OMM - Original Mountain Marathon, 26/27 Oct 2013

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scottishrobin
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Location: Bramley

OMM - Original Mountain Marathon, 26/27 Oct 2013

Post by scottishrobin »

Just back from the Brecon Beacons, competing in my fourth Original Mountain Marathon (OMM). http://www.theomm.com/events/omm2013/

For those that don't know the OMM is a two day, self supporting navigational challenge in a different area of the UK each year in teams of two. There's two types of category - line and score: the 4 line classes follow a fixed point to point route over various distances from 20-40km each day, and 3 score classes have a fixed time between 9 and 13 hours over the two days to collect as many points from the range of checkpoints as you can, more akin to orienteering.

We always pick the score classes as I enjoy the navigational and strategy challenges of route making and finding, and don't relish the idea of just following the team in front and trying to avoid being overtaken. The last couple of years we've moved from short score (5+4 hours) to medium score (6+5 hours).

I'm no mountain goat / fell runner so this is always a slow and steady event in which we occasionally break into a run by mistake! In fact this year I was seriously worried about my lack of fitness and recent hilly trips to strengthen my lungs and legs, and had spent the 4 weeks prior to the event trying to lower my partner Rob's expectations about how far and fast we might travel.

In the Brecons this year- or more accurately the Black Mountains - the main features were rain, river crossings and fierce winds, with less climbing than in some previous events (the Howgills last year being a particularly vertical course).

Day 1 was cracking - weather changeable with some great terrain. A great course with tricky and rewarding navigation and a real variety of terrain, ticking off features like some lower hills, somewhere in the middle of a limestone pavement, anonymous re-entrants and '5th stream from the left' at 350m.

We picked up 160 points, lying in 144th place, but lost 12 points for being 6 minutes past our 6 hour deadline. I think we travelled about 21km. All in all not too shabby for us.

Overnight camp was a lovely sheltered farmer's field in a low valley - just as well as the wind really kicked in overnight with torrential downpours at various points. I was reminded of a previous year's reporter who wrote "it wasn't so much the volume of water in the tent, as the speed it was flowing through that was the problem." Fortunately we had no issues having arrived early enough in camp to find a great spot. Rehydrated chicken curry, fruit and custard and a single malt later and we were ready for the long night with the extra hour thrown in as a bonus.

Day 2 was a different matter. All courses had been shortened to avoid the onslaught of Hurricane Namby which is as I write bringing destruction to patio furniture all over the UK. Fierce winds, blinding rain and extremely swollen rivers increased the odds, and a poor route choice saw as walking along one of the Brecon's sandstone ridges on Fan Brycheiniog with I think 50+ mph westerly winds and stronger gusts sucking heat and energy out of us, and more importantly threatening to deposit us 500m lower down in Llyn y Fan Fawr.

A quick exit was called for, dropping down into the lea of the hill as early as possible, but this amended route limited our access to points. We were, however, just happy to be safely lower down. Our new course gave us some good wind-assisted running downhill, and a real enjoyment of the day after a horrific start. We headed in a now fairly straight line back towards the finish point picking up only 65 points on day two, but this dropped us down to only 153rd overall, so we reckon others had similar problems in the worsening weather. 16km travelled in the 4 hours allowed.

For the last hour of the course I was dreaming of the hot soup and meal that awaits at the event centre when you finish, and was slightly disappointed / hacked off at the time it took to get to the front of the queue for an OKish veg curry in a cup.

The last ritual was the the expected tow from the farmer's tractor out of the quagmire that had once been a car park, before a long drive home with weary limbs was swiftly followed by a bath, take away and more malt to finish a brilliant weekend despite the challenging conditions.

I love the OMM, and am now already looking forward to next year's event.

Next year a little fitter...
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Kat
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Location: Otley

Re: OMM - Original Mountain Marathon, 26/27 Oct 2013

Post by Kat »

Well done Robin! I did the score course in the Howgills last year too - was thinking about the competitors this weekend!!
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