FROM MOUNTAINS TO MARATHONS

Another runner eases past, making it seem effortless, whilst my trainers slap the tarmac, wasting what little energy I have left.  Crowds pass in a blur, not due to my speed but because tunnel vision takes over, just focussing on the road ahead.  That light spring in the step an hour ago seems a distant memory.  I check my watch, but I’m only slightly nearer the finish than when I checked it 30 seconds ago, and 30 seconds before that.  Here I finally am, doing the Stockholm marathon, experiencing what thousands have experienced before me – the tiredness of the last few miles of a marathon. 

Let’s rewind the clock…  Firstly why a road marathon?  I have no problem with two marathons over two days, each with 2,000m of mountainous ascent, and a pack on my back.  But road running has never been my thing.  I started orienteering aged 11, and have been running through forests, up mountains, and across the fells ever since.  My wife Pippa jokes I have the gait of a moose, ideal for bounding through heather, but somewhat ungainly on the flat.  My road racing experience through the end of 2015 amounted to a 10 mile race in the early 2000s whilst living in London (~60 mins), and the Middlesbrough 10km in 2009 (35:26).  However I’ve always seen the attraction of a road race, challenging yourself against an objective target in relatively controlled conditions, and pushing yourself to be as good as you can in a measurable way.  Also, a road race – and a marathon time in particular – is something non-running friends can comprehend, when they cannot fathom a mountain marathon.

Why Stockholm?  My brother has lived with his family in Sweden for many years and announced last autumn he was going to do the Stockholm marathon.  I’ve had various mountain marathon successes in recent years, and a good Bob Graham Round in June 2015, so I was wondering what next?  It seemed like the time for a marathon had come, and what better motivation than having someone to share training stories and targets with.  I’ve also been to Stockholm several times, it is a beautiful city, and I had plenty of time to prepare.  So the idea was born.

Finishing the Bob Graham Round in 2015.

I did the elite OMM in October 2015 with Shane, and despite fatigue in the latter part of both days (thanks Shane for helping me through!) a few weeks later I was feeling fairly well recovered, and I slowly built up the mileage.  I’ve spent many winters with coughs and colds, so I really focussed on resting well and keeping healthy, and strung together a few months of good training.  Training for long distance events requires miles and hours, no-one can deny sometimes you have to be selfish, and I will confess my best training happened whilst Pippa was away for 5 weeks pursuing her research dreams in Antarctica.  1 mile reps, hills for strength, long runs, and race-pace runs all came and went.

Having done so few previous road races I needed to test myself.  On a spare weekend I entered the salubrious Great North West Half Marathon in Blackpool, a flat course up and down the seafront, what could be better for gauging my pace?  A nice summer day that’s what.  Sadly race day in February came with very strong winds, waves crashing over the sea-wall onto the “out” section of the course, and a headwind on the “back” section.  Still, I managed a respectable time (1:21:41), and one which given the conditions made me think a 2:45 marathon was achievable.

Big waves at the Great North West Half Marathon Blackpool.

But then I got ill in the lead up to Easter, and didn’t race the JK.  I recovered for an excellent climbing holiday in Morocco, apart from badly spraining my ankle walking out from the crag one day.  Cue several weeks of physio and rest, followed by cross-training on the bike and in the pool (including one session of aqua-jogging – never again).  Slowly my thoughts moved back from not making the start line, to at least completing the marathon, to maybe still achieving my goal.

As the day approach I studied and re-studied the race route, familiarised myself with drinks points, feeding stations (one dedicated to salty gherkins?!), landmarks and the two 30m “hills” over a bridge.  I went over pace times my head.  Finally race day came, blue skies, sunny, and 18 degrees with a breeze, not ideal but thankfully cooler than the day before.  Pre-race nerves gave way to excitement on the start line and finally the gun.  13,000 runners eased themselves onto the streets of Stockholm.  Checking my watch in the first few km, pace was good, a bit faster than needed, but it felt ok and surely a few seconds in the bank was no bad thing (…. what was that noise in the back of my head, alarm bells?...).  I was staying hydrated, taking on shot blocs and a banana, halfway came feeling good, and the gherkins were declined.

Feeling fresh early on the course.

Not so happy now.

Then gradually it started to feel like an effort.  Runners I’d been keeping pace with eased away, and after a couple of small efforts to hang on they drifted out of sight.  Through 25km and nearly 30km my times were still reasonable, but the signs were there.  This was no longer fun.  Keep telling myself to focus on running tall, head up, one foot in front of the other.  Slowly the km markers came and went, as my min/km crept up.  Taking on refreshments at any opportunity.  Repeated checks of the watch as if it might make me go faster or the finish line come sooner.  My goal of 2:45 was out the window, and the mental faculty to calculate what finish time I was now on for eluded me.  Finally the last bends came, cheers from family supporters seeing me through, into the historic Stockholm 1912 stadium, a mention on the commentary and I raised a hand to no-one in particular.  Over the finish line in 2:52:08, my immediate thought was relief it was over.  But that was replaced by an amazing happiness – despite the effort and tiredness, I’d come from no experience in this sort of race to still finish in a hugely respectable time, and I was smiling from ear to ear, soaking up the atmosphere in the stadium.

How not to pace a marathon.

