Cancelled - The 53rd OMM Original Mountain Marathon
OMM Location Announced As The Arrochar Alps - But They Need More Entries
Rob Howard / 09.07.2020
We’re all in unchartered water here (did anyone mention these are unprecedented times?). The OMM event, us and you have probably never faced challenges as we have done in the last few months, and it’s not over yet.
One of the joys of the OMM event has always been the escape from normality. The freedom of disappearing off into the clag on some dodgy half-baked bearing is something we can all relate to and is much needed right now.
"This year will be the 53rd edition of the Mountain Marathon event. But the majority of events are being cancelled and we are only going to be able to pull this off with the support of the community."
Early Location Release – Arrochar Alps
We are excited to announce that this year’s event location will be the mountainous, wild & epic scenery of the Arrochar Alps in the Scottish Highlands.
The location is mountain marathon heaven, big mountains, virtually no paths, and plenty of opportunities to get lost. It will be a good test of your abilities and fortitude to get around the courses.
Competitors delaying entry threatens cancellation and we need to know now if you want to come?
We are well behind our usual entry numbers for end June with 700 competitors entered when we usually have 1500. Understandably people have been holding back with the Covid-19 situation however we organize the OMM on a not for profit basis and the challenges of shop closings and reduced product sales means the event will need to be heavily subsidizing this year.
If you are planning to come then we need to know so that we can issue the final commitments with the land owners, marquees, toilets, cartographers and other things that come together for an OMM. Please enter and If we are unable to run the event then we will be offering every competitors with the following options:
hopes to be in
the Arrochar Alps
- Exchange your entry for OMM kit. We will provide you with a voucher worth 125% so you get a bit of an apology for having to cancel..
- Defer your entry to next year’s event. This option and the one above would really help us out.
- Full refund on your entry. No fees.
A bit of help – The price increase will be delayed until the end of July.
Covid-19 – is OMM being realistic in not cancelling? What are the plans?
We are currently monitoring the governments guidelines and have worked up a number of ideas where we can be ready should the advice change. It is a bit of a guessing game but so you know our thoughts here are some of our notes.
HQ and starts – this is our biggest area of confluence on the event. Toilets are the hardest element to manage as we can increase marquee space to reduce contact and, at worst, we could remove Friday night social time and use postal/digital registration. Toilets will be increased in numbers and competitors asked to follow strict queueing and cubical cleaning routine. Starts may be spread over a longer period and possibly from multiple locations.
Mid Camp – similar challenges to HQ. We have the contingency to increase the capacity at the site to allow for greater spacing, have planned for each team to have 1 tent per person (the second tent would be handed in and delivered to you at the overnight) and expanding the infrastructure as required.
Numbers – there may be a restriction on scale of events. If so we will see if the OMM can be considered to be a number of separate events, but if not then places will be allocated in order of entry date.
These are just some examples of the additional planning work that is going on to ensure we can deliver the event within the current guidelines, all of which is underlined by two key principles: we are governed by the Government advice and regulations; we will not put the event on if we feel we cannot do so safely, and in either case you will get a full refund in the worst case.
We look forward to seeing you at a safe distance in October
Team OMM
SleepMonsters
