PHOTO STREAM | DAY 1 COURSES | RESULTS | LEADERS REPORTS

Today’s Race

Early conditions could not have been better for mountain marathoning - sunny skies, a light breeze to keep away the wee beasties and temperatures rising. These remained for much of the day with light showers coming in the afternoon and the breeze picking up in the evening.

Elite Course -  Leaders in the 39Km (1900m climb) Elite Course were Duncan Archer and Jim Mann in a time of 6:24:28.

Alex Keith and Mark Harris were second overall and first veterans in 7:03:09.

A  Course -  Leaders in the 34km (1500m climb) A Course were Tim Laney and Stephen Watts in a time of 7:05:28. This was not what Tim and Steve were intending as they had entered the Elite. Unfortunately they were handed course descriptions for the A Class. They were nicely on their way when they realised this and decided to change classes there and then and continue the A.

Andrew Llewellyn and Sarah O’Neil were second in 7:19:24 and first mixed team.

Steph Jones and Sally Ozanne were first female pair in 8:19:28. 

B Course -  Leaders in the 27Km (1400m climb) B Course were Andy Charlton and Brian Wakeley in a  time of 5:13:12.

Anthony Emmet and Catriona Sutherland were first mixed team in 5:35:39 and 3rd position.

First men’s veterans were in John Dowty  and John Parry-Billings were 9th  and the first  female (and female veteran)  team were Karen Nash and Rowena Browne in 27th position.

C Course – Leaders in the 23Km (1350m climb) C Course were Patrick Wallis and Paul Williams in a time of 4:46:29.

2nd and first mixed pairing were Jack Gomersall adn Anna Wells in 5:18:40. First women’s team was Fiona Berrow and Gill Berrow  in 9th position.

First Mens veterans based on handicap are John Taylor and Julian Lailey with a combined age of 133.

D Course - Leaders in the 20Km (1450m climb) D Class were Daniel Sutherland and Lachlan MacLeod in a time of 6:32:38. This has been the most talked about course, not to mention controversial one, on account of its tough nature  going over some very rugged peaks and ridges. This was reflected in the long winning time and all who trailed in later.

In 3rd postion overall and first mixed  veterans were Sam Gomersall and Lesley Gomersall.
4th and first male veterans were Peter Anderton and Mark Conway. Keith Bell and David Thompson are leading the vets handicap.

First women’ s team were Janette MacLeod and Kathleen Inch in 7th position.

Score Course - Leaders in the Score Course were Kenny Leitch and Keith Masson  with a Score of 331, and first male veterans (not handicap category).

First mixed veteran team and in 7th position were Susan and Ian Blackwood.

First women’s team (and first women veterans) were Mandy Goth and Jackie Scarf with 189 points.  

The Score class seemed to offer a wide range of routes and stretched competitors’ ability to gauge time and distance.

Home Swede Home!

Emil Ljungdahl from Sweden entered the event and his partner had to pull out. Having arranged a weekend pass he flew over anyway, in the hope that he would find a partner. This time the LAMM dating agency failed to come up with a partner and at about 9.30am on Saturday Emil was all set to go out and collect controls.

Meanwhile back on the hill at the start of the B Class Anders Borgerhed and Garo Lorfalk, also Swedes, were in the process of pulling out. Garo felt ill within a few hundred metres. This was reported back to race HQ where Emil was awaiting a lift to his control collecting. Instead he was told to pack his race kit and was dashed to the start in a speeding car by last night’s barman Eddie Speak and paired up with Anders to achieve a day 1 time of  5:47:05 and 5th place. Quite a performance for a team that had had zero time for team bonding and in such fraught circumstances.

A long way to come to find a partner all the way from home.

Munro Bagging at the LAMM

Andrea Stanbridge started Day 1 with 28 Munros still to go. By the time she crossed the finish line she was down to 27. An overjoyed Andrea was wondering whether she might get this down even further tomorrow.  Munros are often more easily collected on the D Class than on the Elite. This is because Munros are used at control features more often on the D.

20 Years on

Also involved since the first LAMM have been Rick and Angela Houghton who provide Compasspoint equipment shop. Much of their business is done on line nowadays but you will find their mobile shop at all major event in Britain and sometimes abroad too. Sue Denmark who at one time used to work for Rick and Angie has run the registration with an iron grip since the first LAMM. Husband John has also been to every LAMM but in the early days sometimes used to skive off to compete. Another former Compasspoint employee Dave Johnstone and wife Val have been to every LAMM. Dave was drafted in at short notice to take charge of the assembly area at the very first LAMM and Val has been close at hand during all the time looking after the LAMM shop selling all those thousands of different coloured Tshirts.

Arrochar Mountain Rescue Team have also been involved since the first LAMM. This was held on their home patch. They enjoyed it so much that they have come back every year since. They deal with lots of minor issues at every LAMM but the most serious incident occurred on the return to their area in 2010 at Loch Fyne. Two competitors were injured, one seriously, in a fall down a rocky ghyll. One had to be helicoptered off for treatment in hospital.  It was that year at Loch Fyne that Tuggy Delapthe owner of Loch fine ales introduced the real ale bar to the Friday night marquee. All proceeds from the bar were donated to the Arrochar Rescue Team. IN subsequent years Martin has kept this going. This year he bought seven 7 gallon barrels from Plockton Brewery and all takings were donated  to the rescue team.

Missing this year

This is the first year for a long time that we have not had Stan and Shirley Bradshaw and Tony and Vanessa Peacock on the team of helpers. Stan is waiting for an operation and Tony has just had one so they could not make it this year.  Missing too is Jon Brooke famous for popping up all over the hills to take photos of competitors and writing pieces like this for the website. Jon is in hospital undergoing some extensive treatment. We miss your unflappable geniality Jon, and wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you at an event in the not too distant future.

Brian Jackson