Could I have done better?  On the day I’m not sure.  Was my goal realistic?  Looking back I missed several weeks of important training through illness and injury.  Tactically I ran a poor race on the day, getting sucked into running too fast early on, when lots of evidence suggests sticking to a game plan, with a consistent pace or even a negative split, is the way to get a PB.  Would I have even wanted to do my sub-2:45 goal first time?  Experiencing some pain and disappointment often makes a goal much more satisfying when finally achieved.  But hang on…. what does that mean – that I should try another road marathon?  We shall see.  For now I can hear the hills and forests calling, and I’m happy taking some rest, before a couple of orienteering trips over the summer, but then who knows….

A happy finisher.

Duncan Archer

H18 ambassador

Northern Orienteering Championships

On Sunday 17th April the Northern Orienteering Championships were staged by Cleveland Orienteering Klub (CLOK), and Hangar 18 were proud to attend and sponsor the event.  The race took place in Mulgrave Woods, close to the seaside town of Whitby, and attracted over 500 competitors.  Orienteering is often considered a “sport for all”, and this race saw men and women, from 10 to 85 years of age, compete over a variety of course lengths.

The weather had not been kind leading up to the race.  Significant rain in the weeks before led to the loss of the parking field, and competitors had to be bussed in from parking in Whitby.  And the day before there was a complementary orienteering race round the streets of Whitby, which felt the force of wintry showers blast in off the north sea.  However, Sunday dawned sunny, and fair weather remained throughout the day.  The races were based around an “arena” in the forest, with food, clothing and equipment traders (including the Hangar 18 stand seeing good interest from the orienteers!), views of a spectator control point, the run-in, and plenty of space to lounge in the sun after the race.

Mulgrave Woods provided a real orienteering challenge.  The area is bisected by two deep valleys, with a network of tracks, but also wilder forest areas where many control points were located.  There was also a significant element of route choice in the courses, between straighter routes through the varied forest, or longer routes on tracks, and also the option of using two ancient tunnels in the area to reduce the ascent!

Despite attracting a range of abilities, this was the Northern Championships, and the sharp end was hotly contested.  It was also a World Ranking Event for the main men’s and women’s elite classes – one of only half a dozen such events in the UK each year.  The women’s elite was won by Heather Monro in 76 minutes – Heather now lives in Durham, and is an ex-GBR team member who won a bronze medal in the World Champs 2005.  The men’s elite was won by Marcus Pinker, another international runner from Ireland, who completed the men’s elite course in 99 minutes.  Hangar 18 provided prizes for the elite races with an excellent down vestgoing to each of the winners, and H18 socks to the 2^nd and 3^rd places.  Full results, photos, and maps of the courses can be found at http://www.clok.org.uk/events2016/nchamps/index.htm.

Report by Duncan Archer (course planner for the event)

CLIMBING IN MOROCCO

I reach up and my fingers feel around for the next hold.  There it is, a small but super sharp edge.  Foot up, rock over, stand up.  I look down to see the rope stretching lazily down to my last piece of gear, several feet away.  Confident in the positive holds I don’t even think of falling.  I look around and spy a crack, fumble in a cam, and clip the rope in.  All around it is silent, save for my own breathing.  I’m lost in the moment, focussed on the rock, totally immersed in the climbing. 

It is just after Easter, and Pippa and I are in the Anti-Atlas mountains in Morocco, rock climbing.  We came out before in Dec 2014, see my previous blog post.  The start of that trip coincided with some of the worst rain they’d had for several years.  Bridges and roads were washed out, and when it stopped raining it was cold enough to be seeking out all the south-facing crags.  Still it was a fantastic experience, and now we are back in April, it is warmer, and north-facing crags and sun-baked dirt roads have opened up many more possibilities.

Today we’ve gone for one such opportunity.  20 minutes driving up hairpins on “good” roads (albeit where sections were washed out a year ago), then one hour driving down the Samazar Valley on a rocky track, mostly in first gear, trying not to scratch the sides of the rental car on bushes, or the underside on rocks (I failed a bit on both, but we get away without losing any deposit…).  We are on a route called “Firesword” (what a name!).  Most likely we are the only climbers in the whole valley, which contains acres of rock, 100s of recorded routes, and 1000s more awaiting a first ascent.  This is not Stanage on a Saturday morning.  This is adventure trad climbing at its best.

I get to the belay, a roomy ledge, secure myself, call down to Pippa, and soon she has climbed up to join me.  Then she is off to experience the pitch above, whilst I sit back on the ledge, paying out the rope as the sun creeps round the side of the mountain with a pleasant warmth.  The only sounds are a donkey braying on the terraces below, a truck struggling along the dirt track in the distance, and the occasional grunt from Pippa as she wrestles with an off-width crack above. 

Some time later we are at the top, agreeing how excellent the climbing was, as we drink in the panorama of the valley, and point at neighbouring crags we might climb on one day.  Is there time for another route today?  Yes if we are quick, so we make the easy descent off the back of the crag, and race up the four pitches of neighbouring “Sisters of Mercy”, an ominous sounding name, but entirely pleasant climbing on immaculate rock.

Later in the evening we are back at the excellent Tizourgane Kasbah where we are staying.  Superbly located in a restored 13^thcentury fort.  We find the other groups that are also climbing in the area, to swap our stories from the day over dinner (usually a vast tagine of food), and plan new adventures for the next day.  Then repeat the experience every day for a week, tucked away from the distractions of modern life, just enjoying the climbing.

