The Jurassic Coast Challenge 2007

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Ben Mason (votwo) / 17.04.2007

Just like Body Shop products this event was not tested on animals: we used people.

Last year (06) we took just under 20 of the finest specimens and asked them to make sure the event was fit for human participation. There were casualties on this first event; lateral ankle ligaments, IT bands and Achilles tendons were all sacrificed to the great Jurassic Gods but crucially a few hardy individuals made it to the end. This meant it was all go for 07.

Used as a training event for other ‘Ultras’, as a preparation for marathons, Ironman races, an excuse to get out of the house for a few hours or simply as a challenge in its own right, running 2 5miles a day for 3 days over some of the toughest terrain in the UK obviously seemed like a great idea as the entries started to roll in. But all of a sudden as word of the event spread further the emails and phone calls started:

‘Can I not just do it in one go?’ Was the question.
‘What, do the whole thing in a oner?’ Was the bemused response from Ben.

‘Yes, er no, er not sure, I guess you could. Let me get back to you.’ He followed up with and called colleague Andy Blow:

Ben: ‘Andy, some guys want to do the whole thing in a oner.’
Andy: ‘Right …why?’
Ben: ‘Not entirely sure but I suspect that poor buggers can’t afford overnight accommodation.’
Andy: ‘Oh no, poor guys. It would be so discriminating to have them dip out just because they are economically challenged.’

Pause for deep thought.
‘I know, knock a few quid off and let them do it. Its good to do a bit of work for charity mate.’
Ben: ‘OK mate, let’s do it. I’ll get a really warm glowing feeling inside by doing that.’

So ‘The Oner’ was born alongside the JCC 3 day event. Starting at 6:30pm on the Saturday evening to give them a full 24hrs to complete the course it was predicted that they would finish at a similar time to the 3 dayers at Studland beach.

Day 1

Arriving at the race HQ for days 1 and 2 – the fantastic Lugger Inn at Chickerell – the events team started registering the victims, sorry, athletes about to embark on day one. The air was thick with the odour of Deep Heat as group 1 (the walkers) were briefed on the rules and regs for that day and sent on in mini buses with Chris Chamberlin from Votwo as a route guide. Setting off on the first hilly stretch from Lyme Regis to the Golden Cap area they settled into their varied paces and got stuck in. See All Event Posts