OMM 2009 Race Review

And so to the 2009 OMM review. I don't want this to be yet another halcyon-esque rant about the good old days, the big-brother world of today and the ‘horror' of risk-free culture, but 2008 must be mentioned.

Start control on day 1 of the 2009 OMM

Reading Richard Askwith's piece in The Independent (28^th Oct 2008) I remember one element distinctly. Talking about the risks involved in fell-running, he stated damningly that ‘What matters is the opinions of coroners, lawyers, insurers and jurors to whom the self-inflicted trials of fell-running may seem indistinguishable from madness. Organisers - of the OMM and other races - are coming under pressure to modify their events to fit in with what [Selwyn] Wright calls "the risk assessment culture". Many would conclude that it would be simpler, and safer, not to organise a race at all.' Talking of legendary races in the past Askwith mentions that: ‘no one considered his safety to be anyone's responsibility but his own.'  With the amount of pressure stacked up on the organisers of the OMM from the fall-out of last year, I feel it's a satisfying kick in the balls to ‘blame, risk assessment culture' that the 2009 OMM was more vivacious than previously seen. Mistakes had been made in past events by the organiser's own admittance, however measures were taken at this year's event to ensure it is not the case in future.

Blustery conditions with low cloud on the high fells, day 1.

With that in mind OMM organisers brought in a company this year who specialise in providing communications  in areas of the world that they just don't exist, via satellite. As mentioned in the OMM 2009 day 2 report, mountain marathons by their very nature take place in areas of the country where communications are difficult. Therefore a complete infrastructure of comms was set up this year to allow live feeds of the finish line, podium presentations and live results to be fed over the internet to the OMM website. The system also included the ability to use phones through voice over internet protocol, known more commonly (and to the tech guys annoyance), as Skype, which is apparently like saying that a Dyson is a Hoover.

3000 Competitors arrived at Builth Wells Royal Welsh Showground for the start on Saturday morning. With problems encountered last year of the parking area flooding, the decision was taken to arrange the event where hard-standing parking was available for all competitors. All racers were then transported 40 mins up the road to the start of the course, which was located this year just North of Rhayader next to the Elan Valley, mid-Wales. The course was as challenging and extensive as has previously been seen, demanding the need for accurate navigation as always. The organisers of this year's OMM could have fallen prey to creating an easier course that was more accessible than previous years, in fear of pressure from external sources, however true to the principles of the competition, mountain terrain was experienced by all, with plenty of tussocks too!!

Craig Goch reservoir bridge.

Harvey's maps were used for the race and the course, printed in full colour on to a sheet measuring 52x54cm.  1:40,000 scale was used, however a welcome change for some was the 10m contour intervals rather than Harvey's standard 15m, I'm hoping everyone noticed this change. Whether you liked this or not was probably down to whether you come from a Harvey's background or OS.

Slight sunshine causes a rainbow at the start of day 1.

The weather on day 1 started out blustery and wet, rain persisted for the whole morning from first light, subsided around lunchtime and came back in again towards mid afternoon, with the wind persisting all day through the night and through day 2. Conditions weren't particularly awful, however the low cloud made sure that navigation had to be accurate or competitors were very likely to go off-course and/or miss their checkpoints. Retirements from the race were as one would normally expect, with the vast majority of those pulling out being due to minor injuries such as strained muscles, damaged ankles etc or exhaustion. No serious incidents were reported, the worst I heard was a mild case of hypothermia and one competitor with cartilage damage to the knee who was walked off the course to receive treatment.

Overnight camp and download, many comments raised regarding chicken for dinner.

Overnight camp was located at the base of Rhiwnant river at the farm of the same name, just below the Claerwen reservoir. The landowner kindly agreed to around 1500 tents being erected in his field and use of a barn which served perfectly as the day's download base. The barn was also home to medical services, the communications centre and Liverpool John Moores University students, who were granted access to take nutrition measurements of those willing to participate, or those just finding an excuse to stay out of the rain. 

Blurred cloud from wind at overnight camp.

Some competitors arrived in to camp early on day 1 around 1-2pm, having started early in the day and competing in the shorter courses, however runners were still arriving in to base, up to and unfortunately after, the cut off time of 8pm. This meant that they were still allowed to take part in day two's course, but they could not compete for points, effectively being knocked out of the race for their ultimately late arrival on Saturday.

Start of day 2, with overnight camp in the distance.

Day 2 was another early start and with the clocks changing - who forgot? - it was possibly an even earlier rise for some.  With the dawn breaking the wind still didn't ease. Rain was sporadic throughout the day, clearing mostly later in the afternoon. Again a tough days racing was experienced, with the hardest part of the day described by some as the push out of the start area and up on to the hills. Cloud was pretty elevated for the whole day which gave a much easier days navigation unlike Saturday, but the wind still didn't relent.

Extremely muddy conditions at the end of day 2, which proceeded to only get worse.

Coming in to the finish on day 2, I very briefly spoke to a number of competitors as they passed and the general feeling I got when telling them they were only 8-9 minutes from the finish, was ‘oh, is that all' which I took generally to mean, they'd had a damned good time and enjoyed the course over the two days.

Contrasting light with the wind still present,

For an event which is rightly described as the biggest mountain marathon, certainly in this country, the participant level in its own right, shows the popularity that this event receives. Possibly slightly sceptically, I am curious to see whether the popularity and record attendance of this year's race is due to the media attention of last year, but next year will tell us more and as is sometimes claimed, any news can be good news.  

The finish line, warm sun and a brew awaited all who finished.

Normally Jen Longbottom, co-organiser of the OMM gives a sneak-preview piece of information as to the whereabouts of the next year's event, however this year, Mike Parsons admitted that plans were still being scribed for next year and at present no sneak info was available to wet the appetite's of those in attendance. We'll have to ‘watch this space' for any news being realised regarding next year's event, so we'll keep our ears to the ground.

Podium results (In order presented.)

C - Class Winners:

1st - Richard Phillips & Matthew Chapman

2nd - James Bostock & Callum Gilhooley

3rd - Ian Pledger  & Donald Brown

B - Class Winners:

1st - Matt Winn-Smith & Martin Asp

2nd - Christian Karlsson & Jonas Ljungberg

3rd - Ashley Brown & Ryan Kestle

Short Score Winners:

1st - Nick Barrable & Jonathan Crickmore

2nd - Andrew Sutton & Simon Barnett

3rd - John Horton & Mick Anglim

Medium Score Winners:

1st - Steve Wilson & Tony Marlow

2nd - Nick Barber & Ben Crowther

3rd - Matthew Gilbert & Paul Murrin

Long Score Winners:

1st - Nigel Bunn & Darrell High

2nd - Keith Masson & Kenny Leitch

3rd - Stephen Watts & Mark Hartell

A - Class Winners:

1st - Douglas Tullie & John Rocke

2nd - Dave Troman & Simon Patton

3rd - Andrew Fallas & Sam Hesling

Elite Class Winners:

1st - Steve Birkenshaw & Jethro Lennox

2nd - Jon Morgan & Al Powell

3rd - James Logue & Karl Gray

Thanks go to Ark Consultancy and the OMM organisers for allowing us to report on the event.

Full event results are available from the OMM website here>>>

Spectra Group provided mobile telecoms for this year's OMM check them out here>>>

Click for our Faces of the OMM 2009 Galleries:

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

All Images: Dave MacFarlane / planetFear