OMM Lite 2015 – Peak District
The OMM Lite is a fairly new event and takes its name from its bigger brother “the” OMM (Original Mountain Marathon). OMM Lite is for runners and is twinned with OMM Bike for the mountain bikers on the same weekend. We thought it might be a huge event on the scale of the traditional OMM, but were pleasantly surprised to find that it was small and friendly in nature, just 31 running teams (11 in OMM Lite Long plus 20 in OMM Lite Short), and 44 mountain bike teams (24 in OMM Bike Long and 18 teams in OMM Bike Short).
The “Lite” concept extends to the kit list and the weight of the rucksacks fortunately. Waterproofs and first aid are still mandatory, but tents and sleeping bags are left behind on the recreation ground in Bamford which acted as race HQ and campsite for the whole weekend. On the Short Score competition Keith and I had 5 hours on day 1 and 4 hours on day 2 to collect as many controls as possible, sticking strictly to footpaths, bridleways, and minor roads. When entering we decided that we would not take it too seriously for all the usual reasons (inadequate training, injuries, getting older etc. etc.), but would just enjoy the magnificent scenery of the Peak District as we jogged around the landscape. At least, that was the plan until we hit the inevitable dilemma point on day 1 where we had to decide if we could risk one more control that would take us further away from camp. When making these decisions, Keith is always the optimist and I take the role of realist (some would say pessimist). On this occasion Keith prevailed and we duly punched for an extra 30 points, only to realise a quarter of an hour later that it was going to be tight to finish within the allotted 5 hours. Soon the need to minimise time penalties had become the most important thing in the whole wide world, and a desperate chase was on. It is so hard to supress the competitive urge! Eyeballs out we eventually charged into the finish almost 3 minutes late, resulting in 3 penalty points being deducted from our total of 350. Any disappointment arising therefrom was quickly dismissed when the results showed that we were lying 4th out of 20 overnight, and only 33 points behind the young and fit leaders. Not bad for a couple of old crocks, hey!
Day 2 was almost a repeat of the day one experience, although with two added attractions. Firstly we had unbroken sunshine, and secondly it was Keith’s 73rd birthday which the organisers marked with a round of “Happy Birthday to You” at the start! Out on the terrain we were again seduced by an extra control, a juicy 50 pointer just west of Eyam (the “Plague Village” – well worth a visit). On the ascent out of Eyam up to the lofty heights of Sir William Hill the effort was really beginning to tell. As we crossed back from the White Peak (limestone country) to the Dark Peak (gritstone terrain) I thought we would start to accelerate. But unaccountably Keith seemed to be having trouble running downhill, even though this is something that he is normally much better at than me. Fortunately the competitive spirit kicked in again and, being the warrior he is, he just blanked out the pain. The last 2 km were on a riverside path, and looked a doddle on the map, just the route to claw back some time. However it had all sorts of little inclines, up and down the whole time, as though it were playing a practical joke on us. Had we been fresh we would hardly have noticed, but at the end of a hard weekend it was a real struggle for us both. Focussing on the watch seemed to help, the threat of penalties motivating us to push harder. Coming into the recreation ground the world around us became a blur, and we finished with a surprisingly comfortable 37 seconds to spare and another 280 points in the bag.
It turned out that we had slipped to 5th overall, but with 627 points to the winners 705 we had easily justified our existence, especially as we seemed to be the oldest team by quite some margin. Although there were prizes for the first 3, plus first female, first mixed, and first family team, unfortunately there was no veteran’s classification at all. However this was a very minor issue in what was otherwise a very well planned, organised, and enjoyable event by the OMM team.
There are short videos of some of the action at https://www.theomm.com/events/ then click on OMM Lite Spring (running) and OMM Lite Bike respectively. The next OMM Lite and Bike is 19th/20th September 2015 and will be based at Richmond, North Yorkshire, another beautiful area. If it’s half as good as the Peak District edition it will be well worth the long journey north.
Figure 1 - Keith on his 73rd birthday chasing down that oh-so-tempting 50 pointer