SportsShoes Blog

This weekend it was the OMM or the Original Mountain Marathon.

As its name suggests, the OMM is the forerunner to all of today’s adventure racing and although now in its fortyoddth year the format remains the same - Teams of two carrying all equipment required to survive in the wild for 36 hours racing over an off-road course that they only get the details of on the start line.

This year it was set in the Elan Valley in deepest darkest Wales. We were based at the Royal Welsh showground near Builth Wells but as we were bussed to the start on Saturday and back again from the finish on Sunday I don’t actually know where I spent the weekend!!

This year I ran with a new partner Andy Jebb from Bingley Harriers and as we run at a very similar pace and he shares my dogged determination and ability to never give in I think we made a pretty good team.

The weather on Saturday was forecast to be rubbish and as we made our way to the start line the heavens opened and we put on our waterproof tops - which then didn’t come off again for 2 days!!

We’d entered the A class and on the line were presented with a map showing a route around some Welsh wilderness stretching for 37km and with 1200 meters of climb around 11 checkpoints.

Within the first few kms we realised how tough this year’s event was going to be as the ground was very unforgiving. Although the area is not particularly mountainous it’s almost entirely covered in rough tussocks many of which appear to be floating in water. Where there are no tussocks it’s either bracken, bog or crag and just to add to the excitement, there are very few tracks or footpaths to help with navigation- i.e. VERY tough going.

The weather eased a little during the first hour or two but then bit back with a vengeance blasting us with wind and rain that reminded me (a little) of last year’s OMM when the event was cancelled for the first time in its history as the event control centre was starting to float away!!

We were doing OK until we got to CP6 when we had to find a way across a vast featureless moor to CP7. Despite endless references to our maps and compasses we managed to drift off line and dropped into a stream where we thought CP7 was only to find - absolutely nothing. After some further map consultation, swearing and headless chicken running we eventually realised our mistake and found CP7 surrounded by a gaggle of other competitors.

After that day 1 went reasonably smoothly although towards the end, after almost 7 and a half hours of running across moorland, the old brain and body were starting to lose some of their functionality!!

We pitched camp in a farmer’s field along with the 2000+ other competitors and tucked into our rations. First on the menu was our pork pie complete with brown sauce - what a way to relight the fire!! After that it was a pot noodle - used more for the free mug than any real nutritional value. Then the main event - Andy had bought 2 freeze dried spaghetti bolognaise meals which, after filling with boiling water and leaving to stand for 10 mins were actually pretty good.

We then dozed for a couple of hours before waking again at 10 to have a cup of tea using our pot noodle pots as cups - we decided that beef and tomato might be a nicer combination with black tea as we’re pretty sure chicken and mushroom tea will never make it on to Twinings’ menu of speciality teas. The tea was complemented by a fine piece of brandy laced wedding cake from Andy’s wedding earlier this year and we toasted a good first day with a miniature bottle of Ben Nevis whiskey saved specially for the event from the Ben race in September.

After 14 hours living in tent only slightly bigger than the one my action-man used to have, Day 2 started dry but windy and at 8.22am we were off on our checkpoint hunt again. This time it was just a 25km course and the tussocks in the south end of the Elan valley did seem a little more forgiving than those up North.

Although we used our fell running skills and stamina to cover the ground between checkpoints pretty quickly our fine navigation skills let us down. We kept playing ‘hare and the tortoise’ with slower but better navigators who we’d whizz past mid checkpoint then meet again at the checkpoint after we’d spent ages circling the area looking for the kite whilst they just dropped straight onto it.

After 5 hours and 10 minutes we reached the last checkpoint and it was then just a case of blasting down the hill following the tapes that led to the finish line. Here we made our final mistake of the weekend and in the rush to get past other competitors I lost sight of Andy. Thinking he was behind me I stopped at the farm just before the run in and waited - and waited - and waited. When he didn’t show I thought maybe he’d had a fall or his knee, that had given him some grief earlier in the day, had given up on him so I jogged back up the course with competitors streaming past in the other direction.

When I still couldn’t see him I thought I’d better press on to the finish and when I got there guess who was waiting for me - yup Andy - who’d been there for about 4 minutes!!! Oh well another lesson learned.

We finished 28th overall and very pleased with our general performance. We both feel we could do A LOT better if we practise our fine navigation and we’re already planning our attack on next year’s event.

Yesterday was Langdale Fell Race - 14 miles 4000 feet of ascent.

This is one of my favourite lakeland races as it takes in some awesome scenery and is a very challenging course both from a technical and a navigation point of view.

