The Terminator
GRAHAM Watts and Dave King survived the race that is The Terminator.
The popular multi-terrain event is organised by Pewsey Running Club in Wiltshire, and consists of a gruelling, stamina-sapping, lung-busting 11.6-mile race through some of the boggiest and hilliest countryside around.
A field of 740 runners took part in the race which started and finished at the village school. Heavy rain the night before had reduced many of the tracks to nothing more than a quagmire.
Even the most advanced multi-terrain shoe could not prevent the occasional triple salchow or double lutz as you picked your way through the glutonous mud.
After leaving the local school, the route follows the muddy towpath which lines the Kennet & Avon Canal. It took considerable effort to keep your footing to avoid an embarrassing slip into the cold waters of the Kennet & Avon canal.
Runners then set off on a gentle run across farmland and then a testing hill which took in the muddy Gully.
Onwards and downwards to The Coomb, Dodge Sh**ty, Terminator Hill and The Sting in the Tail, which was a murderous climb up a searing hill which lay beside the familiar Vale of the White Horse.
A run in towards the village of Pewsey followed, but not before the infamous Shoe Wash which consisted of jumping into the waist-high freezing waters of the River Avon, three steps and out.
Graham, Stubbington's west country correspondent, took it steady through the course to finish in 640th place with a time of 2hrs 28min 56sec. Dave ran with a group from Southampton Running Club and got round in 266th place in 1:52.42.
The winner was Clevedon AC's Vito Graffagnino in a time of 1:18.47, while Lynda Faulkner from the Dorset Doddlers was the first woman home in 1:33.47 and 66th overall.
Next up for Dave in his Round Britain running challenge is a night out with the Vectis Lunatics Hash House Harriers this Thursday for their Full Moon Run in Ryde, and then this weekend he heads for Ireland to compete in the Ballycotton 10 near Cork.