Rab Mountain Marathon 25th/26th September

Set off on Saturday morning at 5:30am for the drive up to Bampton (approx 5m NW of Shap) with a mixture of nervous excitement and intrepidation, the day finally dawning for the start of my toughest challenge yet. With the promise of some fantastic weather I was hopefully going to get to see some of the views I missed last month on my 'practice go'.

Should have seen the size of the map we were given! I spent a good 15 mins plotting my route for the first day, only some of the controls were active on Day 1 and you had to be careful not to score nil points for finding the wrong control. A maximum of 6hrs was allowed for Day 1 on my course and points were taken off for being late back on an exponential scale. If you were over 30mins late you lost all your points for the first day.

The overnight camp was in the Martindale Common area and my Day 1 route took me from the start at Drybarrows to Measand Beck and continuing along to Longgrain Beck to then up to contour round High Raise and over Rampsgill Head. A drop straightdown (very exciting!!) to Hayeswater and then on to Lingy Crag above Hartsop and then finally onto Beda Head and down to Dale Head with enough time to collect one last control on the other side of Rampsgill Beck. Total time 5hrs 41mins , 150pts and approx 12.5m and 3500ft (ish). One very elated TF. Unfortunately for many, the penalty points kicked in and numerous teams finished with nil points for their efforts at the end of day 1.

Tent up, kettle on and time to study the map for Day 2 in between my three courses of Soup, Chili with Cous Cous and Sticky Toffee Pudding (home made) and Custard and of course a half bottle of full bodied Rjioca (had the most alc/vol at 14%).

Day 2 and 5hrs time limit to get back to near where we started the day before. Although you could work out potential routes the night before, you weren't given the sheet with the points on until you crossed the start line. So again a bit of time spent plotting with my piece of string. I sent off back up to Beda Head across over to Hallin Fell and was on my way to a 25pt control near Arthurs Pike when I decided it would put me to far out to get back in time, so bailed out and headed straight up to one on top of Brook Crag (instead of getting both). A contour round the north of Loadpot Hill to drop down to Cawdale Beck round to Drybarrows and a compulsory control and finally followed a taped section to the finish at The Howes. Total time 4hrs 35mins, 95pts and approx 10.5m and 3800ft.

Not as good a day tactically on Sunday as Saturday, but the whole experience was absolutely awesome, got in all the views I missed in August and saw my first Deer in the Lake District (4 Sat, 6 Sun). Can't wait for next year!

So how did I do compared to everyone else? Well a lot better than most, in fact better than half of them. On the standard course with my total score of 245 I finished 133 out of 268, was 5th Female Vet overall (of 20 teams, solos & pairs) and 3rd Female Vet Solo. Results and some photos are on www.darkandwhite.co.uk .

TF