solace.

A season of 6 compulsory, increasingly long & tough runs roughly every 2 weeks, culminated in the Exmoor just before Easter. It was and still is a whole day event for the school. A special Exmoor assembly to start the day which in my time included a specially penned Exmoor song each year by the master in charge of running. This generally revolved around how much "bovine residue" as he would call it, or "cow s**t" to you and me that you would find yourself shin deep in by that afternoon.

There followed an 8 mile walk to the start & a 10.5 mile solid X country run back over moorland, fields, farm tracks & farmyards where bovine residue was clearly at its maximum.

Despite the often monsoon conditions I loved the whole day & probably set me on the rocky road to AA membership. When it was announced 3 years ago that the Exmoor would be opened up to old boys & girls for the schools 150th anniversary, I jumped at the chance. I ran in 2008 & 2009 but with great dismay I found the 2010 race was to be held 25th March, nicely positioned 3 days before the Forest of Dean half. It was a tall order but determined not to miss it, I gave it a go.

Conditions were as usual rather "dank" but the 30 or so of us who seem to now be the regular turn-outs expected nothing less. We old gits now generally skip the 8 mile walk, preferring the luxury of a coach to the start where we talk nervously in a gallows humour style of the impending fool-hardiness.

We line up with trepidation at Five Barrows (ironically an ancient burial chamber) at one of the highest points of the moor. We are given the luxury of a 3 minute head start on 200 or so, 8 stone nothing even when wet through, pupils. As we pick our way through the bogs in the first few hundred yards, we hear "their" gun go & the baying pack is soon hunting us down. All that seems to be missing is the hunt master, tally ho-ing the hounds to devour their prey.

They are soon flying past most of us a few minutes later. Someone in our group mutters ..."they'll be 40 one day".

The first 4 to 5 miles are actually quite a breeze despite the bovine residue & sapping rain. Mostly flat or descents though can only mean that we are about to hit the climbs. Without boring you with too much local knowledge, the 3 miles or so after Heasley Mill are tortuous climbs across fields & mud trail tracks that are only surpassed for me by the first half of Mayhill.

A steep knee jangling descent then gives way to the knowledge that once through Newtown bridge on the Woolacombe/Ilfracombe road we are about to hit the "Cleeve". The Cleeve strikes fear into the heart of every Exmoor participant. Probably only ¾ - 1 mile in total , it is a 1 in 4 road & then field climb punctuated only by the relief of the odd stile to be climbed to just ensure that your calves you have skilfully nursed thus far, do actually get pulled.

Another couple of miles including a descent through a wood, best tackled sliding on your ar*e, a river crossing due to the bridge being deemed unsafe thanks to Health & Safety, and we are home again.

A disappointing 2.04 for me this year; 14 minutes behind last year. I can only put this down to a generous glass of chardonnay at my brother's house the night before.

We stumble back to the "Jonathan Edwards Sports Centre", named after World Triple Jump champion & gold medal Olympian; another old boy & compatriot of mine. Despite its gleaming new looks, we once again (as last year) are treated to cold showers as we struggle to scrape off several layers of bovine residue . I have caught up with Jonathan whilst he is on BBC duty at the last few Great North Runs & I make a mental note to warn him of the post Exmoor facilities at WBS that are letting down his good name, or rather his good name that is plastered in 3 foot high letters above the door.

Ironically, in their day at school, whilst both were outstanding athletes in their chosen fields, both Jonathan & Victor were typically to be found skulking at the back in the Exmoor in a leisurely stroll, keeping the smokers company and clearly saving themselves for later sporting endeavours.

A hot soup, a bowl of chilli & fond farewells to the mad fools again until next year; it is time to head home.

A massage and 67 hours of recovery later, it was the Forest of Dean half. I struggled through to my slowest half time for about 3 years. The Exmoor had clearly taken its toll. But for its sense of nostalgia, I'll be back again next year.

And should Ed Collier be reading this, for his strange hate-love-hate relationship with anything cross country, the Exmoor 2011 has his name written all over it; we could share the petrol !