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So what is the LAMM,
and are we all mad? It is a two-day
mountain orienteering / navigational fell race with an overnight camp at a
remote location. Teams run in pairs and carry lightweight camping equipment,
clothes and food to sustain themselves for 36 hours. You can choose from six
courses ranging from Elite to Novice depending on your ability and fitness.
The aim is to visit each of the checkpoints on your course and the times
for both days are aggregated to find a winner.
Yes, you need to be a little eccentric to drive to the highlands for this
2 day extravaganza, but any one with hill walking or long cross country
experience could give the Novice a go!
The
LAMM website
This
years Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon took place at the Spittal of Glenshee, which
is midway between Braemar and Blairgowrie.
We set off from Oxford at 9 on Friday with Dave R, Chris Dibben, and
Pippa Whitehouse. The other car
consisted of Neville Baker, John Worth, Nigel Bunn, and Nigel’s partner Kenny
Leitch (Nigel and Kenny at the start on day 2, Nigel
and Kenny get 5th prize on E). After about 9 hours driving
and serious carbo-loading we arrived at the Friday night campsite, pitched our
tents, registered and continued eating.
Dave looking in various states of carbo-loading and concern on the morning of
day 1
My
partner and me got up at 6.30 on Saturday morning for an 8am start.
After eating yet more food and fine-tuning the contents of our sack, we
set off to the start feeling strong and that our back packs fitted well.
It was going to be a very hot sunny day. We drew the 10 route points on our map (1210 m climb and 23.8
k) and set off up a gentle slope to the first check point, pushing quite hard,
we met a pair of female fell runners at the second control who were obviously
physically stronger than us, but we kept passing them en route as they worked
hard at their navigation. There
were some hard climbs and we went over the 1051 m Munro Glas Tulaichean, before
weaving a way over and through the remote hills between Glenshee and Blair
Atholl.
Map of the day 1 course
We had pushed hard on day 1
and finished in a credible time of 7 h 21 min 87/133 finishers.
I was uninjured but pretty tired and even managed to get some sleep in
our 2 lb tent.
The
remote campsite perched on a river terrace
I
never like day 2 of these things, as there are always loads of people around.
Day 2 of the LAMM (1000 m climb and 19.4 k) was no exception, and we were
sent strait up a hard climb.
I had a real low patch about ½ way round to this control, but managed to get through it after several fun sized bounties,
and some energy drink. We lost a
lot of places on day 2, but I managed to give Dave a run for his money on the
track based finish leg, and I remain slightly stiff but un-injured at the end of
day 2. I was the only person in our
car not to get blisters!
Map of the day 2 course
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