LAMM 2007 Monday morning wrap up

The end of a great event

In total 405 teams (out of 502 starters) completed the 2007 LAMM at Glen Lochay. The high success rate was partly a reflection of the benign weather – very fine on Saturday and overcast but warm (with some late showers) on Sunday.

The low drop out rate was also a reflection of the terrain, which had a lot of grassy runnable slopes, and – of course – of the quality of the competitors!

Teams appreciated the carefully designed courses, which Angela Mudge had planned to maximise route choice. For instance, on the B course the second leg on Day 1 could be a six-mile track run with a big climb at the end or four miles of contouring through the hills.

Unfortunately, one teams’ navigation went wrong even before they reached the event. Martin Stone tells the story, “They phoned me at 11.45pm on Friday night to say they were at the Kyle of Lochalsh. It seems they had driven past Crianlarich three hours previously and were running out of fuel! They hadn’t looked at the LAMM website for directions but had found on a map an Auchtertyre and Kirkton near each other in the far north.

“I told them to head back to Fort William for the night then to come down in the morning after getting petrol, and that we would then make sure they got to their start, even if they were late.”

This was just one instance when the LAMM organising team went out of their way to accommodate the needs of competitors. Altogether it’s a very flexible and friendly event, which makes full use of the long mid summer days.

The last team on the Novice course made full use of the light – they were out for 22 hours in total, 11 hours and 21 minutes of them on Day 2. Two marshalls waited at the finish for them when everyone else had gone to the pub.

In fact, the real unsung heroes of the weekend have been the marshalls, as I write this on Monday morning a pack of them have headed back out into the hills to take in controls, including one on the summit of Creag Mhor a 1047m Munro.