Duncan Archer

H18 Ambassador

Kendal Mountain Festival review 2015 - some great films, some bad films & 14 minutes of Dudley Caving Club.

Kendal Mountain Festival has been the first thing on my calendar for the year for the last 4 years.  I have always enjoyed the mix of films, lectures, beer drinking and catching up with friends. This year I decided to have a blast around the 10km trail race, catch a film and lecture on Saturday, then try and see as many films as possible with the Sunday all day film pass.

The 10km trail race is a fantastic course, starts up the road up the infamous Beast Bank, then across the fields along the Edge, giving amazing views across the Lakeland Fells, then back towards town through the golf course and down some narrow cobbled ginnels back into town to finish along the high street.  All season I have been racing closely with NFR runner David Beach, who has been 4th for the last couple of years at this race I lined up alongside David and Tom Addison (last years winner) who looked nailed on for the win from the start.  As expected I had a lead on NE rival Beach as we started the descent back to town and as expected he started to reel me in on the fast downhill section.  About 200yards before the first narrow cobbled section Beach came past me, using his experience of the course to know that it was very tricky to counter attack on the slippery steep final descent.  I gave it everything, came onto the street 5 seconds after him and couldn’t close him down along the high street to finish in 4th, 5 seconds shy of 3rd place.  Perhaps a lesson there that I shouldn’t have given Beach shit that morning for always being 4th!

After a quick lunch we went to see Tommy Caldwell of Dawn Wall fame give his only UK lecture.  Tommy was self-deprecating, witty, reflective and wonderfully descriptive of the years of work which had gone into his Dawn Wall project.  Reminded me a lot of how Andy Kirkpatrick used to speak, and I can give no higher compliment to a climbing lecture.  Following Tommy we filled the early evening with a special showing of “The Citadel” the latest offering from Alistair Lee.  It was shot in “amazing 4k”, and it looked pretty, but that was really all it had going for it.  The climbers were neither memorable, nor funny, the story had no suspense or surprise and Alistair Lee just looked either bored or embarrassed by what he was presenting. 

We spent Saturday night crammed into the bar discussing what makes a great mountain film.  It’s simple really, I need to be able to empathise with the stars, and it needs a story.  All the great films I have seen at Kendal in previous years have ticked both of those boxes, they hade something which makes me “want to be there”, or “want to do that”.  All great films have some sort of plot, which is either historic or adventurous (will they won’t they make it?).

Almost without exception the films we saw on Sunday lacked either plot or character, almost without exception I wasn’t left thinking “I want to do that”.  It was a very disappointing and frustrating day.

Brief highlights and extensive lowlights are described below.

The Rocky Mountains Traverse - two paragliders attempt to paraglide the length of the rocky mountains, never been done before and a good story but the main stars were dull.

Showdown At Horseshoe Hell - fantastic story of a 24 hour climbing competition staring Alex Honnald, which was brimming over with humour and personality.

UK Caving Video Best Bits 2014 - Unvelieveably poor.  Left me in stitches laughing at the ridiculous decision to include the 14 minutes of utter rubbish from Dudley Caving Club.  Sorry Chaps but this shouldn’t be at Kendal it had nothing going for it.

A Line Across the Sky - highlight of the festival for me, Caldwell and Honnald on the Patagonia skyline traverse which won them the Piolet D’or.  Shot by the climbers themselves on an unbelievable expedition.  Funny, honest, amazing, brilliant.

Defiance - The Eiger Paraclimb, great that some disabled climbers climb the Eiger, but so dull to watch, like watching your mates holiday video of his climb.

First Ascent - “Chopped fingers, fun, friendship” It had a chopped finger near the start, but no fun or friendship came through in this film of an expedition with some boring characters on a mountain I had never heard of.

I Climb Therefore I Am - lots of Indian people saying “I love climbing” 12 minutes of my life I won’t get back.

In the Bubble - story of Andy Earl, the desperately sad story which struck one of climbings brightest stars.  Emotional stuff.

Stonnis - video guidebok of Black Rocks, nice idea, should have been 15 minutes, not 60.

Into The Light - Red Bull film following Chris Sharma climbing out of a big cave in Oman - I couldn’t have cared less if he got out of that hole or not after watching him struggle for 52 minutes.  

Back to the Fjords - the flying frenchies, as they have become known, up to their old tricks, rigging a huge catapult and throwing themselves off a cliff in Norway.  Brilliant, light hearted and one of those “I want to do that” movies that was so rare this year.

Operation Moffat - an absolute gem, wonderful, 90 year old Gwen Moffat, Britain's first female mountain guide looks back on her life.  Heart warming, sole enriching stuff from the very first second to the last. 

The tickets for the film pass had gone up from £21 per day to £30 (Sat) £27 (Sun), and the whole place felt less busy this year.  The venues we chose to watch on Sunday were screen 2, (3/4 full), The school, (perhaps 20 people in a venue for 150), and the leisure centre, (10 people in a venue for 250+).  So you can see that the place was nowhere near sold out, and that is perhaps a shame, but given the almost exclusively dull, uninspiring, corporate sponsored content, perhaps it is for the best.  

