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A New Mountain Marathon

Andy Wilson / 17.10.2007

The last weekend in September was a busy one in the AR calendar, but while most racers' focus might have been on London, further north in more traditional AR country a new race had its first outing. Set to become a regular event, the first Rab Mountain Marathon was staged, by Dark & White Challenge Events, at Coniston in the Lake District.

Dark & White have been running Trailquest (MTBO) events in the Peak District since 1998, more recently extending their range to fell running and orienteering events, and earlier this year adding AR/Multisport to their now extensive calendar. For the latest race they moved outside their normal patch to the Lake District for the first time.

The event had a traditional mountain marathon format - Long Score (7hrs on Sat and 6hrs on Sun) for the Elite category and Medium Score (6hrs and 5hrs) for all other categories. Harveys 1:40k mapping was used, covering the area from the Walna Scar road in the South to Glaramara and High Raise in the North. All camping gear would have to be carried throughout, and the venue for the camp would not be revealed until racers had started, however racers were promised a proper campsite. In a flexible approach to entries competitors could choose to take part solo, in pairs, 3s or 4s.

Over 200 racers arrived for registration at the John Ruskin school at Coniston, many taking advantage of free camping on the school fields. Most opted for the shorter format with 26 entering the Elite category either solo or in pairs. I'd decided on the Elite solo, if only because it meant a couple of hours extra on the hill, and a couple of hours less suffering in camp – if you're going to have to carry all your camp gear it's never going to be a luxurious camping experience.

Compared with the OMM this was a relaxed affair with competitors choosing their own start time between 9 and 10am, many fuelled with a breakfast from Wilf's cafe who were on hand, both at registration and at the finish. Also at registration were Lakes Runner, for last minute essentials, and lead sponsor Rab who had discounted gear on offer.

The maps, controls and points for each control were the same for all categories – long and medium score – but with an hour extra for the Elite racers this still meant quite different options were available, but the highest scoring controls, in the furthest NW corner of the map, would only tempt the most ambitious, or greedy, Elite racers.

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