The Original Mountain Marathon 2006

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Brothers Lead the Elite

Rob Howard / 28.10.2006

The bigger of the two overnight camps was at Forrest Lodge on the western edge of the Galloway Forrest Park, and this is where all the teams on the medium and long courses were heading.

The camping area was extensive, set on several levels of a sloping hillside and pairs arrived down one of two forest roads. The camp was at their junction and planner Marcus Scotney was waiting here to see the leading teams in – but he missed the first elite team as they were quicker than expected.

This was Ifor and Alun Powell, who took just 7 hours 12 minutes to complete the days run, finishing ahead of Tim Higginbottom and Chris Near by 13 minutes, with defending champions Steve Birkinshaw and Morgan Donelly in 3rd place, 18 minutes down on the leaders.

“It was all about route choice right from the start,� said Near, “those first controls were hard and there were no ‘crocodiles’ of pairs to follow in that mist. Then it just got tough and we hung in. There was a long leg between CP5 and 6 and some deep river crossings but most pairs went higher to get across more easily. Then there were big climbs at the end. It was only 35km but none of it was on tracks – the rest was tussocks.�

The Powell brothers are now in a strong position to claim their first OMM win. Alun is an Alpine mountain guide and said he had done more running this year through the summer. “I had more days off and entered the big alpine races,� he said. “This year we seem evenly matched and I think this terrain suits us. When you are in tussocks having long legs helps!� They did have trouble crossing one of the rivers however, Ifor said he’d been swimming when he fell during the crossing.See All Event Posts