This year Langdale was an English Championship race so a big field of around 400 athletes were on the start line. 

It starts at the famous climbers’ pub The Old Dungeon Ghyll or the ODG as it’s affectionately known and following a half mile run along a track the first serious climb of the day takes you up to Stickle Tarn and then upwards and onwards to Thunacar Knot. At this point I caught and passed my pal Andy Jebb who has been beating me recently so I knew either he was having a bad one or I was having a good one - as it turned out I think it was a little combination of the two.

After scrambling across Black Craggs it’s another boggy blast down to Angle Tarn before a long climb up to Esk Hause shelter. At this point I had another friend and long time fell sparring partner Jason Stevens of Calder Valley in sight. He ran really strongly up the track from Angle Tarn and pulled out around 150 meters on me but as I started to tackle the contour section to Bow Fell I managed to catch him.

We stayed together over Bow and we both knew we were in for a good race. Unfortunately, although I’ve now done Langdale 3 times, I’m struggling to get a few of the sections programmed into my mental sat-nav and as we made our way over to Crinkle Craggs I said to Jason ‘do you know the route’ - ‘haven’t a clue’  was the reply so it was a case of peering into the mist to try and spot the guys in front whilst at the same time trying to dance across the jagged rocks that make up so much of this course.

Thankfully we managed to pick a good line over to Crinkle and again topped out together. Just off the summit of Crinkle is one of the most famous features of any fell race - ‘The Bad Step’ this is a rock step that needs to be back climbed as it’s approx. 10 feet verticle. We all negotiated it safely but here again I was a bit unsure of the best line.

Rather than disappearing into the mist I waited for another chap from Clayton-Le-Moors harriers who took us on a good line round to the main track and from here I knew the route so set off at a good pace down to the final climb over Pike of Blisco.

I led our team of four down the track never looking behind me and only later did I find out that Jason had taken a mighty fall and very badly gashed his knee and hand on the sharp rocks on the track.

I climbed Pike-O reasonably strongly and was glad to see ‘Team Jebb’ half way up with a drink for the Bingley team.

After the summit my navigation problems came to the fore again. Last year I got a cracking line off here and whizzed down to the finish. I was pretty sure I could remember where to go but this thought quickly vanished as I lost sight of any stud marks in the mud and found myself on a track with a solitary walker. He confirmed my suspicions that I was way off line so I had to throw a left and pick my way back across the fell to pick up the track. I could now see the guys that had summited just before me way below me on the track so set off after them as fast as I could. Then just to add insult to injury I took another wrong line that led me to the top of a cliff face which again meant me cutting back against the direction of travel to pick up the right track - I think I need to recce this bit!!!

Eventually I found my way down and following a mad dash through the campsite and along the road crossed the line in 2 hours 30 mins and 51 seconds. This is a great time for me being 5 minutes quicker than last year but I would have liked to have dipped under 2-30 and think I would have done had I not taken the scenic tour off Pike-O.

The crowning glory of this race is the hot Cornish Pasty and pint of Theakstons XB that’s waiting for you at the finish - what a way to end a hard day in the hills….

27/09/09

Just arrived back from Barcelona again where I was competing in a European Track Cup meeting at the Olympic velodrome.  We arrived there on Wednesday night and were pleased to find it was a lot hotter than Manchester!!  The next day was spent on the track, where I did a couple of rolling efforts and a standing effort to open up the legs.  I was pleased to find that my legs had finally woken up after feeling rubbish the past couple of days! We then rested up during the afternoon, we were staying in the Barcelona University accomodation which was just across the road from the track, so was pretty handy!

Friday was the first day of competition, with the 3k individual pursuit in the morning. I qualified fastest in 3.49 so was in the final for gold and silver in the afternoon, against a Spanish rider.  I was pleased to do a decent time after so little preparation and on an outdoor track.  The final didn’t go to plan, as I’d decided to ride a bigger gear, which I never really got on top of so ended up finishing 2nd.  However, I was still glad I’d tried out the new gear, as there is so little racing opportunites for the pursuit so its important to try new things, especially with the Nationals coming up in a few weeks

After the pursuit final was the scratch race, so I was pretty knackered by then! I rode ok and kept myself in a decent position throughout the race until the last 6 laps when I made a few mistakes, meaning I lost my position and so was never in contention for the sprint at the end.  Came 11th. 

The points race the next day was even more disappointing.  I didn’t score a single point, despite trying a few times to take a lap and attack the sprints.  I simply didn’t have the legs, and the fact I hadn’t ridden a bunch race on the track for almost a year definitely showed.

