THREE runners from Bere Alston Trekkers, Hugh Myott, Dotty Allan and Julian Setterington, chose paid to run the '12 Across 2 Down' walk organised by Darmoor Rescue Group last Sunday.
The route follows part of an ancient track used by monks to cross the moor between the two Abbeys of Buckfast (founded 1018) and Tavistock founded 970). The ancient track, which crosses the moor, is called The Maltern Way.
The route is also the only East-West trans-moor route that has been way marked by crosses, and it traverses the narrowest part, as the crow flies, of open moor on Dartmoor. The highest crosses on the route are Ter Hill crosses 1,550 ft (470 m), which are almost half way. The route that is to be followed for this walk is ten miles as the crow flies and takes in 14 crosses.
The Bere team (The Grizzly Bears) were running for 2 hours 26 mins — pretty good for a soggy, boggy and foggy run not far short of a half-marathon. Dotty Allan was the overall winner with the team finishing first overall in a time of 2hrs 54mins and allowing for the stops at marshals, checkpoints, photos, navigation checks and leat crossings the team were delighted.