Rab Coniston Mountain Marathon, 29-30th September 2007

Report by Viv Slack

As soon as i had agreed to do this event with a friend from work, I was sure there would be at least one member of Man Tri up for joining us. Rob Harper was first to put his hand up, Becks Ward needed very little persuading (we had an elaborate plan but she said yes before she even got through her first drink) and Sarah Lees and Anne McDonald followed soon after. We got together for a meal kindly provided by Becks to sort out kit and get some tips. A couple of days before the event, David Lewis decided to sign up too (some cunning recruiting by Sarah i think) so after a little swapping around there were 3 teams of Manchester city dwellers heading for the hills.

The weather was going to make a big difference to this event and we awoke on saturday to a mild, dry morning with just light cloud cover on this peaks. For most of us a jog around the house with an empty rucksack wasnt much preparation for running with a tent, sleeping bag, food etc but everyone was keen to get started. There was a bit of a walk to the start at which point the clock starts and you get the secret map. This event was based on a set time limit in which you try and collect as many points as possible by visiting controls marked on a map normally with a big hill or valley or something equally nasty in the way. This was 6 hours on Saturday and 5 hours on Sunday for us normal people, an hour longer for the elites.

Far from the manic start of most events, you have to stop and think about your route before you set off so there was a strangely relaxed attitude to this 'race'. Rob, Becks and Anne had set off first with Sarah and David choosing to head off in a different direction. Dave and I got our maps next and decided on a route fairly quickly. Starting at Coniston there was always going to be an initial uphill effort so the running of this 'marathon' soon became a brisk walk, plenty of time for adjusting rucksacks and admiring the view. We managed a bit of a jog around the lake and were relieved to get the first control. These are little flags marking a control box that are normally near a feature like a hilltop/crag/gate/tree. The more obvious controls tended to have at least one other team heading towards them so the compass bearings were a little less important when you can hear people shouting 'there it is' and crouching down in turn at the same spot.

As we got further from the start this all changed as people choose to go for different controls. It became apparent that navigation and picking the right routes was at least as important as fitness. Often you could overtake someone going fairly slowly only to see them at the control before you. All good fun.

Arriving at the overnight camp with about 20 minutes to spare, we were pretty pleased with our day and it was good to see everyone else had arrived too. Following Daves top tips we got changed into dry clothes and put plastic bags on our feet to keep dry socks away from wet shoes. After some lovely rehydrated food (to be fair, this was actually suprisingly edible) we heard the best news so far - there was a pub in walking distance. There was some debate (well about 30 seconds worth) over whether this would be cheating but the decision was unanimous. Soon the camp was deserted and this tiny country pub was swamped with runners so we didnt need to worry. I hear this and the proper toilets are a rare treat for these events so we picked a good one.

We also spotted long time MTC member Pip Fitzpatrick at the overnight camp (OK in the pub). She has been concentrating on running this year and it shows. Running with the Manchester YMCA Harriers they were the 2nd placed mixed team after day 1. Not realising they were doing so well, they had downed 5 pints each by the time we saw them. Although they didnt collect so many points the next day, they went for one of the furthest controls and make it back only a few minutes late. Impressive.

After an OK nights sleep (which Becks survived on a bed made of balloons), we made tea, porridge and more tea and packed up to go again. Sarah had a glint in her eye and didnt disapoint as they had a fantastic days racing racking up more points than any of the other mixed teams. Dave and I caught up with the other three part way through the day and tried to keep up with Becks storming pace. We then headed off in a different direction through some really varied terrain, wading through bracken, a jog along a ridge with great views, a steep scary descent done partly on our backsides and then a run along a nice path for the last couple of controls. We decided against trying for one last '5 pointer' only to find Sarah and David had beaten us overall by ... yep, 5 points. Doh!

All back safely there was lots of free food supplied by Wilfs, some last shopping 'for next time' and it was hometime. A fantastic weekend and a great event. Despite hobbling around and comparing aches and pains on monday morning, we are already thinking about the next one.

Results - Mixed teams (avg age under 40)

Pos	Team	Day 1	Day 2	Total
4	Sarah Lees, David Lewis	110	175	285
6	Dave Wyatt, Viv Slack	160	120	280
11	Rob Harper, Becks Ward, Anne McDonald	95	110	205

More photos in our Flickr group

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