I feel that the adventure and mountain films which are the heart of Kendal have dropped in quality this year.  I would imagine that there are just as many people making inspiring films about independent adventure, filming it themselves and sticking it into Kendal Film Festival on the off chance that some more people watch it and get inspired by it, but, there was almost non of this content.  It was almost all corporate sponsored expeditions with dull individuals doing things that I could never dream of.  In short, stuff I didn’t want to watch and couldn’t see why anyone would want to watch.  Sorry to say that at nearly £30 a day I won’t be getting a film pass next year.  Trail race, lectures and beer for the weekend - Brilliant!

Andy Blackett - Brand Ambassador for Hangar 18.

Stories from the OMM 2015

The Original Mountain Marathon 2015, Tweedsmuir Hills

OMMG - that was tough.

Which course are you on? Elite.  Ah, you guys are elite,  No, but we have entered the elite course.  This became a familiar conversation over the course of the weekend of the OMM.  If people don’t know me, I am Andy Blackett, i’m pretty good at short fell races, taking multiple race wins this year and coming 2nd in the NE fell running (NECAA) champs 2015, as I found out over the last weekend in October, running around the Tweedsmuir hills, this does not make me elite.

I fancied entering the OMM, having not run it for a couple of years and on my previous outing coming second in B class and feeling that my navigation had come on significantly since then so I was ready to give it a proper go.  A Durham Fell Runners club mate, Gwynn Stokes also expressed an interest but didn’t want to enter the B class as he “needed to get some training in for The Spine race” and apparently a weekend running the OMM B class wouldn’t cut it.  After a couple of days thought and more than a couple of glasses of wine I agreed to enter the elite course, perfectly aware that it might be too tough for me but excited for the challenge.

Most people I run with will be a little surprised by my lack of confidence that I was going to finish the course, I am pretty good at the shorter races after all, but people who know me well will also know that i’m no good at long races, anything over 4 hours and I am likely to fall apart and once it falls apart there is no putting it back together.

Jim Mann (dragons back winner, 2nd in the Elite OMM 2015) gave Gwynn some advice.  “set your watch to beep after 3 hours, then when Andy says what’s that beeping tell him that it’s 3 hours in and he is going to fall apart soon!”  Well Jim was wrong, he was out by 5 hours.  I held it together for 8 hours before the wheels came off in such spectacular fashion, that the short detour to CP8, 9 and 10 wasn’t even remotely possible. 

The Saturday started well, in heavy rain just after 8am, we set off hard from the start chasing Duncan and Shane (who had started 1 minute earlier) so we didn’t cock up the first bit of route choice.  As soon as we lost sight of them in the trees we cocked up the first bit of route choice, taking a slightly longer line with a rough climb up a gully, rather than a shorter line with an easy contour.  As we dibbed at CP1 Jim & Nic (2nd), Jasmin and Konrad (1st mixed), Adam and Kim (1st) all appeared at the same time - bugger we thought this was going well and Adam and Kim have made up 12 minutes on us and we have only been going for 32!  These 3 stellar teams all took off up the hill, leaving us with a dilemma of who to follow to CP2 - we didn’t need to bother worrying for too long as they were all out of sight within a few minutes.  On the long leg to CP2, I made a small nav error and strayed out of bounds, quickly realising my mistake and retracing my steps back up the hill to avoid any suggestion that we were trying to gain an advantage.  Long climb, quick descent, slip over, twist my knee a bit - all seems fine, good bit of micro nav to nail the checkpoint as 2 other teams were looking lost and following my route.  “yes” i’m doing this, I reckon we can get round this.  

Next few checkpoints came and went, no drama aside from a rather spicy river crossing - which certainly made us think twice.  Then 5-6 was a monster, I reckoned it would take us about 2 hours, but it took us closer to 3, my head started to come off as the thought of starting at 8am and finishing in the dark was pretty tough to deal with.  We made another small nav error from 6-7 ending up at the bottom of a large dam and having to climb the steep grassy banking, it was around here, 8 hours in, that everything started to seize up.  The small innocuous slip I had had on the way to CP2 seemed to have led to a minor groin strain, which meant I couldn’t get a jog on along the track.  My right knee, which was sore after the slip almost totally seized up and made coming down hill agony, I kept getting blown over and howling at the pain.  This all sounds a bit dramatic, and to be fair, I am a bit of a drama queen, but it bloody hurt and we were both getting really cold.

Gwynn suggested we were getting too cold so should stop and pitch the tent, I argued that if friends were watching the results come in live then it was fair to try and get to mid camp if we could to stop them worrying, so I walked on.  As it got dark I made the final nav error - 10 hours is a very long time to concentrate on the map and came round the wrong side of Notman Law, giving us a longer than planned route to midcamp.  I was frustrated with myself, I was sorry that I had let Gwynn down, I was annoyed that I had got the nav slightly wrong when it really mattered and I ripped the map in half in frustration - not an easy thing to do with a laminated map, and it didn’t help our situation much.  Whoops.

We got to camp at 18:48, 10 hours 37 minutes after we started.  Pitched the tent on a slope, got warm (H18 down vest and sleeping bag were spot on) and dry, got some food inside us and went to sleep holding onto the side of the tent so we didn’t roll on top of each other. In the morning neither of us had the motivation to try and do day 2, so decided to walk back to the car, which involved nearly 1000m of climbing by the easiest route.  I was shot, my knee was stiff, but not too painful, but I had zero energy, all the teams making the same climb on the shorter courses were going past me despite Gwynn having all of the kit in his bag - nothing about me felt, or looked elite.

