Isabel, The Trust's Projects Coordinator tackles the Original Mountain Marathon
13 Jan 2011
Last year, Isabel Berry, The Trust’s Projects Coordinator, took part in the Original Mountain Marathon – a two day marathon-type event in which teams navigate their own route through some of the most wild and remote locations in the UK. It’s a world-famous event, with around 1,500 pairs of entrants, which tests its competitors’ endurance, self-reliance and outdoor skills to the limit. Here is Isabel’s story:
This was my first OMM, which I did with Adam (an ex Outward Bound instructor) and we were particularly excited about this event as it was taking place on Dartmoor, which is home territory. There are two different classes or levels at which you can enter the event; we entered a ‘score’ class meaning that we had a set amount of time to visit as many controls as possible. Each control is worth a different number of points, if you are late finishing, you lose ten points for every two minutes that you are late. Needless to say, strategic route planning and great navigation skills are vital. Competitors carry all their own kit, including tent and food for overnight camping, and the lighter you pack, the faster you travel.
On the first day, we had five hours to get our controls and our points per control ranged from 10 to 50. We picked an approximate route, giving ourselves plenty of options, and headed out to begin the race. Distances between controls were quite long, around 2-3 km and our first was at the top of a tor. There were decisions to make about whether to follow longer routes on easier ground or strike out across really rough ground for the most direct route. We tried the latter and it was so rough that we soon changed our minds and opted for the longer, easier route and stuck with that strategy, as in the end it worked out to be faster.
Normally the north moor of Dartmoor is void of people, but with nearly 3,000 competing, there were far more around than normal. Despite this, for several kilometres at a time, you and your teammate could find yourselves alone. We had a little time to spare in our plan, so decided to go for one extra control. This made time tight and we had an exciting finish to the first day, arriving with just 23 seconds to spare before our finish time! We camped with around 1,000 others on the edge of the moor - quite an experience! Getting to the water tap was exciting in the dark with hundreds of guy ropes to trip over. We feasted on freeze dried lamb pilaf, and apples and custard for pudding, and were fast asleep by 9pm.
The next morning became a mad dash to get to the start pens on time. With four hours, a completely new map and a new set of controls to visit, we picked our route and headed out onto the moors. The wind was up and the intermittent drizzle became a non-stop downpour. Despite the weather, we found we were really motivated, and fuelled by Mars Bars and malt loaf, we moved much faster and more cannily than the previous day. There were bogs, hills, river crossings and plenty of navigation inbetween. We finished with a comfortable margin this time and headed for a hot lunch, along with lots of other wet, tired and exhilarated finishers.
I told myself that I wasn’t keen to do an OMM again - it was hard work! However, a couple of days later I found myself wondering where the OMM would take place next year, if I might be able to train better for it and if we could improve our score. It was a real challenge, in which I pushed myself and my boundaries to the limit completing it. Now my world feels larger, my enthusiasm for life is greater and my appetite for more is even healthier. I’m looking forward to next year already.
