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I didn't get the chance for a chat after prize giving,
but just wanted to say thanks - in the 27 years I've been doing
mountain marathons, this was the best and most enjoyable. I know
the need to pull it a few years ago must have been frustrating,
but it was well worth the wait.
Patrick Bonnett
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I wanted to thank you for the effort and for putting
on such a brilliant event. It was my first MM and I had an absolutely
fantastic time… I am usually an ultra-person, but this was
just brilliant and I have been boring everyone stupid with stories
about wild deer and only one fence in 45km, and drinking stream
water and bagging my first Munro and heather as coarse as wire
brushes and bog that you can sink to your knees in and midges
and the piper waking us up and the amount of daylight there is
up there…. Absolutely brilliant and well done to each and
every one of you!! Thank you so much it was something I will always
remember, even if I struggle to pronounce half of the names of
the mountains and hills.
John Moreton
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I am writing to say thanks for a fantastic experience
earlier this month. The terrain was rocky and in places steep
but the appeal of running in the mountains is why we came. As
well as the hills, the people we met were incredible. I had watched
the video of the Strathcarron LAMM from 2014 over winter and particularly
liked what the two veteran LAMM runners (Dave Thomson and Keith
Bell) had to say about their experiences over 20 years of competing.
It was delighted that we got to chat with them on the friday night
after making camp. It was also a pleasure to share the experience
with a close friend (steven feltbower) who I have run with for
over 5 years as it gave us both a new and ambitious goal. Steve
has a lot of orienteering and hill running experience and this
transferred really well to the LAMM. I have come from a background
of Munro-walking and Hill-running. Neither of us had competed
in a mountain marathon before. We were both extremely pleased
that this year's LAMM was held in the Northwest Highlands. The
last time I had come to this part of Scotland had been a solo
trip taking in An Teallach and a couple of the Fisherfield peaks.
As well as needing an excuse to come back I had wanted my friend
Steve to see it and experience the magic of the NW Highlands.
Your route planner (Andy Spenceley) did a fine job. The organisation
from start to finish was superb, you have thought of everything
from the pre-race information, music and food on the friday night
to the stunning location at Loch a' Bhraoin (and porta-loos!)
to the prize-giving and chance for everyone to celebrate this
years LAMM. It is truly a remarkable achievement to have put this
all together and I do thank you for coming back after a break
to do this. Thanks again for a wonderful weekend and no doubt
we'll be back next year.
Eliot Sedman
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I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say thank
you. I ran D this year, introducing my eldest son to mountain
marathons for the first time. I just had the most amazing weekend
and I know you now have another future competitor in my son, who
loved it too. Thank you so very much to you and your team. I've
done other MMs; yours is the best. This year was my favourite
so far. The location (and the weather) and the people really made
it quite special. It seems so relaxed but I'm guessing it must
be quite a challenge to organise! I hope you are resting your
feet with a beer in hand. You deserve it! Please keep up the great
work. Be seeing you.
Andy Cook
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Welcome back to you and all the team. A great thank
you for an outstanding event. The courses were excellent the terrain
challenging (hence a 36 min late finish in the score). But you
have captured what mountain marathons are about, not commercial,
fun tough and demanding! The race info on the website captures
the essence of this fun and detailed. I was especially grateful
of the allowance for gps watches on track mode. I can honestly
say I did not use mine to navigate but have already began analysing
where we went wrong this was an excellent choice thank you for
allowing it. All the staff were helpful polite and smiling. It
was great to see the LAMM back and it is the premier race. Long
may it continue!
Andy Lewis
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Best LAMM I've done. 10 out of 10 for everything.
Maybe biased because I think NW Highlands is such an amazing landscape.
Scotland is the only place in the UK for a proper mountain marathon.
We send a really big thank you to you, and all the team, for putting
on a fantastic weekend for us competitors (we did the easy bit).
I know you had some challenges but you seem to have the skills
and experience to make things happen, despite any obstacles in
your way. It was my daughters first LAMM and she absolutely loved
it.
Paul & Amelia Hunt
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Thanks for a brilliant event. I would just like to say thanks
for the great weekend and all the hard work that you put into
organising the LAMM. We had a fantastic weekend and I wanted to
give you some direct feedback. The level of organisation is just
right and not overbearing as it seems to be with some other races
- please keep it up.
We thought that this years D course was just right - good length,
interesting enough and challenging at that level for new starters
and people with worn out knees! Due to advancing years we dropped
down from the C to the D course in the last race (over 30 years
of MMs) and felt that in Strathcarron the D course was way too
long. This time it was spot on and it was good to be able to tell
the planner that at the mid way camp (you may remember talking
to us as we were first to download). Day 2 was just as good.
