Ant’s words!

“Not that good with words but for me, Big Bear is about a-non pressured environment where everyone has a common interest. The first run I did at Salcey (one of your first) I was just working out how far I could run, and with the help of a fellow runner ran 17 miles. Then I always tell people of my two accidental marathons. The first at brixworth where again, 2 runners kept me going. The second at Pitsford when Richard Q stopped marshalling for 2 laps (5 and 8) and was my personal pacer… you get that at your events. Not sure if it’s the niche crowd, or lack of pressure but you can show up with a blank canvas and just do your best.”

That’s it! He might claim to not be great with words but Ant has definitely got the whole point of Big Bear. It’s not about performative “forced fun” but people coming together to support each other. We’ve been so lucky to have great people turn up who just want to support. The aforementioned Richard Q is an incredibly good ultra runner (with a few of our course records!) - he could have a big ego but instead he’s helping other people hit their goals. that sort of attitude rubs off on those around you, especially when you actually see people around you due to the lap format! If it was a point-to-point event you’d never see those stories, on a lapped event you do!

Thanks Ant!

This is part of our series of posts we’re doing around the real lives and stories of some of our runners. Without being too unsubtle - the idea is to show you that they aren’t all super hero ultra runners who have been doing high level athletics since they were 4 and they aren’t all retirees who have nothing else going on in there lives either! Of course I’m sure we have some of those in our start fields but the majority of our runners are “normal” people with “normal” struggles deciding to do something a bit different and enjoying it. I hope I’ve given these people a venue to enjoy themselves for a few hours every few weeks surrounded by good people. But enough of my waffle… .