The Original Mountain Marathon
Whatever the Weather
Rob Howard / 24.10.2009
After a wet and misty start the weather improved on day one of the OMM, with higher cloud and even a few odd shafts of sunshine around midday. The winds were not as high as forecast and the rain not as heavy, everything looked promising with the forecast promising the front would blow northwards and conditions would continue to improve ... except they didn't! By late afternoon heavy and prolonged showers accompanied by high and gusting winds made conditions difficult. Those who had arrived early and pitched their tents were thankful, and those who were soaked and cold when at their most tired had to pitch their tents in the gusting winds. Everyone is hoping the forecast for good conditions tomorrow is right and the winds moderate tonight.From those returning there were the expected stories of 'tussock hell' but for the most part the courses have proved somewhat faster than expected and it appears there is a very high rate of finishers on day one. As darkness fell there only 50 teams who had still not arrived at camp, and this is a much lower number than usual. There have been retirements, with batches of retirees walking down to the 'bus stop', but not too many.
[Those who finished today and then retired are not shown on the posted results. At least two of the top 10 in the elite have 'taken the bus', so the positions will be different come the restart tomorrow.]
In the Elite race the overall lead Al Powell and Jon Morgan hold is 8 minutes (not the 10 estimated earlier), so the chase will be on tomorrow. Heather Dawe and Andrea Priestley were the top (and at present the only) female finishers and 18 year old Timothy Martin who is racing the Parent/Child class in the Elite with his father, came in 31st place. Also among the finishers today was Japanese racer Miho Okabe, who found a partner at the last minute. None other than former elite champion Brendan Bolland!
In the A class the most impressive results are the lead held by Douglas Tullie and John Rocke (29 minutes) and the 5th place finish of Norwegian mixed pair Jo Inge and Wendy Fjellstad. The B class is one of the closest with 6 minutes separating the top 3, but in the C Richard Phillips and Matthew Champman hold a 30 minute lead and will be hard to beat tomorrow.
The Long Score is as competitive as expected but Nigel Bunn and Darrell High hold a good lead. The mixed section only 16 points separate Jonathan and Helene Whitaker and Anthony Emmet and Helen Jackson, with the later incurring a massive 70 penalty points! In the medium score only 5 points separate the top two, while in the short score Nick Barrable and Jonathan Crickmore have a good lead over Veteran pair John Horton and Mick Anglim.
Tomorrow morning the leaders will be set off in chasing starts, so the first across the finish lines in each class will be winners!
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