The Original Mountain Marathon
The Elite Race
Rob Howard / 25.10.2007
The 2007 Elite race could be one of the most open for many years, with many contenders for top honours, and the potential for a close race among the mixed pairs.The breaking news is that the defending champions from last year will not be racing together to defend their title. Bothers Ifor and Al Powell won last year, after many years of trying, but Ifor isn’t competing this coming weekend due to what he describes as ‘a total loss of running form - to the point where I think I could give Al all the kit and still not keep up with him…!�
So Al, who is a professional mountaineer and guide, will be competing with fellow guide Jonny Morgan who has only been running for about a year but seems to be very good at it as he managed 11th in this year’s British fell running championships. The pair have competed together at Ski mountaineering races in the past and will no doubt still be a threat for the top positions.
Steve Birkinshaw and Morgan Donnelly will be looking for their 4th elite win and if they do succeed it will be Steve’s 7th title. (He still no doubt hopes to match Mark Seddon’s record 10 wins and for the first time in almost two decades Seddon is not on the entry list.) The pair know each other exceptionally well, having competed in many mountain marathons and adventure races together, and Birkinshaw is a former GB orienteer who may relish the grim weather forecast.
The form racer has to be Pudsey and Bramley fell runner Jonathan Aylward who seems to have won every time he’s raced this year. He won the solo Klets class at the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon, and with his OMM partner Stephen Bottomley was winner of the LAMM Elite. The pair have raced the OMM together before, but not last year when Jonathan was 5th in the ‘A’ class. It’s a big step up from there to an Elite win, but on current form this pair are one of the favourites.See All Event Posts
