I really love mountain marathons. It is great being
self-sufficient for two long days running and navigating in the mountains. I
have done over 60 in the last 34 years and it is great to still be up there
competing near the front of the Elite course, but over the last few years I
have found them really hard. There were times during this year’s ROC MM when I
thought how nice it would be to have two relaxing days on the fells rather than
pushing my body to the limit.
This year’s ROC MM (http://www.rocmountainmarathon.com/) was in the Northern Fells of the Lake District
and I was doing it by myself (doing it in pairs was also possible). It was very
much home terrain as it included Blencathra – my local and favourite fell.
Setting off from the Uldale side the competitors in the 6 different classes got
their maps at the start line. I immediately looked at the distance of my Elite course;
it was 44km on Day 1 – slightly further than expected so I thought it was going
to be a long day. The first two controls took us right across fast running
ground to the area on the southern side of Blencathra. There are paths up the
ridges to the summit of Blencathra on this side of the fell, but anywhere
in-between is really tough ground – mainly deep heather with loose rocks all on
really steep ground. This is the sort of terrain where I excel but by the time
I had got out of it and appraoching number 4 the effort was taking its toll and
I felt light-headed with a dip in energy coming on. A couple of bars sorted it
out but it was not a good sign with only 3 hours gone. As I approached the end
of the long leg to control 5 I saw my main competitor Tom Gibbs come out from a
different route just ahead of me. We had a quick chat and found out I had
caught him up 14 minutes, although we were moving at a similar speed – I had
taken some better routes. By the time we reached control 7 I started to
struggle badly. Tom was off and moving well, I was moving very slowly. How much
time would I lose to him before the finish 12km away? My bonk got worse I was
wobbling around struggling to make any progress. I tried eating but my stomach
was really dodgy so I had to stop as I knew I would be sick. There was the
last climb of the day up to control 9
and I risked some more food but my stomach had had enough and I spent a couple
of minutes knelling down throwing up everything (a real waste of all the energy
that I needed the rest of that day and the next day). Things got worse as I
fell over and broke my glasses (I normally wear contact lenses but I can see
both the map and land better with my varifocal glasses). I lost a couple of
minutes finding the next control as everything was blurry and then struggled to
run downhill quickly. Eventually I reached the finish and Tom had finished 21
minutes earlier – I was seven minutes down on Day 1 having run for just over 7
hours. As I said to people I chatted to it was a good 5 hours followed by 2 hours
where everything went wrong. I got all my spare clothes on, collected water and
put up my tent. But I was very cold. 7 hours of running and then being sick had
completely reduced my energy stores. After noodles and couscous I felt OK but I
was not expecting to feel good on day 2.
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| Day 1 Map |
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| Day 1 route from the trackers every competitor carried. Route = 47km with 2400m of climb |
The second day started with some positives. I was not
feeling sick, I had slept a bit and was reasonable warm and dry all night, I did
not have any injuries and I had even managed to get my contact lenses in. I was
not expecting to catch up the 7 minutes on Tom but I would give it my best
shot. I took some stupid routes to controls 1 and 2. I did not follow my normal
plan of going straight if I cannot choose between two routes. Knowing a clever
route around Sharp Edge helped on control3 which took us to some more really
rough terrain on the southern side of Skiddaw. I was working hard but not
moving very fast. It was all a struggle and it was no surprise when I saw Tom
catching me up on the way to control 6 – having started 20 minutes after me he
was extending his lead and there was nothing I could do about it. He eventually
finished just in front of me. It had been another hard 6 hour day.
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| Day 2 Map |
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| Day 2 route. 38km with 2200m of climb |
Winning this event meant Tom had also beaten me to win the
British Mountain Marathon Championship. So congratulations to Tom for a well-deserved
win. Even with home advantage over the weekend he was better than me. In the
end I was happy to come second. Congratulations also to everyone else that got
round the elite course - it was a tough one to finish before the courses
closed.
The weekend was really well organised by Shane and his team
of cheerful helpers. I thought the courses planned by Graham were great. There was
a real mixture of terrain from the rough, tough terrain on the southern slopes
of Blencathra and Skiddaw to the faster running further north. There were
tricky route choices on just about every leg and I made at least three stupid
selections.
I am annoyed I had such a bad bonk and was sick on day 1. I
need to work out why these happened. However, overall I am happy because
although I was tired afterwards (and felt sick) I had none of the really bad
fatigue that has plagued me for 4 years. I slept well afterwards and my heart
has been beating normally. As for the future I am going to have to think about
if I want to continue to push it hard on the Elite course or maybe go for an
easier option.
