The Year of Megolomania

The highlights of ‘93 would arrive in the form of three ultras, all totally different from one another and all with a degree of total commitment from mind and body.

May arrived with thoughts of competing in the Isle’s of Jura Scottish Peaks Race, this has turned out to be something of an annual event as Mel Scobie and myself would be participating for the third year in succession. What a tremendous thought, sailing from Oban to Troon and in between stopping at the Isle of Mull to run Ben More, then on to the Island of Jura to tackle the three Paps, and after a pleasant sail around the Kintyre Peninsula (well maybe), it’s up the Firth of Clyde to beautiful Arran for a romp up Goatfell before nipping across the Clyde to Troon for a quick shower and long drink, or is it the other way around? Well, this is what the Scottish Peaks is all about and last May Mel Scobie and I were hoping to be part of this adventure, but with less than a week before the good times rolled and with the adrenaline running, the yacht’s auxiliary engine decided to have an unscheduled rest and needed major repairs - maybe next year.

As May ran into June the disappointment soon ebbed with the thought of our forthcoming attempt at the Bob Graham Round down in the Lake District. This is not a race, but an attempt to ascend 42 Lakeland peaks covering a distance of 72 miles with a total ascent of 27,000’, and hopefully to complete the round in 24 hours or less.

We chose the weekend of the summer solstice for the attempt, this being 19th-20th, June and probably one of the most popular weekends for making the effort, but at this time of the year the weather can be unpredictable in that area. Anyway, we set off down to Keswick early on the Friday evening with Allan Graham (Lomond Hill Runners) and myself who would be making the attempt, and Gordon Pryde with Richard Gatehouse (both LHR) who would be our helpers. These helpers were vital because they would meet us at each of the four road crossings that the route traverses and supply us with the necessary food and dry clothing if needed.

We decided to start our attempt at 1am on Saturday morning at the Moot Hall in the centre of Keswick and working in a clockwise direction (either way is acceptable), but the majority attempting the ‘round’ that weekend started at midnight. The first leg up Skiddaw then over to Great Calva and onto Blencathra, before descending down to Threkald and our first meeting with our helpers went quite smoothly with the day breaking at about 3.30am. Food and drink was taken on board before the next leg. It was shortly after the ascent on Clough Head at the start of the Helvellyn range (which encompass 10 more peaks) that the weather changed to damp and misty conditions. This made progress slow as the terrain is quite featureless and compass work had to be exact or you would lose considerable time back tracking.

It’s quite amazing what unexpected company you come across at anytime day or night when running across hill ranges, etc. So we were not entirely surprised when approaching the summit of Raise at about 7am that out of the mist appeared a dog from behind a cairn, followed immediately by its owner to see what had startled his canine friend. After a brief stop to note the time of arrival at the summit (time noted at every summit), these two early birds decided to run our way along to the next summit. During our brief encounter, it transpired that this athlete, who lived in Carlisle, had decided to have his usual morning run a little bit earlier than usual as his wife had a shopping trip to Manchester for that morning. That’s dedication for you! Anyway, just shortly after our farewells the weather improved which gave us a pleasant, steady run over the last five or so peaks and then down to the road at Dunmail Raise at about 9.30am for a welcome break for food and a change of clothes, etc.

The third section heads west over to Wasdale Head, and is the longest section with some fifteen peaks to encounter and some big ascents and descents to negotiate. It was in this section that we overtook a group that had started at midnight and with our confidence growing we pushed on to try and make up some time that we had lost on the last section. All went well until about halfway across this section. We had just left the summit of Bowfell when the entire weather pattern changed from being mild and overcast to strong, cold westerlies which brought with it rain and sleet. These conditions prevailed for the rest of this stage and once we had conquered our second last peak of this stage (Scafell Pike) we knew we had a paramount decision to make. Whether to attempt to cross over from Scafell Pike to Scafell then descend into Wasdale Head for completion of this section, or descend between the two peaks down a gully with a 3,000’ straight descent into Wasdale Head.