With the really challenging nature of the Strathcarron D course
we were worried that new, younger competitors would get put off.
It was a pleasure to see some younger teams really enjoy this
year. We have noticed that the average age in all MMs seems to
have been creeping up, and entry numbers down, and I would hate
to see it decline as a sport.
Sincere thanks to all of your team who make this happen - please
carry on! Everything was right this w/e - and the toilets at the
mid way camp were phenomenal! Hope to be back next year.
Jon May
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Good morning, I'm hoping it's dry in Scotland today
for the control collecting... No need to reply as I'm sure it's
a hectic tidy up week. I just wanted to say thank you, thank you
for delivering, as always, an event that's not only professional
and challenging but somehow manages to keep a unique, intimate,
calm and utterly delightful atmosphere. See you in 2018 :)
Amanda Crawshaw
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Just a quick email to say thanks very much, to you and everyone
who made it possible, for a fabulous weekend. An amazing intro
to MM-ing for my daughter Lucy, and a memory that she is sure
to cherish for a very long time (and not just for the spectacle
of my unexpected 'swim' just half a mile from the finish). PS
I can't believe that I let 15 years pass before following up on
my own LAMM debut - shameful!
Jim Hart
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Thanks again for a superb weekend, one of the best areas possible
and well worth the wait. For me, the LAMM is a class above the
other mountain marathons in the calendar for the terrain and scenery
is first class, along with a seemingly very smooth organisation
team. Challenging courses all round, we enjoyed the D class, leg
3-4 on day 1 for route choice will live long in the memory. Yet
another stunning remote midcamp and a great day 2, tricky by the
descent to control 3 and a jaw dropping setting of An Teallach's
large eastern corrie at control 6. Well worth the 9 hour journey
from the North West of England. It has been suggested for future
that a little more time be given for announcing the venue, maybe
a week before, to help plan the logistics of the journey up North.
Thank you Martin and all of his superb helpers. See you at LAMM
2018.
Darren Baker and Michelle Spencer
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Just a quick note of thanks for an excellent weekend
again. What an absolute pleasure to be racing around the "Great
Wilderness" and environs, a real tour de force for the LAMM
and spectacular return to form after a couple of difficult years
for you, I'm sure. I managed to secure a conference in Switzerland
this week so ended up flying from New Zealand to the UK a few
days earlier specifically to compete - the toughest part being
driving from Winchester to Dundonnell - and, as ever, had a fabulous
time in my favourite mountain area of the world. Your vision of
the LAMM is extraordinary: there's quite some audacity in setting
a race through the Fisherfields and Fannichs (especially with
some fairly sporting river crossings in bad weather!). Really
happy memories that will live with me for many years. Particularly
a cheeky lochan wade to a checkpoint on day 1 of the score class
while everyone else was battering the long way around through
heather on the shoreline! As always the event was friendly, supportive,
sporting and with great attention to detail. Particularly impressed
with your ability to organise good weather for the halfway camp
and enough wind to blow away the midges!
I had a quick count up and am proud to have been to Black Mount,
Glen Shiel, Kinloch Laggan, Glenshee, Mull, Glen Lochay and Strathcarron
events previously, usually with red and white tape on the tent
just in case. The LAMM remains a fabulous weekend, and completely
unlike anything I can get in NZ. Thanks so much for organising
over the years - and particularly for such a great weekend this
time. I just need an excuse to come back next year :-) Many thanks
again Martin - greatly appreciate the hard work!
Ben Brockway
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Thank you ever so much for another superb event. We really enjoyed
the course and visiting a new part of Scotland that we hadn't
been to before. It was good to finally get my brother along to
do his first mountain marathon (after years of trying) and his
comments summed it up nicely: "Event was great… amazing
terrain and landscape… lovely people and atmosphere…
weather was very kind…"
As an organiser of events myself I find it hard to believe just
how much time and effort it must take to put together an event
like the LAMM. I am amazed by what you and your team must have
to do, to lay on an event like this and to ensure it runs smoothly.
Hats off to you and all who helped out. The efforts of everyone
involved were very much appreciated. Hope you are able to find
a bit of time to take a well-deserved break!
Daniel Carrivick
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Thank you very much for a terrific weekend…I
wear my t-shirt with pride and it has already been much commented
upon, both by those 'in the know' and others alike…
Jonathan Carrivick
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Just a short note to thank you and your team for
a wonderful event organised this weekend. I would not call myself
a veteran but I have done a number of mountain marathons; this
weekend was without doubt the hardest but most rewarding I have
done. Clearly a lot of the success of a MM is the setting and
you picked a beauty there. Not sure why Peter Jackson went all
the way to NZ to film Lord of the Rings, he could have seen Middle
Earth this weekend.
