Grim Challenge 2007

Last Saturday i partook in what has become Guildhall tradition, a tradition which I was involved in the starting of four years ago...........

Every winter, a group of rather brave (or nuts?) souls, travel south to Aldershot to run eight miles through mud, water, obstacles and the pain barrier. This year four people survived the GRIM CHALLENGE!!!!


This years GRIM was a bit of a fiasco though, as the rental car acquired for the day refused to start wit a flat battery. This meant that two of the seven runners had to miss out as the rest of us squeezed into a Fiesta. The fifth member was forced not to run with a duff knee and stayed to take photos on the sidelines.

The next fiasco was that, after half an hour trying to start the rental car, we were running rather late. We arrived just on time to hear the announcer on the tannoy shout 3,2,1 GO and watch the 3000 runners setting off. The clock was at 5:00 by the time we got our gear on, pinned on our numbers and crossed the starting line. It took about 5 minutes proper running to catch the main group and the rest of the race, sometimes waist high in freezing water, was spent overtaking. Finishing time was 1:39:14 and my place was about 1100th, although did not get an official placing because my chip fell off in the rush to the start line. The others finished at different times one 310th (having disappeared into the distance about 10 minutes in) and the other two in the 1300s

At the end, four rather stiff but very pleased runners received T-Shirts an piled into the car for a pub lunch, a lazy afternoon and, definitely in my case anyway, an early night.

Photos can be found on my facebook or one official one here