Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon, 3rd / 4th July 2010
Andy (my sister's husband) and I competed in Wansfell class of Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon in the English Lake District on 3rd / 4th July 2010. Finished where we hoped, just above half way overall in field, which included all male pairs and female pairs. We missed being counted as veterans by me being 6 months too young. Lovely sunny day 1, very wet and windy day 2, with impaired visability due to low cloud and driving rain. Very enjoyable. More details and photos to follow later.
Further details & photos, as promised:
Day 1 had lovely conditions - sunny, some cloud, not too hot, cool breeze. Shorts, T shirt and gaiter socks were ideal. Scenic Mid Camp in Longsleddale with good camp conditions, streams in which to wash & collect water. We arrived in time to buy milk, beer and diet coke, unlike some later finishers on longer courses. Rain and high winds was forecasted to arrive during Saturday night / early Sunday morning, but actually held off until striking camp on Sunday morning. My brother in law copes with noise from wind or voices and rain by leaving his hearing aid behind and sleeping on his deaf side; I use ear plugs at communal and / or exposed campsites and know which side to speak to him. Day 2 was a bit slower, due to high winds - feet didn't always land where we intended, resulting in a couple of bum landings. Visability was reduced, but didn't really affect us due to good navigation. Full water proofs, even gloves for some - might have been better if I had worn gloves, as got a couple of knuckle grazes from stumbling onto rocks. Reached finish to find just a photographer pointing his long lens out of car window to snap finishers; organisers were struggling to keep the marque on the gorund. Definitely a race when it was more fun to compete than marshal (as I'd done last year) By the time we reached Birmingham where my sister and brother in law live, we'd returned to sunshine. So, you'll understand why I only took photos on day 1.
More reports and photos at www.slmm.org.uk
Greetings:
The runners look like they are carrying packs. Was this a fastpack race? How cool. What are the details... race length, logistics, etc....
Not sure about the expression "fastpack" race. This was a UK mountain marathon, of the same type as Karrimor International Mountain Marathon (KIMM) (now called OMM - Original Mountain Marathon). Two day race, two person teams (plus elite solos), many classes, just linear courses at SLMM, but 4 linear & 3 score classes at OMM. We did Wansfell Class, the shortest of the 6 pairs running classes (a walking class follows the same course as Wansfell, plus there is an elite longest running class). SLMM Wansfell 2010 day 1 15.2km (shortest route) / 480m climb; day 2 13.5km / 540m climb. SLMM Solo Klets 2010 day 1 29.6km / 1410m; day 2 23.6km / 945m.
Runners / walkers carry all kit for overnight camp, in a farmer's field, not a formal campsite, although SLMM is unusual in selling beer, soft drinks and milk at overnight campsite. Water from stream, also used fro washing in.
SLMM is a summer event, while OMM is held at end October, the weekend that clocks change from BST (British Summer Time) to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), to make the most of daylight. There are several other mountain marathons throughout UK and Europe, but I've only been involved in SLMM and OMM. My partner was 2nd male solo in Dartmoor Mountain Marathon a couple of weekends ago.
Awesome. I will look up the event on-line. 'Could be a future European get-away trek. Thanks for the info!
Happy Trails,
De La Sierra
Other UK mountain marathons include LAMM (Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon), always in Scotland, alternating yearly between southern (even years) and northern Highlands (southern can include islands such as Skye & Mull) see www.lamm.co.uk
All MMs in UK are keen to attract international competitors - eg while some OMM classes are oversubscribed, if there is at least 1 non-UK competitor in a team, entries (provided they arrive before closing date) will guarantee a place. However, overseas competitors should be sure they understand British maps (generally very good, but obviously symbols vary - I had to brief a couple of Texan women at Open 24 in North Wales a couple of weeks ago about the differences between rights of way [footpaths for walking / running only; bridleways for walking / running / cycling / horse riding; may not actually be visible on the ground] and tracks [which do exist on the ground] and British weather - it may not get very cold, but it's often wet and windy with low cloud oscuring visability, and very changeable. The differences between days 1 & 2 of SLMM 2010 is a typical example of British mountain conditions.
There are other MMs in mainland Europe eg BAMM in Arctic Norway and others in Alps / Dolomites (France / Switzerland / Italy), but I don't have personal experience. A good searchable international calendar of MMs and adventure racing is at www.camracers.org.uk/camracers/events/
I think it was this blog entry that led to a surreal experience yesterday, when a young man, some 20 years younger than me, found me in a disused guard room of a former nuclear bunker area (empty gun racks still in place) being used for registering an RAF orienteering race to which local civilian clubs had been invited. After checking my name, he whipped a packet of jelly babies from his pocket to prove his diabetes credentials and I did the same. Then he pulled up his top to reveal his pump cannula. Really fun race, with unusual terrain - not many hills in East Anglia, so 4 hill top controls in a course is a novelty, even if there were all earthworks used as missile bunkers or bunds in a past life. Yes, he beat me, but I'd expect it, given our difference in ages and sex. Looking forward to future meetings at East Anglian orienteering races or mountain marathons further afield.
Great story Jean - you must be famous! Where was the event? I used to live near a few of the old bases in East Anglia.
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Andy Reynolds
MAD Website Admin
RAF Honington. As I served 4 years in a Territorial Army medical unit in 1990s, I tool great pleasure in beating several RAF bods, admittedly most of them because of missed points, but they were males 20 years younger than me. Although I hadn't discovered orienteering then, had always been a good map reader, despite this period as a female nursing officer, all features which cause mirth when faced with a map and compass. In fact, I had to do the night navigation exercise on my junior officers course 3 times, as none of the other 5 women nurses or 2 male doctors or 1 male dentist could read a map well enough.