I woke up on Monday feeling like I had been out on the beer on Sunday night, when in fact I had an early night and slept for 11 hours straight.  Being a teacher I have the luxury of a week off for half term, lucky really as there is no way I would have been able to teach a lesson today, I have spent the day napping and eating like I have been on a Himalayan expedition for the last month.  One day of the elite OMM has broken me, strange - because as I said, i’m pretty good at this sort of thing.

Andy Blackett

Duncan Archer & Shane Ohly 3rd at the OMM

"I think I can jump that" says Shane, before sprinting down the bank and launching himself across the raging torrent, landing mostly on the far bank, legs pedaling wildly in the foaming water below.  We are at the OMM, it is day 1, it rained overnight, and has continued to do so for the first two hours of racing.  The river crossings are getting exciting and we are starting to get cold...

For anyone who doesn't know, the OMM is a two day competition, where you navigate in pairs round a course of checkpoints over remote and wild terrain, carrying everything you need to be self-sufficient for the racing and the overnight camp.  I've raised the elite class several times, 5th in 2010 (Dartmoor), winning in 2011 (Scotland), 2nd in 2012 (Howgills), all partnered with Shane Ohly, entered but didn't start due to injury in 2013 (Brecon Beacons), and started but didn't finish with another injury in 2014 (Cheviots) with Jim Mann.  It is a tough race, and it takes its toll.  So after two disappointing years it was time to return and pit ourselves against the challenge once more (each previous time having tried to make a mental note how hard it is, but strangely the tiring memories fade and only the good ones remain!).

This year there was a good field, with Kim Collison & Adam Perry probably favourites, Jim Mann & Nic Barber looking strong, and myself and Shane in the mix with other pairings such as Iain Whiteside & Andy Fallas, Oleg Chepelin & Sam Hesling, and a strong mixed pair of Jasmin Paris & Konrad Rawlik.  We were first off (having slipped passed Andy & Gwynn in the start queue - sorry boys), and once the maps finally turned up (!) we gave it what we had from the start.  #2 was a long route choice, a classic up and over, or round and up the valley.  We went round, but perhaps boldly taking the climb straight on was quicker, as Kim & Adam had caught up with us around #3. We continued to tick off the controls, and the river crossings, before another long leg to #6 where Jim & Nic caught us, we ran together for a while, then they took a different line only to pop up not far ahead near the control.  This was sufficient enticement for Shane, who took off down the hill in pursuit, just as my energy was starting to fade.  We pushed to get back in touch for a few km, but slowly I faded further, they pulled away, and we battled round the final heathery hills to the finish.  1st Jim & Adam, 2nd Jim & Nic (+7 mins), 3rd Iain & Andy (+23 mins) and 4th us (+33 mins).  Maybe we could have done more at the end to stay in touch, but fairly pleased, and the end of a long day where it felt like we were on the edge, only just staying ahead of the weather and running enough to keep warm.

And so to the overnight camp.  Usually a case of making the best of an uncomfortable situation, and the organisers hold the event on the weekend the clocks go back, giving you an extra hour in a slightly damp and cold tent, just when you don't really want it.  However it was better than last years' sloping windswept field, and we set about putting spent calories back in and relaxing.  I felt sorry looking out in the evening around the 8pm cut-off, to still see torchlights adorning the facing hillside as slower teams limped into camp.  

We got through the night sufficiently well rested, and eager to do battle once more.  Day 2 is always a chasing start, but it was compressed so it wasn't first past the line wins, you had to catch those in front and put some more minutes on them too.  We went out hard, and at least did the first by catching Iain & Andy in the 500m to #1 (nav error for them).  We then picked up Nic & Jim too (another nav error I think), and as a group of six started to eat up the course, then catching Kim & Adam on the way to #7.  Head to head racing at its best!  Everyone eyeing each other up, who was looking strong, who was tiring, who would make the route choices, etc.  Slowly an order emerged, with Iain & Andy falling back, and the other two teams pulling ahead, as I once again faded in the latter part of the course.  It was a case of head down, keep pushing, and try to put another 6 minutes on those behind so we could pull up to third overall. I faded even more, and when Shane asked for the second time if I wanted him to take my bag there was little hesitation.  That and some more food put a spring back in my step, and we forged ahead, keeping the leaders in sight across the hills.  It is amazing how once the finish line comes into sight you can dig that little bit deeper and find something vaguely resembling a sprint finish.

Overall: 1st Jim & Adam, 2nd Jim & Nic (+9 mins), and 3rd us (+28 mins).  All in all we were happy with that, and proudly took our spot on the podium.

Results: https://www.theomm.com/omm-2015-tweedsmuir-scottish-borders/ 

Courses and routes: http://www.omm.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/. 

PS, whilst browsing for the results from the weekend I discovered that you can already enter OMM 2016!!  https://www.theomm.com/the-omm-2016-south/  "The south" doesn't give much away - Peaks, Wales, Dartmoor?  Who knows...

Tour of Mont Blanc

The Tour de Mont Blanc is a trail that circles the Mont Blanc massif (as the name suggests!).  Mont Blanc itself stands proud at 4,809m, with the TMB varying from 1000m in the lower valleys up to 2600m cols.  Along with Shane and Heather Ohly, we completed the TMB in early September 2015, as a run (where gradient and energy permitted!), taking it in 4 stages and staying overnight in mountain refuges / huts. 