So…a mixed bag results-wise! Pursuit was promising but bunch racing definitely needs more work! Got another hard week of training though so I’m hoping that my fitness will improve and better results will come!

lost in the first round of the British Open, the sports oldest event and most prestigious. drew chris ryder of england (world 35) and lost in 90 minutes 3 sets to 2..

following this i played in the windsor squash champs and with a relativly comfortable passage to the semis, defeated english duo joel hinds and phil nightengale to claim the title..

next up is world teams in denmark where il be hoping to continue my run of 11 matches unbeaten for ireland. tough task but will do my best

Hi folks - sorry it’s been a while since my last post - I’ve just been soooo busy!!!

Firstly, as I’ve now been officially voted in as Junior Fell Manager at Bingley Harriers I’ve decided I need some formal qualification to back up my real life experience so I’m working towards my level 2 Fell & Mountain Running Coaching qualification. When I signed up for this I suspected it might be just a case of showing your face and listening to a few dull lectures then picking up your certificate - NOT SO - this is a serious qualification that takes some serious commitment - and I’m really glad about that as to me that makes it worth trying to achieve.

I’ve done my first weekend’s course which was delivered by two fantatsic senior coaches from UK athletics and will be attending my second weekend in November after which, assuming my practical coaching logbook is up to scratch and I pass the exam, I’ll become a qualified UKA FMR2 coach - sounds good eh…

My plan is to use my qualifiaction to deliver some fell coaching starting in the new year to Bingley’s juniors (& seniors if they want it) with a view to getting more kids out training and racing in the hills.

Last week I took my first coaching session which I really enjoyed and I think some of my athletes thought was OK as well. I need to do at least 6 of these for my logbook writing each one up before and after the session and getting constructive feedback from those I’m coaching!!

Last weekend it was the 3 Peaks Cyclo Cross - an annual event that I think is both ridiculous and fantatsic in equal measure. Cyclo-cross is really the foreruner to today’s mountin biking and in the early days folks used bikes that were effectively road bikes with knobbly tyres. Today’s cross bikes are a little more advanced with better brakes (some now using disks) carbon forks / frames and wide gear ratios but fundementally they are still a road bike with skinny 700c wheels / tyres and drop handlebars.

I’ve done the peaks 7 times now and, until last week, had never had a single puncture. I set off hoping for a sub four hour time which is a 1st class award and felt pretty strong over the first hill (Ingleborough) - my descent was trouble free and I even managed to only lose a couple of places on the road round to Whernside (always my weak point). The second climb went OK and I took on an energy bar whilst battling with my pal Pete Jowett as we crossed the summit checkpoint. The descent off Whernside is always a real puncture hotspot with folks all around you frantically pumping up tyres after pinching tubes on the unforgiving stone flags and hidden rocks.

I picked my way carefully off the hill and, using the experience gained over 6 previous circuits, got some good lines and pulled out a minute and half on my mate Pete by the time we saw our mates at Ribblehead viaduct. Off I went thinking only about keeping the pressure on down the road to Horton when disaster struck. As I went through the crowds at Ribblehead I suddenly felt the back go a bit squashy and at first I thought I’d ridden through mud but looking down I saw I’d flatted. I sneaked behind some spectators so Pete couldn’t see me and changed my tube.

This really threw me as I knew I only had hand pump pressure in my back tyre which means that the road section would be slightly slower and I had to tackle Pen-y-Ghent lane on a less then perfect set up.

As I started to climb the lane I could feel the sharp rocks pressing against my rear wheel rim and was constantly waiting for the hiss. Thankfully it never came but as I turned at the summit I knew the descent would be difficult. Sure enough as I was making my way gingerly down towards the final road section, probably putting a little too much weight on the front to save my rear tyre, there was a big bang/hiss and my front tyre blew out.

There’s little more demoralising than sitting there spannering your bike as all your competitors come flying past on their way to the finish.

Anyway, having fixed my second puncture I made way along the road to the finish crossing the line in 4 hours and 11 minutes. I’ll never know but I reckon this year if I’d have stayed mechanical free I’d have broken the 4 hour barrier - oh well there’s always next year….(by the way I’ve already ordered a pair of Landcruiser tyres which are fast becoming the weapon of choice for 3 peakers - a bit heavy but tough as old boots).

This week it’s light training in prepartion for the Langdale Fell Race next weekend - a 14 mile 4000 foot trot around some of the finest scenery in the lakes.  I’ve done this race twice before and had decent runs both times so I’m looking forward to it.