After a four hour drive and a very cold night camping (poor
choice of sleeping bag!), I rose on Saturday morning to glorious sunshine and
expansive views across Northumbria.
This year’s event was based in Wooler and
the event area would be the Cheviot Hills, about as far north as you can get in
England. I headed for the registration marquee where I obtained my “dibber” (electronic
device for recording your arrival at a control point) and sat down to a bacon
butty and cup of tea. Then back to the car for last minute kit checks and a
flask of coffee before the 20 minute walk to the start.
Day 1
I “dibbed in” to the start control and was handed the event
map and list of the days open controls with descriptions and points allocation.
The clock was running I had 6 hours to visit as many controls as possible and
arrive at the overnight camp finish line. I immediately identified the highest
scoring controls (not surprisingly located in the highest and/or most remote areas)
and headed in this direction. The first couple of hours were fantastic with
amazing views across the hills in all directions; I could see Simonside to the
south where Jill and I had run a few months ago and the North Sea gleaming in
the sunshine to the East. I was having fun and exchanged a bit of banter with
other competitors as we crossed each other’s paths.
Three hours later I found
myself heading up a hill called the Schil on the Scottish border feeling
absolutely exhausted and with all my early enthusiasm gone. The going had been
consistently tough and I didn’t seem to have achieved a decent running pace for
more than a few hundred metres all day. I’d also made one bad route choice
which had resulted in a long descent into a valley and steep climb out which
could have been avoided. So with about an hour left I revaluated my route which
would take in 3 more controls and decided to approach them in a different order.
This would give me the option to miss the last one if necessary and avoid the
very harsh point penalties for late arrival. At the penultimate control I looked
down on the nearby finish line and with 35 minutes left realised it would be a
close run thing to get the last control which lay in the opposite direction.
Should I risk it? Part of me said “go for it” but it was a very small part
which I chose to ignore. Ten minutes later I was at the overnight camp a little
disappointed to have finished with point bagging time left but greatly relieved
that it was over, at least until tomorrow!
By 16:00 hours my tent was pitched and the next few hours
were spent eating, drinking, collecting water from the river, drying kit and
tending to the days aches and pains. Just before dark I went for a short stroll
and visited the shelter where the results were displayed. Out of approx. 250
competitors I was 54th, a surprisingly good position considering my
route error and failure to bag the last hoped for control. Thinking back to
last year’s event when I had a brilliant first day it occurred to me that I
felt much better now than I had then. Perhaps tomorrow would be a better day; I
set my sights on a top 50 finish and with that and a wee dram of whiskey went
to bed.
Day 2
Fortunately my event sleeping bag is much better
than the cheap one I’d used the night before as temperatures dropped to well
below freezing and I woke to a tent covered in ice. It took just over an hour (including
a long wait in the toilet queue) to have breakfast and strike camp. The morning
was beautiful with clear blue skies and frost covered ground and I felt pretty
good. By 08:00 I was at the start being handed
the Day 2 control list, I took a few minutes studying the list and map then
with route decided set off. It’d be
inaccurate to say day 2 was easy but it contrasted sharply with Day 1, controls
came and went with much greater frequency and in-between there was plenty of
good running as well as the usual steep climbs, bog, tussock grass and heather.
In fact this was one of the best days
I’ve spent running in the mountains with both my strength and the weather
holding up beyond the end. Reaching the
last control I had 40 minutes left but there were no further controls in the
area and it was too late to head back deep into the Cheviot. So I ran down Humbleton
Hill to the finish with 35 minutes to spare but unlike Day 1 the early finish
had come as a result of good running not complete exhaustion. I was still
surprised to find I had scored 230 points exactly the same as Day 1 but in an
hour less.
I was 64th to finish and in 4th
position but I knew as others came in many would have much higher scores. After
the post run meal and a change of clothes I checked the score board and was
pleasantly surprised to find I had only dropped to 12th with 150
runners in and another 100 still in the field, a top 50 place seemed very
likely. I drove the 230 miles home feeling quite happy.
Late on Sunday night the final results were posted and I
found I was 33rd out of 231 finishers, 6 places better than the year
before which I had thought a fluke not to be repeated. But unlike last year when I felt I couldn’t
have done much more I knew I could have done a little better, after all I had
almost an hour of unused time at the end. Bring on the RAB Mountain Marathon
2013!
For more information visit the website.
Chris B
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