[music] Heather: Man versus horse, or should we reword
it as Mark versus myself. It's a race but this time, Mark has got his work cut out as
he's going to be on foot and I'm seeking the assistance of a horse.
[music] Mark: I'm on my way over to meet my competition
for the day. We'll see what's Heather's planned for me. I actually don't know that much about
today's challenge over there. It's on Dartmoor which is a notoriously open and challenging
terrain. I know what you're thinking, how on earth can I beat a horse? A horse with
four legs and obviously a heck lot bigger than me, and a lot more powerful.
Well, if there's any steep uphills and downhills that are quite technical, there's boggy sections,
that's the stuff that's really going to slow the horse down and could play into my favor.
Obviously, if it starts opening up and allowing Heather and the horse to get up to speed,
they're going to get up to speed in excess of 40 kilometers an hour, I am toast. Also,
Heather does have the advantage of knowing the local area. Fingers crossed.
[music] Heather: Whilst I'm waiting for Mark to arrive,
I should probably give you guys a bit of a background into where we got this idea. The
inspiration came from a race that's already well established, actually 40 years old, Man
v Horse, which is based in Wales. It's over a 22-mile course. The majority of the years
it has been won by horses, but there's been an added incentive for the runner because
every year a horse rider wins, then the prize money actually goes up again until a runner
wins. It was 25 years of horses winning until 2004
when it became quite a substantial prize purse. That does prove that runners can beat the
horses, but it doesn't mean it's going to be any easier for Mark, or myself, or Franklee.
I think it's probably time to go and meet Mark now.
[music] Heather: Hello.
Mark: Hello. What have you guys in store for me today then?
Heather: Well, the proof is in this. We need to go and study the course, I think.
Mark: Okay, let's do it. [music]
Heather: Got the map. It's time to look at the course. Today it is around 8 kilometers
and around 250 meters of climbing. I say roughly because you don't have set paths on Dartmoor
very much so navigation is going to be involved. I'm going to give you a little bit of a heads
up here. We're here currently, we're going to be starting in these fields. Then it's
three tors that we've got to circumnavigate. The first one being Great Staple Tor, and
then from there to Cox Tor, and then from here, you've got to come down to just off
the map, Heckwood Tor. They're all obviously, on the top of quite
a steep hill, but you've got to keep them on your left-hand side. You can go whatever
line you want. Once you're on the final tor, you'rebasically following the boundary wall
back. The start will be as soon as we go out to
the field through the gateway, finish as you come into this field through the gateway there.
Mark: Well, that sounds relatively simple. Is there anything I need to know before this?
Heather: On paper, it does look like it's in your favor, because a tor, by definition
is, I think a rocky outcrop on top of a hill, which isn't really designed for horses to
get close to. You can definitely take a more racing line.
Mark: I can go pretty much point to point, whereas, you got to go in some cases round
the back to take him on. Heather: Yes. Especially, this one because
it's really rocky mountain here. I've got local knowledge but I have to do much further.
Although, that said you probably end up doing more climbing if you go to the tops of the
tors. It's kind of a balance there of whether you want to cut it off make it shorter but
steeper. [music]
Narrator: The course is set, it's time to look at the stats of our competitors.
[background noise] He's got four mid-presenter versus challenges
even when he seemingly been at a disadvantage. Mark has raced on foot against the bicycle
on three occasions, and it's 2-1 to him. He lost his first battle against GCN Si Richardson,
but then went on to beat GMBN Neil Donoghue in a runner versus MTB challenge, and he beat
Heather up a mountain in Lanzarotti when she was on a TT bike.
The last presenter competition when Heather and Mark went head to head through a bit of
a curveball. Mark was again running, but Heather was swimming, and guess what? Mark lost. I'd
imagine he's going to take that defeat as motivation for his next competition, but what
exactly is he up against? Losing to Mark up a mountain encouraged her
to think outside the box. When tactics are involved, Heather should not be overlooked.
Let's remind you of the aero challenge. Money was on Mark but Heather pulled it out of the
bag. In the swim versus running challenge, she just clinched the win. It's fair to say
they're both competitive, but this one won't be quite as straightforward as there's a third-party
involved. It's probably time to introduce, Franklee.
[background noise] Standing at 15 hands and two inches, Franklee
is a retired racehorse. Back in his heyday, he raised on the flat and over the jumps.
Although he had several placings, he was only victorious on the one occasion. Now at the
age of 17, that's 53 in human years, he's spending his retirement on Dartmoor with Heather's
parents. He gets ridden on the moor every few days, a far cry from his high octane racing
past. Heather will be teaming up with Franklee in
the hope that together they can beat Mark. [music]
Mark: Heading on over to the start. I really got much to say. I'm incredibly nervous about
this one. Have you seen the size of that thing? All I'm hoping for is maybe some really bunky
sections, some super technical stuff, something that is going to help me out today.
Heather: He's breaking off a little bit now. I think Franklee knows that we're up to something
and whether he knows it's race time or not, but he's seen his competition. Mark's been
warming up in the background. We've had a little warm-up, and we're getting ready to
tackle those hills. We've got the longer route and he's definitely not keen to go away from
home and we're back heading towards home. I'm going to have my work cut out just trying
to keep control of him. He's eyeing the competition over there.
Mark: We just move away from the start here. I think this is the most nice I've been for
a long time. [music]
[horse snorts] Heather: Mark, are you ready?