Our days were as follows:

Day 1: Les Houches to Refuge des Mottets – 42km, +3727m, 8hrs10

Day 2: Refuge des Mottets to Refuge Walter Bonatti – 39km, +2942m, 7hrs20

Day 3: Refuge Walter Bonatti to Relais d'Arpette – 37km, +1835m, 5hr34  

Day 4: Relais d'Arpette to Les Houches – 49km, +4072m, 9hr55

TOTAL:  167km and 12,500m ascent in 31 hours spread over 4 days.

Some of you may also be familiar with the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB).  That is a single-stage ultra-marathon race, around a variation of the TMB route.  It is held each year and has a limit of 2300 competitors (and applications usually exceed that – it is very popular, so much so they have strict entry criteria requiring qualifying points from other races).  To put our attempt into context, the UTMB has a record of just over 20 hours – simply amazing!  But you can also guarantee the UTMB is a gruelling challenge, and much of it will pass in a blur of exhaustion , if not darkness.  Much nicer I think to take a bit more time over the route and enjoy the spectacular scenery.

The TMB actually has a number of variations.  We chose the highest, most exciting, and most scenic routes where possible (and sensible!).  Particular highlights:

·         From Col de Voza we continued to Bellevue and Col de Tricot, and stayed high through the woods past Refuge de Tré la Téte, rather than through the somewhat more boring (but less ascent) valley route through Contamines.

·         From Col de Croix du Bonhomme we continued up to Col des Fours and down to Refuge des Mottets, rather than two sides of a triangle via Les Chapieux.

·         From Refuge Bertoni (after the climb out of Courmayeur), we continued along the ridge through two more cols, rather than traversing round to the Walter Bonatti hut.

·         We stayed in the Relais d’Arpette (many stay down in Champex), and then continued up to the Fenêtre d’Arpette, then down and up again to the Col de Balme, rather than round the lower route to Col de Forclaz and Trient.  I highly recommend this variation – the valley climb is pleasant if long, and the views when you pop through the Fenêtre (“window”) are excellent.

·         From Col de Balme we continued over Aigulette des Posettes, through Col des Montets, up beneath the Aiguilles Rouge (although not as high as Lac Blanc), past Flegere, up to the Brévent, and down to Les Houches.  There are a number of variations around here, with some people dropping to Chamonix and missing the Aiguille Rouge side completely.

The running is generally on good trails, mostly single width paths, and some 4x4 tracks.  Some of the traversing trails provide truly delightful running, especially so on day 2 above and before Courmayeur (see picture), and on day 4 approaching the Col de Balme, and again below the Aiguilles Rouges and Brévent.

Most people seem to go anti-clockwise, and when running this makes a lot of sense as you end up with more steep climbs (we found we were walking any sort of climb so you may as well get it over with) and more gradual descents (which you can really enjoy, compared to thigh burning steep descents).  The best gradual descents were on day 2 from Col de la Seigne, and day 3 from Col des Grand Mullets.  Lightweight walking poles can be handy.  I actually didn’t take any (to save some weight), but Shane and Heather did, and a couple of times they would have been handy.  When the gradient periodically offers running possibilities, or if the terrain is particularly rocky, they can get in the way, but I’d say the slower you are going, the more useful they become.

Early September seemed an ideal time to go.  If you go too soon in the summer (e.g. May or June) you are likely to encounter snow patches on the high passes, which require care or additional equipment (e.g. mini-crampons).  In high season you would encounter a LOT of people, the midday heat could be oppressive, and there is a greater risk of afternoon thunderstorms.  So September seemed the best of all worlds, although early mornings were almost frosty in the valleys (but most mornings started straight uphill to warm you up!), and it is still best to pre-book the huts.  To be fair though we got incredibly lucky with the weather, with four days of sunshine (and drizzle/rain on the days either side).

The TMB is a popular hiking trail, and we met lots of people, hoping to complete the trail in 8-12 days.  You certainly get a lot of kudos from hikers in the huts, whose jaws drop when you say you are doing it in four days!  Some variously played by different rules, e.g. taking lifts, getting transits in the valleys, getting donkeys to carry their bags, etc.  Whatever makes you happy I guess, which the majority were, although we did see some weary souls.

We went fairly lightweight, but with slightly more comforts than a mountain marathon.  I started with about 5kg, including 4 days hill food and water, which reduced to less than 3kg by the end of the last day with no water or food left.  I was amazed by the size of most of the walkers’ sacs.  Hats off to those who were camping, but those staying in huts still had massive loads, even after some of them offloaded their overnight stuff onto a donkey or bus.  I was honestly curious to know what some of them were carrying!  I carried the following:

·         20L OMM sac

·         Camelbak (1.5L full at the start of each day) plus empty water bottle (to fill from streams en route)

·         Lightweight waterproof jacket and trousers (never required!)

·         Hangar 18 windproof top – excellent for the chilly morning starts in the shade, and when it got breezy on some tops, but when I didn’t want a full waterproof

·         Running clothes: ¾ tights, t-shirt, socks, Inov-8 MudClaw 265 fell shoes (studs now quite worn down!)

·         Spare / evening clothes: short- and a long-sleeved thermal, furry leggings, Hangar 18 sleeveless down jacket (excellent for extra warmth, although most huts were warm enough especially when everyone sat down for dinner), one pair spare socks, hat, gloves.

