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By ‘eck lad, it were a wee bit parkie up there!

Jeremy Sainter (Dark & White) / 13.01.2011

The RAB Mini Mountain Marathon from Hayfield appeared to be in jeopardy on Friday as the snow came down heavily, blanketing the event area. It looked like there might be a repeat of the Macclesfield Forest event last January that was postponed not once but twice due to last minute snow. But things improved and over 200 competitors arrived on Sunday, many looking to repair some of the damage they had inflicted on themselves over the Christmas & New Year period. Given the bugs going round, the still difficult driving conditions with icy roads and a dusting of snow on high level routes it was another excellent turn out. Everyone had been prompted to arrive early and most seemed to take the hint with the car park filling up quickly and most competitors off and running before 9.45 a.m.

While the weather was fairly cold down by the start at Hayfield Scout HQ it was benign in comparison to the conditions up on the Kinder plateau and full kit including waterproofs was mandatory. The forecast had suggested a -15C wind chill on the tops and marshals were checking anyone who looked to be travelling light and from personal experience I can assure you that plenty of kit was required up there on Kinder.

The scout hut provided an excellent base for the event and it was very busy as everyone registered and chatted over the master map showing the area to be used. This included the Kinder valley and the flanks of the Kinder Plateau round to the path leading to Jacob’s ladder and Edale (more on that later). There were a number of out of bounds areas with linking corridors just to make navigation interesting. In addition there were several controls on Ollersett Hill on the opposite side of the A624 road along with a cheeky checkpoint (CP) 1.5km down the Sett Valley Trail, just to tempt the over ambitious, or possibly someone looking for a steady start. In all there were 23 controls to go at, worth a total of 355 points and 3 hours to collect them.

It’s easy to see from the detailed results that there was plenty of route choice. While the wind was significant particularly at higher levels no route seemed to offer more protection than any other and competitors found several ways to link the various sections together.

Out on the hills conditions varied greatly, on the lower slopes conditions were generally firm with the occasional sticky, muddy section. As you ascended the underfoot conditions just got progressively firmer. Given the cold conditions it was surprising how much perspiration could be encouraged or maybe that was just the Christmas and New Year excesses coming out. Note to self (New Year’s resolution) eat and drink less this year, not that this has worked for the last ten years but here’s hoping ...

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