Tom Sidaway
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Just to say a huge thanks to you and your team for
the 2017 LAMM - another fantastically organised event in a superb
location. Thanks for all your hard work.
Susan Blackwood - who took part in the first LAMM
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Thanks for a great event and my favourite mountain
marathon!
Bill Johnson
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That was a splendid weekend in the Fannichs-Fisherfield
area, brilliantly organised, and a welcome return of this great
event. Thank you very much for all you put into it. Looking forward
to next year.
Graham Arthur - Organiser of the Bens of Jura Fell Race
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Just a quick note to say how much my mum and I enjoyed
the LAMM, thank you. It's a cracking event, and very special.
I don't think it will be a problem to attract 500 teams in future
years, it just needs a bit more publicity via social media channels.
Happy to help out where I can in this regard. I've done a small
write up, which will feature in 'Part 1 of Adventures of the Bump'
on my blog.
Jasmin Paris
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I would just like to thank you personally for a
truly fabulous weekend and what must be one of the best running
events anywhere. It was my first LAMM and I hope the start of
many, many more. Indeed this is also a plea for a LAMM 2018! And
I'm sure after the great success of this year there will be great
demand for it. The amount of work you (and your team) have put
in to ensure this was a success is most likely mind boggling,
but it really is appreciated.
Pete Curtis
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Just wanted to thank you and the team again for
another fantastic event. A beautiful area which sounds like it
has produced some serious logistical headaches! I think the LAMM
is probably the one event where you are surrounded by likeminded
people. Really pleased to see it back on the calendar this year
after a few years break and looking forward to next year already.
Hopefully I'll be fit again to tackle the elite...
Alex McVey
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What a fantastic event it was. I put some photos
of our wanderings onto facebook and they received a superb response.
- even from the "non believers".
Ian Hay - who marked control sites, deployed controls and
collected them in
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I just wanted to say a big fat thank you. Myself
and my brother had a really great time. The only problem is that
getting back to the office seems a little dull when what I really
want to be doing is puffing up a hill or sliding around in a bog.
Anyway, thank you very much. It was worth waiting for.
Jonny Woods
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Just a quick email to say many thanks for a superb weekend and
also the loan of the dibber… An Teallach is one of my favourite
bits of Scotland so it was wonderful to be there and with such
good courses in terms of route choice, plus a quality beer afterwards
(well when I got home). Many thanks again, 100% worth it.
Sarah Rowell
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Fabulous event. Super course. Very well organised. Really enjoyed
it.
Christpher Barnes
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Many thanks for another excellent event and glad that it has
got even better after the long 'sabbatical'! Had I known where
it was to be I would have planned to stay in the area and am always
happy to collect in CPs. A huge thank you to all the helpers.
It was good to have the traditional MM route choice with definitive
CPs, though CP3 on day 2 would have been challenging without visibility.
We enjoyed the lack of people on our routes, particularly on day
2 with our very early start. We did get crag fast on 2 occasions
on day 2 due to unmarked crags in the Fannichs
I forgot to ask at the o/n camp if anyone had picked up a blue
Salomon collapsible water bottle between CP 1-3 on A on Saturday
or even if anyone on other courses may have seen it on Sunday.
More concerned about the 'litter' than the bottle.
Wendy Dodds
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Well done, again! Everything seemed to go really well. Hope you
can enjoy some well-earned rest! Here's the quotation I mentioned:
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people and
don't assign them tasks and work but rather teach them to long
for the immensity of the sea [and hills]... Antoine de Saint
Exupery
Hillary Spenceley - LAMM Marshal
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I am sure there will be lots to do today but I wanted to write
and say thank you for an awesome weekend. I am sure everyone really
appreciated all of the effort that goes into this. I hadn't done
a MM before so was looking forward to it with a mixture of excitement
and fear! My partner did the C course ended up taking a big detour
early on which set us back quite a bit, we then ran into some
proper weather mid afternoon on the tops. We ended up doing 30k
all in so not a bad day out by any means and definitely a learning
experience for next time. Out of interest was the D course less
technical? If you are able to I'd be interested in seeing the
coordinates for it. Hope everyone got back safe and sound.
Alan Thornburrow
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Great event this weekend - congratulations! Brilliant area. We
have never been north of Fort William/Inverness before. Beautiful
wide landscape with impressive mountains, waterfalls, etc. We
enjoyed the score event. Quite tired the second day, but managed
to squeeze out a few points.
Looking forward to the next one! Thank you
Erwin and Janneke van Vroenhoven - Organisers of the Kong
Mini Mountain Marathons
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I wasn't a competitor in your Fisherfield LAMM, but I did have
serious envy seeing you guys as I left the area on Saturday morning.
