Karrimor International Mountain Marathon
In and Out of Martindale
Rob Howard / 29.10.2005
During the first morning of the race teams made their way south and west, as all the courses skirted round the southern tip of Haweswater. The C course headed directly South, while the Elite, A and B looped further west, passing by the Martindale Estate, which is home to England’s oldest native Red Deer herd. (This was why most of the area was off limits.)Score competitors, who have a choice of which checkpoints to visit, were also racing in this area, and there was a steady stream of pairs making their way along the road that leads into the estate. This ended at a farm house, and while Elite competitors continued along the valley, those on the B and Score courses climbed steeply up to the ridge above.
Vic Seed and Jim Stillings, racing in the Long Score, were making this climb, walking steadily up the waterlogged path through the bracken and munching some jelly babies to keep them going.
“We’ve done the medium Score class for the last few years,� Jim said, “but this year we didn’t get in ... so now we’re doing the Long Score. There is definitely lots of choice, but we’re not sure if we’ve made the right decisions yet, or how we’ll cope with being out for longer. We’ll find out the answer to both those questions tonight!�
At the top of the ridge the wind was gusting strongly, making life hard for the teams who elected to run along the top of it. After the heavy showers at the start it’s been a dry day with the cloud only covering the highest tops, so teams had extensive views as they crossed the ridges.
They were beginning to find the amount of ascent in the early part of the course testing though, and there was also a steady stream of retiring competitors walking back down the road, out of Martindale and back to HQ.
They’d either realised the course was going to take them too long, or suffered injuries, and this was the last point from which they could easily turn back. (Teams are responsible for making their own way back.) It was a long and weary walk back along the lakeside road for them.See All Event Posts
