Original Mountain Marathon 2024
In October I competed in the 55th Original Mountain Marathon, and what a brilliant couple of days out I had. You may read “Mountain Marathon” and think this event is only for the fittest people on the planet. Admittedly, there are some very fit people who take part in this event, but not everyone. The beauty of this event is that, unlike a traditional road marathon, this event isn’t just all about out-and-out fitness. Fitness helps obviously, but this is also a test of navigation, hill skills, planning, wild camping and generally looking after your self in the hills. So this isn’t a race where everyone lines up at the start and runs 26 miles as fast as they can – that would be boring, wouldn’t it?
To start with there is a range of courses divided into linear and score. The linear course has the competitors run from point to point, using their navigation skills to get around a circuit and there’s a short, medium and long course – all on a time limit. The score course sees competitors gathering as many checkpoints (called controls) within a given time limit as they can – so the distance you travel is really down to you and your ambitions. On there score course competitors can go where they like and visit any control they choose, each one offering different amounts of points, while hoping to get back within the time limit. There’s a short, medium and long score course. The race has to be run in pairs and each pair must spend a night out wild camping, carrying all the food they need as well as camping gear. The event has been held every October for the last 55 years and each year is held in a different mountainous location, somewhere in the UK.
There are other events like this but, as the name suggests, this is the original and best. The great thing about this event for me is that it isn’t purely about fitness; it’s about navigation skills, route choice, mountain sense, being self sufficient and efficient in the mountains. These are the bread and butter skills of mountaineering, the skills on which all other mountain skills are based – if you can get these skills right, you can go anywhere and also compete well in an event like this, even if you aren’t superhuman. This is a great British event and long may it continue, take a look here for more info.