I hope your event went well, with no mishaps, and beers and medals
all round in the evening. I did An Telleach the day before (Friday)
and I'm up for a RAB MM later this year. Althought I thought my
running days were behind me, I'd like to have done yours.
Simon Kay
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Martin, six of us came up this year, with two more promising
to be back next year having missed this one. I have been on the
LAMMs since 2004, and each one has been fantastic. But I could
not believe the map this year - what an area to race across. Thank
you so much to you and your planners and marshalls for a perfect
weekend.
Lawrence Rowland
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What an awesome weekend, loved the mystery start, the view-tastic
route and everything else about it - worth every minute of the
9hr drive with a baby and grandparents!! Thank you organisers
and marshalls, you're amazing.
Jacqui Hawkins
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Firstly I would like to thank you and the LAMM team for organising
such an incredible event that my Dad and I thoroughly enjoyed!
It was my first ever ultra marathon and I am now 100% hooked!
I am planning to compete in another this summer and will definitely
be back next year for LAMM 2018 to compete with my brother. It
was one of the most incredible weekends my Dad and I have shared,
full of unforgettable memories and laughs (only a few tears!).
Thanks again!!
I hope you like the photo! We took it at checkpoint 3, day 2,
course B. The most beautiful spot on the course.
Issy Steele
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Having done my first back on Arran in 1996 and few inbetween
this has been one of the best course a true classic from route
selection to the scenery. I will continue to try to encourage
old friends to put on their fell shoes and come along next time.
Thank you and your team once again.
Pat Blythe
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Thank you for a great weekend. So pleased the LAMM is back. The
country was amazing, the new score penalties really focussed the
mind and the prize giving rounded everything off. I know how difficult
it is to gain the estates permissions, thank you for your efforts
it really is worth while, it's a great event.
John Vasey
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I just wanted to say a huge thank you for organising LAMM this
year. I did take part back in the Arrochar Alps event and have
done my share of OMMs and Highlanders over the years but LAMM2017
was special. The weather, the setting but most of all the atmosphere
- band, beer, food and a general friendly buzz of excitement.
I had a punt at A class for the first time, running for the first
time with a new running partner. I am training to run across Scotland
on trail over 6 days, 40miles a day, in September - just me and
a friend - raising money and awareness about the work Maggie's
centres do to support people with cancer and their families and
friends. LAMM was part of the test to see if 10hrs of running
was possible day after day. You did not disappoint. Two epic days
on A class.
Corri Black
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As somebody who has planned a couple of OMM's myself I thought
I would share some feedback on the Planner's performance and courses.
I haven't read anybody elses as of yet so these are straight off
my pen unadulterated. I did the SCORE so only refer to that course.
I thought day 1 was excellent in its planning in that there were
numerous options that could be taken with variants at every control
in terms of changing strategy. Most options offered a route to
the overnight camp that would get one in on time. I for example
are well clapped out age wise and chose the 50 pointer and got
in on time. That was not my best option I consequently found out.
There were many conundrums and risks on day 1 such as how to get
the 40 pointer beyond the overnight camp and get back on time.
It was well done I think and worth applauding.
Day 2 was somewhat more limited with the usual problems of one
hour less and a reasonable slog from the OC back to the finish.
Again a good choice was on offer with the day before's 40 pointer
being a red herring that would not allow time to go up the hill
above the OC if taken. All in all well planned and the terrain
was difficult to exploit on day 2 as it is actually dangerous
in places. The only slightly negative comment I would make is
that the route down the waterfall on day 2 was very risky and
in bad weather and poor visibility there may have been incidents.
Worth considering for future events as I recall a similar risk
at Strathcarron when the event was there on day 2 with dangerous
travels through crags on direct routes.
All in all a very well planned route. Andy did the event justice.
You might want to consider at least 20% extra toilets next time
and a cover or gazebo for socialising around results would be
good in bad weather. Minor points and I know it's windy and not
easy to erect cover.
Michael Stewart
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Thanks to you and your team for running an amazing event. This
was my first mountain marathon and I had an absolute blast. The
amount of organisation that must have gone into running it staggers
my mind. Well done and thank you to you and your team. Can't wait
to get my T Shirt. I'm going to wear it all the time, even when
I should probably change it and my friends and family start to
complain about the smell.
John Mair
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A bit late but THANK YOU for such a great event. How is it that
I - the writer of books on how to navigate - goes and gets a grid
ref wrong ….. a bit slip shod but influenced by someone (mention
no names) who said you couldn't get down to the stream junction
below the waterfall from the top!! So I just ignored it and plumped
for the stream junction above. Heh ho! Despite that we were so
glad to be there in such tremendous landscapes. I hope you will
do another.
Carol McNeill
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I want to thank you all for putting up such a great competition,
the area was both astounding and powerful.
Michael Lönn
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