The Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon has a reputation as being a beginner friendly MM, allowing novices to experience the same mountainous terrain and navigational challenges that feature in any MM, but in a more condensed area and with the luxury of refreshments at the Mid Camp. The SLMM, much like the RAB, has a solo category – the Klets course – along with some longer standard courses to challenge the more experienced runners.
Day 1
Entering the Klets course meant that Adam and I would spend the weekend independently testing our hill fitness, route choice and navigation skills. An added twist for this year’s event, held at Wasdale Head, was that all of the Klets competitors would have a mass start, involving an exam room style race to mark up the maps before deciding on how best to divide the 22 controls into two days.
Entering the Klets course meant that Adam and I would spend the weekend independently testing our hill fitness, route choice and navigation skills. An added twist for this year’s event, held at Wasdale Head, was that all of the Klets competitors would have a mass start, involving an exam room style race to mark up the maps before deciding on how best to divide the 22 controls into two days.
Having run together in a number of MMs over the last 3 years, inevitably Adam and I chose completely opposite routes!
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| Day 1 routes |
Adam chose to pick off two outlying checkpoints around Great Gable before taking a clockwise route to the midcamp, leaving a shorter more direct run back over familiar terrain to the finish on Day 2. I chose the more popular option to take an anticlockwise route, picking off 14 checkpoints and leaving the flatter run around the south of Wast Water for Day 2.
Once again on a MM the MWIS forecast was far worse than the weather we experienced, with cloud above the summits and a light breeze to keep us cool all weekend.
Within the first hour of running Adam and I both had reason to doubt our route choice. With Adam questioning his decision to pick off the outliers as he ran back in the opposite direction to the majority of the Klets field, I didn’t have time to explain that I was now working my way back through the field. I had dropped from 1st to almost last having over shot the very first control!
After playing catchup up over the next few controls I began to struggle on the climbs around Seatallan. Here the route choice was more interesting with a variety of options and order to pick up eight central controls, depending on which you planned on leaving for Day 2.
Generally I seemed to pick efficient lines and the rest of the day passed quickly, I ran pretty hard over the grassy tussocky terrain catching back up with Mark Ford after seeing the presumed leader, Ant Emmitt, heading back towards us up Seatallan. I pulled away from Mark over the last few controls only to lose my advantage on the penultimate checkpoint by looking for the control at the wrong point (note to self – check control description, and mark the control number on map).
Mid Camp
Mid camp was great – the sun was out, friends were arriving from different directions and each joining in with their mid camp routines in the luxury of the afternoon sunshine. Adam arrived an hour or so after me and we began discussing the day’s events whilst enjoying our beer and milk and a luxury nights sleep, with twice the usual space having each carried our own tent.
Mid camp was great – the sun was out, friends were arriving from different directions and each joining in with their mid camp routines in the luxury of the afternoon sunshine. Adam arrived an hour or so after me and we began discussing the day’s events whilst enjoying our beer and milk and a luxury nights sleep, with twice the usual space having each carried our own tent.
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| Andy Burton, Adam and Jonny Muir enjoying beers in the sun at midcamp |
One advantage of this year’s Klets course was that it gave us the chance to accurately plan our route for Day 2, with everyone knowing which controls each had left. Adam and I took advantage of our new knowledge of the terrain to help each other plan efficient lines for Day 2 routes.
Day 2
The fact that no-one really knew who had done what or where people sat in the field proved a hot topic of conversation and meant that Day 2 really was a case of pushing as hard as you could, then wait and see how things unfolded as people downloaded at the finish.
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| Day 2 routes |
Taking identical lines, Mark and I used other as a means of stretching the pace over the rugged but runable terrain. We had soon pulled away from those following who had taken the same route on Day 1. A number of people had shorter days than us, having already picked up our second control of Day 2 on Day 1. Mark and I began to catch them up despite making two small mistakes, one on the way to and one locating a control on a bend in a gorge.
From here on in it was a 12km push to the finish. In one particularly boggy section my legs struggled to maintain Marks pace, but some strong contouring and a fast run in to the finish into Wasdale allowed me to pull away and take 4th place in 9hrs18m, 16minutes behind the winner who had chosen a more balanced day 1 and day 2.
It had been a fast paced and short weekend of racing, starting at 7am on day two and taking only 3hrs25mins to finish, unusually I was one of the first back to the finish. Adam did, unfortunately, suffer from his decision to pick off the outliers on Day 1 but finishing in 14th position, despite the additional distance and climb, reflects how well he was running.
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