The Original Mountain Marathon
Through the Finish Line
Rob Howard / 28.10.2007
The finish was busy from early in the morning, to begin with to receive retiring teams - some arriving as early as 5.30am and knocking on the barn door at race HQ. (Those who tried to sleep inside said they thought it was going to come down in the strong winds overnight!)Then the finish banners had to be set up early as some short score teams were expected to finish as early as 10.00, which they did. The finish was one of the best settings for many years, using the large open field behind the farm, where refreshment tents were set up. There was a back drop of surrounding hills and all the runners were directed from the last checkpoint along a grassy ridge then downhill to the finish, so they could be seen from some distance off. There was also a commentary and instantly updated results on screens in the refreshment tent.
The first winners of the day to arrive were Wil Spain and Thomas Edwards who were 5th overnight in the ‘C’ class and had a strong second day to overhaul all the teams ahead of them. The overnight leaders Stephen and Tim Martin had been 7 minutes up on them but were not surprised to be passed. “We knew they were really fast runners and in this fine weather we didn’t have the pace to live with them.� Said Tim. “It would have been better for us if the cloud was still down as then we might have kept ahead on navigation. But at least we won the parent and child class, and I was probably the first vet to finish.�
The next winners were James Tullie and Duncan Coombs on the ‘B’ course. They’d had a 15 minute lead setting off but were taking nothing for granted. “We tried not to look back, but felt a bit more relaxed the nearer we go to the finish.� Both are former junior GB orienteers and now race for Edinburgh University and two years ago both competed with their dads. Last year they won the C class and have now moved up to B very successfully. See All Event Posts