·         Other bits: compass, maps, very lightweight survival bag, headtorch, small first aid kit, toothbrush, Vaseline, sun cream, lipsalve, mobile phone (signal in valleys but not most huts), GPS watch and charger (Garmin 610 but battery didn’t last through any of the days!), BMC insurance and EHIC cards, money, passport (not really needed although you do pass France, Italy and Switzerland),

·         Food: on average 2 Clif bars, 2 SIS Go bars, 1 Kendal mint cake, and electrolyte tablets during each day, and an SIS Rego sachet and protein bar for when I finished each day.  Main evening meal and breakfast provided by the hut.  On days 2 & 3 we also stopped in a café at Courmayeur and Champex respectively for additionally snacking!

The mountain hut experience is well worth it.  We had good recommendations from a friend and stayed in three very nice huts.  We had bunk beds in dorms or private rooms, with mattress/pillow/blanket so just requiring a sheet (silk) sleeping bag.  If you arrive mid-afternoon then you can usually relax out in the sun before everyone eats at 7pm.  The food was generally excellent and plentiful, and beer was available if you thought you’d earned it.  Most people retired for well-earned sleep soon after dinner (take ear plugs for the dorms...), before breakfast at 7am to get cracking on the next day.  My favourite was probably Refuge des Mottets with its curious artefacts on the walls, and the hostess wheeling out a music box for entertainment after dinner.

So how does it feel to run a marathon with 3000m of climb, four days in a row?!  Tiring yes definitely, but if you are fit enough it isn’t that bad.  We weren’t racing, we walked all the uphills, and jogged most flats and downhills (not dissimilar to a brisk BGR pace maybe?).  Staying in huts allows you to recover enough for the next day.  However, there are some BIG steep single climbs (1000m), and with downhills and the distance thrown in you can be sure that any niggles will be amplified by the end (fortunately we faired ok).  We also stored up a monster fourth day, partly through taking hut advice from someone else who had done a different easier variant at the end.  But all in all it was a great experience.  You really feel like you have gone on a journey, circling the huge mountain massif, with amazing views into the massif (particularly on days 2 and 4) and looking back to where you have come from each day gives a huge sense of achievement.  I’d recommend the TMB to anyone, no matter what speed you choose to take it at.

Duncan Archer

[All photo credits to Shane Ohly]

GR20 for Fell Runners.

If you aren't familiar with the GR20, it is a long distance footpath in Corsica. It is a mountainous 180km, often described as one of the most challenging in Europe. It is normally completed in 15 or 16 days and the record is a staggering 32 hours. During my summer holidays this year I decided to complete the GR20 with Fran.

We are both keen fell runners having recently won first mixed pair in the Harter Fell class at the Saunders mountain marathon and completed the Via Romana 23km race in Corsica as a bit of a warm up (I was 2nd, Fran was 9th lady). Both of us being quite restless, the normal approach of start early, finish at lunchtime to avoid the mid day heat wasn't going to suit us, so we decided to double up the stages most days and put together a schedule to finish in 9 days. The key to moving fast was to travel light, whilst our speed of movement could only be rarely described as running we did wear fell shoes and carry 25 litre bags so we were able to run short sections of the route.

I will include a full kit list at the end of this blog for anyone who is interested - having had quite a few conversations with other people on the route we seemed to be carrying essentially the same things as everyone else on the route but a few modifications and omissions meant that our bags were less than half the weight of almost everyone else on the route. Key items were two H18 lightweight sleeping bags (always warm enough, even at the high camps), one Terra Nova 1man tent and one Terra Nova bivvy bag (even with the woman you love, 8 nights in a 1 man tent isn't comfy, but a bivy bag is no fun in the rain so this system gave us the flexibility to get a good nights sleep and stay dry by squeezing in the tent in the rain), two Thermarest Neo Air 3/4 length (very comfy on the rocky ground, but we had to be careful not to pop them), only 2 sets of clothes each (smelly day set and clean evening set), H18 lightweight waterproofs (light and functional, perfect for the job), light MM packs (I carried Hagloffs Gram 25 bag which wasn't up to the job - it had several holes in it at the end of the trip and has gone back to the shop, Fran carried a Berghaus pack which was great).

Our Schedule was based on the ciceron guide and roughly doubling up the suggested stages.

Day 1 - Calenzana - Refuge D'Ortu, 12km, 1620m+, 295m-,

Day 2 - to Haut Asco, 14km, 1650m+, 1760m-,

Day 3 - to Bergerie de Radule, 23km, 2050m+, 1870m-,

Day 4 - to Petra Piana, 27km, 1650m+, 1215m-

Day 5 - to Hotel Monte d'Oro (above Vizzavona), 19km, 1060m+, 1980m-

Day 6 - to Bocca Di Verdi, 30km, 1320m+, 955m-

Day 7 to Bergerie de Bassetta, 27km, 1390m+, 1150m-

Day 8 to Refuge d'l Paliri, 25km, 1400m+, 2090m-

Day 9 to Conca, 13km, 700m+, 1670m-

As you can see, if you are used to long days running on rough ground in the UK, these numbers don't look huge and we found the schedule manageable although the huge amount of rocky ground and scrambling made for long days, we started at between 0530 and 0630 most days and finished around 1600-1800 including a good stop for lunch. Our total moving time was a tad over 70 hours, with our total time being 8 days and 3 hours. We took the high level routes where we could, but took some of the lower level routes to make sure we got the the refuge in time for dinner or avoided thunder storms.

