Dartmoor Discovery Ultra

Princetown, Devon

Saturday, 4th June 2011
by Dave Ross

 Mel & I took to the hills of Dartmoor to do the legendary DD 32miler.What a beast of a race it was too but the beauty of the course was in most places breathtaking, but then so were the hills which seemed never ending, especially for me with all the Comrades miles in my legs.
 
There were lots of memorable moments in the race for me, including nearly being stampeded by two wild horses that appeared on a bend of a pretty deserted country road in the middle of the moors, I ran around a bend and low and behold nearly collided with two wild horses, as though this wasn't enough to put the fear of God into me, on another section of the course a farmer went screaming down the road in his John Deere tractor, and those roads aren't exactly that wide so I nearly ended up in the bushes whilst getting out of his way ! This I might hasten to say all adds to the entertainment value of this great race.

 
In all seriousness, it was very well organised by Roger Hayes, I would go as far as to say it was probably the most well organised race I have run in. The atmosphere was electric at the start, the race kicked off by having a rocket fired into the air (what a novelty) and we were informed that we could only start running when we heard the firework exploding in the air - this was fantastic !!

Pre race organisation was super efficient and post race even better as there was a great little Marquee over the finishing line, we were given lovely medals to accompany the super technical T Shirt (on registration). Then the food was dispensed, this included, tuna sandwiches, cheese, egg, jam or about 6 different varieties of cake (carrot, lemon, chocolate etc etc) what a gastronomic delight and smorgasbord of delectable food it was.
 
In short the race was great, it was a tough Ultra in my view about 8/10 on the richter scale of Ultras for that distance but if you want a challenge (which is why we do what we do) then you'd love this race and I highly recommend it !
 

Final Race Results were :  
100 Club won, 1st Men's team prize.
 
Individual Prizes :
Adam Holland 4th male
Dave Ross 7th male  
 
Vet Category Prizes :
Dave Ross 2nd Vet 40                            
Dave Thompson 2nd Vet 45 

4 04:16:13 HOLLAND, Adam 100 Marathon Club SM
7 04:25:44 ROSS, David 100 Marathon Club MV40
21 04:48:15 THOMPSON, David 100 Marathon Club MV45
67 05:35:47 YOUNG, Stephen Wootton Road Runners MV40
68 05:36:00 DAY, Kevin Goyt Valley Striders MV45
82 05:44:08 BICKLE, Andrew East Cornwall Harriers MV55
116 06:06:21 ROSS, Melanie 100 Marathon Club FV35
120 06:11:25 KING, Bryan Plymouth Musketeers RC MV55
122 06:11:56 D'ROZARIO, Warren Sandwell Valley RC MV50
127 06:20:19 ZAMMIT, Arthur Telford Harriers MV40
141 06:30:00 MCCURDY, Ray 100 Marathon Club MV55
 
All in all it was a wonderful race and a truly memorable weekend.
 
Thanks team 100 Club !


Dartmoor Disc. jpg 143k


Dave Thompson, Dave Ross & Adam Holland take the men's team prize




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Last Updated - 10th June 2011