I ran the RAB Mountain Marathon in the northern fells of the Lake district last weekend (27-28/09/08), accompanied by my mountain marathon partner from Northumberland Fell Runners, Paul Hainsworth. We did the RAB (a new event in its second year) mainly as training for our first attempt at the Elite category of the OMM (formerly KIMM) later this month. We were blessed with fine weather which made the navigation a lot easier and the hills a little easier to climb. All the courses were on a 'score' basis which means you have to choose your route and visit as many checkpoints in the time allowed - which for us was 7 hours on day 1 and 6 hours on day 2.
The bare stats are that we ran 24 miles on day 1 and climbed over 6500 feet and ran 17.5 miles on day 2 with over 4,700 feet of climb. We were pleased to finish in 12th place out of the 28 teams in the Elite class. I expect the OMM to be much tougher in all aspects but this was a very useful 'dress rehearsal'.
Also from NFR, Dave Hicklenton and Phil James finished 15th in the 'L' class and our friends from Tynedale, Rachel and Phil Vincent finished 10th in the Elite category.
Geoff Davis
results on Dark and White website