The recent accident on the Cirque De La Solitude, meant that this section was closed so we took the very impressive route through the deviation which went close to the summit of Monte Cinto. There is an optional side trip to the summit, but our day 3 already had over 2000m of ascent so we missed out the summit.

The route is notionally split into 2 halves split by the town of Vizzavona, with the northern half being a continuous series of long climbs to boccas (Corsican for col) followed by long descents we typically did one bocca in the morning and one in the heat of the afternoon - the afternoon bocca became a much anticipted part of each day! The second half of the route involves more ridge traverses and forrest sections, slightly less rocky ground but still a lot of climbing.

The weather we got was as close to perfect as we could have wished for, hot and sunny most days, with only one day when thunder storms threatened which was our day 7. We spent the whole of day 7 from Bocca di Verdi keeping an eye on the thunder clouds moving fast to try and out run them, which we managed with about 30 minutes to spare.

We ate each evening at the bergerie (shepherds hut) or refuge, ate bread/cheese/jam or porridge for breakfast and stopped each day at a bergerie for lunch. We camped each night at the bergerie, the pitches were normally hard and rocky so strong tent pegs were a must although even through we were getting into the camp sites after most people we always managed to find a flat pitch. Meals were all good, filling and calorific with the only problem being the occasional late dinner times - on two occasions dinner wasn't finished until 2130, so we weren't in bed till 2200 and I struggled to manage on 7 hours sleep after the effort of the day. That minor moan aside, we ate well and always had a good camping spot all for around 80Euros a day for the pair of us.

The highlight for me was an unexpectedly fantastic ridge traverse to Petra Piana on our day 4, it would stand up on it's own as one of the best ridge walks in Europe and was a truly memorable part of the route. The thing I found toughest was our slow rate of ascent on the afternoon cols - when me and Fran run in the Lake District we can often manage 900m an hour on ascents, on the GR20 we rarely achieved more than 300m an hour which made 800m climbs seem very long indeed. It's fair to say that we never really figured out why, but it was likely to be a combination of carrying packs, 30 degree heat, rocky ground and paths which took many snaking deviations or all the altitudes on the Corsican maps are out. It was probably the former.

If you are pretty fit and fancy a challenging route in Europe do take on the GR20, it's a brilliant route in the high mountains which has so much spectacular scenary a few photos can't do it justice. The difference with our approach was taking such a light bag (mine was around 7kg Fran's around 6kg plus water) which meant we could go significantly faster than most people. As we got to the final days it was very obvious that the only people who completed the whole route had taken a similar approach, everyone with the big bags had mysteriously disappearing on the final days!

Kit list

Andy carried

H18 sleeping bag

H18 over trousers

H18 waterproof jacket

Terra Nova 1 man tent + 6 Anself Alloy pegs (brilliant strong cheap pegs), +6 titanium pins which were useless in the ground.

25L Haglof Gram bag, (started to fall apart - gone back to shop)

3/4 length Neo Air,

Silk bag liner,

POD dry compression bag,

Inov8 quilted synthetic pullover,

Long sleve base layer,

3/4 length leggings,

2x pairs socks,

2x pants,

shorts,

t-shirt,

Buff

Inov8 mud claw 265, (had a few hundred miles in them before I started and just lasted)

2x 750ml water bottles

200ml sunscreen (plenty)

camera

phone + waterproof cover

debit card

850 Euro cash

Toothpaste and Toothbrush

small bar of hotel soap

Compass (never used)

Swim Shorts

Hat

Gloves

100 puritabs for water (not used as good water at each hut)

Head torch + spare batteries

Penknife (didn't need tin opener as all tins were pull tab)

sunglasses

cap

Toilet roll (take lots, non of the huts have any!)

insurance docs + EHIC

35 x 40g Go energy bars (the heaviest thing in my pack, but well worth taking as they got us through lots of low spots and we ate 34 of them. Cereal bars are rarely available, and mars bars are 2-3 Euro each and would be liquid every afternoon)

10 x cadbury cereal bars

2 x 300g emergency cous cous + cup a soup meals (incase we missed dinner, at one when the lunch bergerie was closed)

500g porridge (just edible for breakfast when mixed with peanuts)

Squeezy bottle of jam

1/2 a saucisson

peppermint tea bags

Stove + 250g of gas (only used 80g, should have taken a smaller one)

lighter

6x spare sandwich bags

Fran carried

Terra Nova Bivvy Bag,

H18 Sleeping bag

3/4 Neo Air

3L water bladder

25L Berghaus bag

Dry Bag

Inov8 Roc Lite 195 (too thin on the sole, Fran got bruised feet)

Long sleve base layer,

long leggings,

2x running shorts,

white long sleve top,

2x pairs socks,

short long top (not worn)

1x bra,

phone and waterproof cover

debit card

toothbrush

first aid kit

Compass

Head torch

sunglasses

Visor

waterproof trousers

OMM Jacket

Hat

Gloves

Buff

GPS watch (not needed)

Guidebook

Corse Le GR20 map (handy for escape routes/alternative routes etc)

small bar hotel soap.