Friday Night Preview

Teams can expect to swelter tomorrow

Photo Gallery | Map of Competition Area

The forecast for the weekend is warm and sticky, so runners are likely to be wearing shorts and T-shirts rather than the waterproofs they needed last year. At 8pm in the evening most people at the event centre are dripping with sweat, so you can imagine what they’ll be like when they start climbing the hills.

The first teams began arriving at 3pm, walking 400m along the West Highland Way from the car parking to the event marquee and adjacent camping field.

One of the first pairs I met were Johann and Christian who had just flown in to Glasgow from Denmark to do the A course. Experienced orienteers and hill runners, they assured me that Danish mountain marathons are pretty tough with a surprising amount of climbing. It’s their first time competing in Scotland, but they have done a number of events abroad before – in Spain, Sweden etc.

I also met “mountain marathon virgins” Kerstin and James Leslie, who are tackling the D course. The father and daughter team have come from Kinross-shire – only about an hour and a half’s drive away.

James said, “Our training ground has been the Ochil Hills, as we live almost at their foot. But maybe we’ve not done enough training – we’ll find out tomorrow.”

As teams have registered they’ve been given a start time for the morning. This year they can have a bit of a lie in, as the first starts are later than normal at 8am.

The shorter and longer courses are split between two, as yet undisclosed, start locations. Tonight teams are speculating where they will be going over the next two days. This year the LAMM is called Glen Lochay 2007 – but how much should they read into that clue?!

Felicity Martin