The problem was that to get to the summit of Scafell you have to negotiate a 10 metre vertical slab which is quite exposed in normal conditions, but in the conditions that we where in at the moment - rain, sleet and strong winds, and also having battled against these elements for the last three hours or so, Allan, who had successfully completed this round last year, advised me that the risk was too great. So, after sixteen hours of effort with 50 of the 72 miles covered, 32 of the 42 peaks crossed and 19,000’ of climb, we chose the escape route down to Wasdale Head where Gordon and Richard (our helpers) where delighted to see us in one piece. After a quick change and some food we headed for the campsite at Borrowdale, erected the tents, then down to the pub for some refreshment and discussion on what had gone before. In fact that evening, we learnt that quite a few groups had retired for similar reasons or was it just plain cold and fatigue? Ah well, let the Guinness flow and maybe next year.

Normality returned for the next few months with the usual hill races, etc. but this ended soon enough with the post one August morning. There amongst the junk mail was confirmation of our acceptance for the KIMM (Karrimor International Mountain Marathon), which was to be held on the weekend of 23/24th, October and the area for this years event would be the Lowther Hills - Upper Nithsdale and Queensberry, with the event centre being Drumlanrig Castle which is situated about ten miles north of Dumfries.

The race is for teams of two and the object is to test the team fitness, equipment, navigation ability and ability to traverse mountainous terrain in safety, over a period of two days. From start to finish on the second day, including the overnight camp, the team is a self-sufficient unit, responsible for its own safety and well-being. Outside help cannot be sought or accepted, unless the team has retired or is seeking help for an injured party. My partner for the prestigious event would be Adrian Davis, who is a veteran of two KIMM’s of which one was in the elite class, but this time we have dropped down to the ‘A’ class.

The few months that preceded the event soon passed by and before we knew it we were travelling down early Friday evening to the event centre at Drumlanrig Castle which is five miles north of Thornhill (GR-852-992), to register and have our equipment checked. Hugh McGinley and Paul Moody of the Lomond HR were also competing that weekend (B Class) so it made sense for us all to travel down in one car, especially as the four of us were staying at the same B & B in Dumfries that night. On the way down it was decided to stop somewhere for a meal and some refreshment, the place we chose was the Alan Ramsay pub at Carlops which is about ten miles south of Edinburgh on the A702. We highly recommend it to anyone who is in that area, the meals are excellent with ample portions and they pull a good pint of Guinness.

We arrived down at Drumlanrig Castle for registration at about 10pm and the sight that greeted us was formidable. There were people with head torches everywhere, but I guess with over 1,400 teams spread over five classes, that works out to over 3,000 runners taking part, and not to mention all the marshals that were required. The whole place was chaotic.

Our start time for the race was set at 8.30am so this meant being up at six o’clock to have breakfast and be up at the event centre no later than 7.30pm, as we had a 4km walk to get to the start. This event does not have a mass start to the race but teams from all classes are started at one minute intervals from 8am onwards, we were lucky to have an early start as the later ones were not getting away till around 9.30am. Maps for the competition area are handed out the night before at registration, but your course description sheets are issued at the end of a short marked route from the pre-start area on race day as planning time is part of race time. Course description sheets contain all the information that relates to the course you have to take, grid references of control points, description of these control points and sequence in which controls must be visited, etc.

‘ A’ class teams on Day 1 had ten control points to visit which worked out to a straight line distance of 35km and over 2,500m of climb, but in reality the distance was nearer 45km. None of the checkpoints was sighted on the summit of hills but in sheepfolds, rocky outcrops, re-entrants or stream sources, etc. This made route planning that bit more difficult, whether to go over the hills or contour round, stay on the high ground or drop down.