Mark: No. Heather: Three, two, one. Go.
[music] Mark: I'm already left a bit.
Heather: The race has started. I've actually got jelly legs already. We even just had a
strong start, but I'm going back to trot for a moment because I think I've got to pace
this because Franklee isn't that fit at the moment. I know I could see Mark over my shoulder
and he's already taking a shortcut to me. We've got quite a bit further to go. As you
can see Franklee, It's nothing a little bit. Where am I? I feel the pressure. I've got
to pace it for him. [music]
Mark: I can still see Heather. Let's get a little bit further. She's throwing so much
time into me. Nothing goes. [music]
Mark: Here's the first tor. I'm cutting up a little closer than Heather. She's taking
a wider line around, but it's not really gaining me much, if at all.
[music] Heather: On four legs with a big weight like
me on your back isn't actually so easy, so I'm just letting Franklee have a walk to catch
his breath back because then after I spoke to you, we had to get up the hill and we've
opened up a nice gap now ahead of Mark. I can't see him. The hill's behind me. We've
got to negotiate this downhill. I think it gets a bit shallow at the bottom, we can go
back to trot and make up some ground. Then I've got a lot further to go. This big
tor in front of us-- Yes, that's Cox Tor. Mark is going to head straight up it. He's
going from there, up there. Whereas, we have to go around the edge, around the bottom.
It is good going so I can get a nice hopefully a bit of a gallop on as we go around the edge
and Franklin loves that as well. I'm still really nervous though because I know how fast
and competitive Mark is. [music]
Mark: Heading for the next tor over there. I'm going to sit down here now. I think just
gave them too much. This is where it is. Heather, he's gone quite a wide run this way. The fact
that I can see her over a distance over there, yes, that's quite a wide line but--
[music] Beautiful.
[music] Well, 1I've never been here before. I think
I'm on track at the moment, hopefully, I'll carry on like this. I have no idea which plan
I'm meant to use. Heather: I'm worried when I get around the
corner I'm going to see Mark ahead of me and he gets another shortcut around the last tour.
We've done Staple tour, this is Cox tour to my left and then we have [unintelligible 00:11:26]
which is the final marker for the galloper or the trot or whatever it's going to be.
Mark: This is the second tour. Yes, it's a quick descent. This is a more direct line.
[music] Look at that, It looks like I've got ahead,
look who's coming. She is flying. [music]
[inaudible 00:12:08] [music]
Argh. She felt some huge coming to me but it's not all over because on the last tour,
I understand Heather's got [unintelligible 00:12:37] back of it. I think I [unintelligible
00:12:42] just one quick [unintelligible 00:12:45] Heather: Is equatour. I've just had Mark attacking
me again when I put the GoPro away and I looked over my shoulder, he's still there but he's
still going to go around these rocks, I think. The highest part of the tour, this is Equator.
I'm on this track. He does get still to cut one more corner from me but we are a bit a
little bit out of breath, Franklin included even though we are heading home. It's going
to be really close but I think if it comes down to a sprint, I've got the money on Franklin
but I just know how competitive Mark is. Mark: Going wild here. I've been on the path
for the last few minutes here [inaudible 00:13:24] there is a direct line but it's hard. There's
holes everywhere. A bit of surface that I thought would be hard but aren't hard. I don't
know where Heather is. [music]
I think this is the right tor. [music]
There she goes again. Heather: Mark, [unintelligible 00:14:01]
Mark: It's not over until it's over. Heather: [unintelligible 00:14:11] I've just
overtaken Mark and it's a bit of a victory lap to the finish now. Franklee is loving
it. Runaway home and yes, Franklee has won. I'd love to say I have but I have purely been
a passenger on this awesome little horse. You would not know that he's 17. He's loving
it. The little champ. Well, hats off to Mark as well. I feel a little bit guilty like I
said right now. Oh gosh, rock. The finish is just here. Man versus Horse. One-nill to
the horse, today. [music]
Mark: Here they are, I think I lost that fair and square.
Heather: [unintelligible 00:15:27] Mark: That's a lovely route though. I think
you are going to give me a few minutes. [music]
That was so tough. It just felt like into [unintelligible 00:15:44] went uphill the
whole way. She got ahead on the first tour and then I didn't realize I got ahead on the
second, she caught me as we then went along with the long straight towards the next tours
and I just couldn't get her back after that. In a couple of sections, I was able to cut
corners, go over streams and I'd claw back a bit of time but she was gone.
Heather: I feel slightly guilty because I'm on a racehorse here and Mark is on his feet,
and just a massive hats off to Mark because he was in front of me probably at the half-way
when we came around Cox tour. I was panicking, I was looking everywhere and I saw he'd already
crossed the road. Thankfully, the bit after that, this one had locked onto home. All I
had to do is sit there we galloped passed him, which is quite a nice feeling, but I
knew I needed to put quite a lot of distance in because we had to do it further around
this other tour and it's been tricky and it was a downhill bit.
I lost Mark again then. He cut the corner off and caught me up but it was just an 800
meters sprint towards home and I was getting confident by that phase because this one sprinting
is his element. [chuckles] Towards home, we were definitely, luck was on our side in that
sense. I would say, congratulations to Franklee on the win and well done to
Mark for an extremely impressive effort, and I'm just a passenger.
[music] [00:17:06] [END OF AUDIO]