Karrimor International Mountain Marathon

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It\'s Very Close

Rob / 25.10.2003

Just under half way into the Elite course the competitors came down to the A7 to cross (or rather go underneath through a sheep culvert) to the Eastern side of the competition area. Now 3 hours into the race the race positions were beginning to become established and all the leaders came through within a few minutes of each other.

First to arrive however, were the mixed pair of Simon Patton and Kirsty Bryan-Jones, and they were soon followed by the ladies pair of Helen Jackson and Liz Cowell. Both were among the earliest start times though, and had left an hour ahead of the ‘seeded’ teams, who started last of all. Then between 11.57 and 11.58 eight more teams raced through.

These included Mark Seddon and John Hunt, Adrian Davis and Alec Keith, the defending champions Morgan Donnelly and Steve Birkinshaw, the Davies brothers, and Simon Bourne and Bjorn Rydvall. Within the next 10 minutes Gary Tompsett and Paul Currant, the Higginbottom brothers, Tim Laney & Mark Hartell, and Tim Lenton and Esmond Tresidder arrived, with the Powell brothers a little further back. The race could hardly be closer.

They were coming down the same valley as competitors in the ‘A’ course, who had a checkpoint in a sheep fold higher up the valley. From the road crossing the Elite runners faced one of the longest legs of the course next, some 8 kms to the East to reach checkpoint 6, passing over Roan Fell. Then the route turned to the south and doubled back on itself, before heading north to the overnight camp at Twislehope.

Being in the middle of the course the A7 is an obvious place to retire to and several teams on the Score classes were making their way down to it, and walking back to HQ. Only one of Elite teams pulled out at the road crossing, but it was one of the favourites, Jim and Andrew Davies. They were right up with the leaders but Jim was too tired to race on. He only got back from winning a tough race in New Caledonia in the Pacific on Wednesday, and the travelling and racing had caught up with him.

The (very) unofficial timings for the Elite leaders to checkpoint 5 (of 9) on day one are:

Birkinshaw and Donnelly – 2 hrs 47 minutes
Bourne and Rydvall – 2. 54
Seddon and Hunt – 2.54
Davis and Keith – 2.55
Tompsett and Currant – 3.00
Ifor and Alun Powell – 3.02
Hartell and Laney – 3.04
Tim and Mark Higginbottom – 3.05
Robert Blythe and Paul Fernandez- 3.05
Jonathan Aylward and Stephen Bottomly – 3.09

(Quentin and Kevin Harding were non-starters.)See All Event Posts