Our pre-race plan was to walk all the climbs and run everything else but I knew within the first hour that this was going to be a long hard day. Adrian knew something was not quite right but to his credit did not try and push me, he just kept up the chat to take my mind off self-analysis. As the hours rolled by we were finding our control points without too much difficulty. Our route planning was good in so far as we did a lot more contouring than going for a more direct route ever the tops. This not only saved time between a number of control points, but also more importantly saved energy which is essential as the race is over a two day period. Day 1’s course sent us east of Drumlanrig Castle into the Queensberry Hills, and then north to the Lowther Hills for our last three check points before camp. My fitness did not improve or deteriorate as we proceeded through the day so our pace stayed much the same throughout. So, a little after 9½ hours after starting the day we made the overnight camp which was a field by a stream tucked away in the south-west corner of the Lowther Hills (GR 853 088). The site itself was rutted and sloped away down to the stream, so our first priority was to find a suitable pitch to erect the tent, then get the stove going for some well dressed hot food and drink, and of course get some dry clothes on. For all the cuisine freaks out there our evening meal was as follows - savoury rice was followed by tuna mixed with mashed potatoes (packet). Our pudding consisted of custard and semolina mixed (packet) poured over rich fruit and nut loaf (homemade).

The following morning we were abruptly awakened at 6am by a tannoy blaring across the site, but amazingly most of the teams were already up and having breakfast. The fastest finishers on Day 1 started at 7am and the rest of us started in groups at five minute intervals from 8am onwards. This gave us that bit of extra time to pack everything away neatly. The start was about a ten minute walk from the camp and again the course description sheets were issued at the end of a short marked route from the pre-start area. Day 2 course was similar to Day 1 with ten control points to visit, but about 5km shorter and most of the area we covered was to the west of Drumlanrig Castle in the Upper Nithsdale Hills. By contrast to the previous day I felt myself wanting to chase and run and keep up with the pack. I felt the strength in my legs, which was lacking the previous day. Adrian was amazed at the transformation and needless to say his smile was from ear to ear. We started to push the pace almost immediately from the start and covered the first two checkpoints over a minute faster than the team that finished 4th overall. The long haul between checkpoint 2 and 3 was made in a time of three minutes slower than the third fastest team of the weekend. Yes, we were certainly making up for my mediocre performance the previous day. So as if to prove the point our performance between checkpoints 3, 4, 5, & 6 worked out to an incredible five minutes faster than the team that finished 6th overall that weekend. Adrian and I were really beginning to enjoy ourselves now. In fact Adrian was joking with me along the lines that I needed a good warm-up the day before a big race.

Needless to say we couldn’t sustain this pace and the nearest we came to matching the leaders to cover the remaining checkpoints from six to ten was seventeen minutes behind the team that finished 9th overall. Overall, our total time for day two was five hours and fifty four minutes, which worked out to one hour slower than the overall winners - Steve Sharp and Nick Bateson. We were thirty nine minutes slower than third-placed Jack Maitland and Paul Sheard, in fact we were 37th fastest of the day and had day one been similar to day two Adrian and I would most certainly have finished in the top thirty, but I guess that’s the ups and downs of ultras. For the record our position after Day 1 was 81st and after Day 2 with both days combined our overall position was 63rd in a total time of 15 hours 28 minutes 11 seconds.

My memories of the whole weekend are many, especially the sight that greeted us on Friday night at registration - over three thousand runners plus marshals and helpers, and on Sunday at the finish as we were running through the ground for the last couple of hundred metres to the finish line, in front of the castle, there seemed even more people with friends and family arriving that day. The Earl of Dalkeith commented at the prize giving as he welcomed all competitors that, "Not since Bonnie Prince Charlie arrived with his troops in 1745 have so many people descended upon Drumlanrig Castle on a single day". A historic gem, a compliment to the skills of the organisers and to the way that competitors conducted themselves on the weekend of the event.My thanks and commiseration goes to Adrian Davis for putting up with me for two and a half days, even though his porridge was indefensible and slightly tainted of sodium chloride - sorry Adrian. Also, thanks to Dave Francis for many useful tips prior to our Bob Graham attempt and also to Tom Ross to whom I am indebted for the loan of his sleeping bag compressor which allowed us to carry even more food.

Joe Holden - Fife AC