Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon - the connoisseurs mountain marathon

Friday Evening

by Jon Brooke

As Mark Twain once said (I think), "I apologise for having to write such a long letter, I didn't have time to write a short one" - which is my excuse for making this report a bit briefer than the last two - however, the real reason is that I've been too busy taking pictures in the fantastic conditions the runners have been experiencing, first on Clisham, the highest point in the Outer Hebrides, and a feature on the Elite, B and score courses today, and secondly at what is probably the most picturesque overnight camp of any mountain marathon ever. Period. Full stop. Don't even bother trying to think of a better one.

One story that really needs reporting though is a first for the LAMM and also an example of how the connoisseur's mountain marathon is also the child-friendly mountain marathon. Jasmin Paris, who wrote about running whilst pregnant (right up to the day of the birth of daughter Rowan) asked if it would be possible for her mum, Alena Vencovska to bring Rowan into the overnight, not least because she is still breast feeding. There then followed some discussion between Martin Stone and Alena, firstly to establish if it was a goer but also to come up with a protocol to make sure that Jasmin didn't find out anything about the overnight that would give her an advantage, given that she is an elite runner. Indeed she is currently leading the score course with husband Konrad Rawlik - Rowan is very pleased.

Rumours of a crèche at future LAMM events are, however, unfounded, though there has been talk of a soft play area at the overnight.

There is more news, but alas I've run out of time if you want to read it tonight because webmaster Andrew Leaney is about to leave the overnight and trek for an hour to the nearest road so that he can upload this, the scores and the competitor reports.