LAMM
LAMM 2010: Race Report – aka ‘Lost Souls’
Finbar McGurren / 25.06.2010
I had studied the maps from previous years LAMM’s and examined the route choices on RouteGadget of the top teams each year. I knew the navigation was going to be very difficult. We both have a good level of fitness and endurance wise we would like to think we are pretty strong. Going into the event navigation would be our weakest point. I had built up some navigation experience during the year but compared to the rest of the field I was a relative newbie. It still didn’t stop us entering the A class!
After last weekend in Carrauntoohil we had little time to get gear, food and our heads into order but somehow we managed. Thanks to Sean for helping us here. We had our tent, cooking equipment and all individual and team mandatory kit in place. We both discussed the food requirements very carefully and went calorie shopping on the Thursday. Calorie shopping is a laugh! With the gear and food in place we packed our bags meticulously removing any excess packaging and reducing weight where ever possible. We managed to fit everything into my Innov8 22ltr and Karens 22ltr OMM rucksacks.
The Journey Over
We got the ferry from Belfast at 19:20 on Friday and arrived into Stranraer around 22:30. We then had a 3 hour drive to Cairndow to the Event Centre for this year’s event. I wanted to get to sleep no later than 1:30 as we would need to be at assembly at 8:00 Saturday morning. We stopped 2 miles short of Cairndow and slept in the back of the jeep which was fitted out with a sleeping mattress for the weekend.
Day 1
After a great nights sleep we registered and had a final bit to eat before heading to the start. We bumped into fellow Adventure Racer Caitiona Nic Caba along the way. It was nice to see a familiar face. On the way to the start we couldn’t help checking out the other teams and the size of their rucksacks. We seemed to hold our own in this department but we certainly seen some teams who had managed to get theirs down smaller. More research required here! The sun was out and conditions were perfect for Mountain Marathoning.
We got our maps and were bused to the start of the race. After collecting our control descriptions we were off! We marked up the 8 controls for day 1 and headed for CP1. All controls had to be hit in order. We rattled off CP1, CP2 and CP3 with relative ease. Some crafty route choice kept us in touch with some all male teams that were moving a little faster than us. We were both moving really well and had found our rhythm. At CP3 we had our first major route choice. The options were to go back down a valley and take the flatter much longer route around to CP4 or take the pain and climb the shorter route. As always we “took the pain�. Over one climb we went back down to a Reservoir and onto a second climb up to CP4. It was steep, steeper than anything either of us had ever experienced “a hands and knees job�. Up over this climb, looking over our shoulder we could see some of the teams we had met down at CP3 so we’d made the correct decision. On the way up to CP4 we spotted another mixed team (Iain & Sarah Walker). We flipped quickly into hunting mode and passed them on the way from CP4 to CP5 accelerating as we went bye. We started catching more all male teams at this point and another good route choice got us to CP6 ahead of the pack. We wasted a few minutes searching for CP7. After that we could see the mid camp and CP8 in the distance and we raced hard home.
Mid Camp
We were both shattered. We raced hard all day, only stopping to walk on the severe climbs. Putting up the tent was an achievement! We warmed ourselves and got some food in. We both came around and after looking at the Day 1 results we were delighted with our days work. Second mixed team after day 1 and our route choice was almost exactly the same as the overall leaders in the A Class. The only damper on the evening was my right knee had started to hurt toward the end of the day. The contouring that day had taken its toll. I spent most the evening limping around the mid camp. A few Difene and Neurofen Plus did little to ease the pain but I was still hopeful of starting day 2 and again “see what happens�.
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