Kintail (Steve Fallon)

This year’s Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon was set in the stunning location of Kintail, North West Scotland. Part of the mystique of the event is the fact that the location isn’t revealed to competitors until midday on the Thursday before the race. So, on Friday evening I headed north with my partner for the event, Inov-8 sponsored and recently-turned marathon speed-merchant Jethro Lennox. A winter of mile reps and tarmac bashing had reaped dividends for Jethro as he’d finished 27th and 11th Brit in this year’s London. However the steep rocky ridges of Glen Shiel were always going to be a different kettle of fish altogether, a diversification we were hoping his legs would have no problem adapting to…

Andy & Jethro at the prize giving

The general format for Mountain Marathons is as follows: Competitors are self sufficient for two days as they navigate (long range route choice + micro nav) between about twenty checkpoints, covering a combined distance of approximately forty miles and an altitude gain of about five thousand meters (over the two days). They must carry all food, camping and cooking gear, clothing, first aid and survival kit to cope with two days in the hills of the chosen location. What this entails is a hunt for the lightest possible form of each of the required items that exist, such that you can cram it all into a miniscule rucksack in an attempt to shave vital grams and hence run up hills at a fast rate. As the forecast is debated and bags are packed, this weight-saving frenzy is counterbalanced by the recurring prospect of enduring a night at 2 degrees above zero with a pitiful 3 goose feathers and a laser-thin lining of pertex as your barrier between body and the elements. Sometimes an extra layer is worth bearing the weight of – although many a purist (nut-cases) may disagree with me on that one…!

Overnight camp (Steve Fallon)

Some quad deterioration due to road-adapted muscles didn’t manage to deter Jethro and I from setting a speedy pace on Day 1. Good visibility and inspiring mountain scenery meant for relatively unproblematic navigation and encouraged “a good ambience” for a ferocious mountain traverse. In essence we legged it round and finished Day 1 in 5 hours 45 mins with a comfortable 70-minute cushion to the next chasing team. Clear skies meant for a chilly overnight camp. Bagpipes woke us at 5am, porridge was scoffed and by 6am we were off safe in the knowledge that the next team wouldn’t be starting for another hour and ten minutes. I told Jethro that baring a major navigational blunder, one of us would probably have to die for us not to win this one. And that’s just about what happened… nearly…

Steep terrain!

An hour in and it was high time for a second showing of Jethro’s breakfast. He’d mentioned some stomach discomfort on the first climb, but by the top that minor discomfort had transformed itself into a full blown fountain of oats and dried fruit. Oh dear. I took Jethro’s sack (actually he gave it to me), strapped it over the top of my own and we walked tentatively down to check point number one, Jethro stopping occasionally to decorate the heather. There was some improvement towards the end of the day on the stomach front, but essentially Jethro was running on empty, not managing to get any food or water down for over three hours. Meanwhile I wasn’t finding the hills too easy with double the weight on my shoulders – what’s the point in going light-weight if your partner’s just going to give you all his gear to carry as well?! It was the only solution however. We had to work as a team and just grin and bear it in the hope that none of the chasing teams would have it in their legs to catch us. And fortunately that was the case. Five and half hours later, at 1133am on Sunday morning, we rolled, hobbled, collapsed over and onto the finish line safe in the knowledge that we’d done enough to hold off any threats from behind. Time-wise we’d been beaten by a clear 20 minutes by three other teams on the Sunday, however the damage limitation was enough to walk away with a 45 minute overall victory in the event, a first for both of us and an enjoyable victory in what is a fairly prestigious and highly regarded event.

As a final note I’d like to say cheers to fellow SSOT member Angela who planned this year’s LAMM – and no, it wasn’t too short or too easy, so don’t go getting any ideas about making it tougher for next year!

Event website: www.lamm.co.uk

Route Gadget: www.lamm.routegadget.co.uk