We started off by looking at a rather different remote area. However, after some preliminary armchair planning we decided that this particular part of the Highlands would impose several restrictions that we did not wish to have this year. So we started our search again and threw a few ideas around. Martin then suggested the area around Black Mount. Time was starting to press and a decision had to be made rather rapidly if the event was to take place. What we all have to be grateful for is the superb support and assistance that we received from all those associated with the four estates. It was a pleasure to work with them throughout.

Planning now started in earnest which highlighted a problem with the map. Originally we were going to use the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map. Unfortunately this was not acceptable. There was so much black on it representing rock that it was impossible to see the contour detail. In addition, the black did not represent the ground accurately. Another problem would have been the size. Last year’s map was large, this would have been even bigger!

At this stage we decided to use the standard 1:50,000 enlarged to 1:40,000. This was not covered in black and was much more suitable for our purposes. Although it did not have some of the finer detail I hope that you all found it satisfactory. Debbie managed to adjust some of the detail where it was important.

The area is probably the severest that any mountain marathon has been held in. There are about 12 Munros on the map and the area abounds with crags. Personally, I feel that it is difficult to hold an event like this in a more difficult area, and do it safely. Several of the shorter courses were changed after my initial visit to in March. Although it is fair to put the Elite and A over most types of terrain because they have the experience, this is not the case for C and D. Most of you will have noticed Beinn nan Aighenan (known colloquially as Ben Agony, pronounced Ben Ain) opposite the Mid Camp. Originally both C and D were to traverse across this. What the map does not show is that all the burns run in deep ravines and there are some cliffs over 100 foot high.

It may interest some of you about the planning phase. Below are some of the definitions and decisions that I made.

The reasoning behind this is that E and A are at the top end. Although A is shorter than E it should still present a top end challenge to teams. Many veterans do the B. They still want the technical challenge but wish the physical side to be not so severe. There is a progression down the scale to the Novice. We expect people who do this class to have some experience of the hills but have little exposure to this type of event. I wanted every course to visit a Munro and all of them to pass temptingly close to others. One team I met visited six. Glen Kinglass divided the area conveniently. This made for a high level route to the north and west for Day 1 and the more technical lower level on Day 2.

One of the problems in going to high mountains is that there is a long climb to the top and equally long climb back down again. It is too easy to have the courses continually going up and down 2000 foot (600 metre) climbs. This I was determined to minimize if at all possible. There is a ridge that goes from the White Corries Ski area all the way down to Ben Starav in the south west. This was an ideal axis for the Day 1 courses. It meant a long climb at the start of the day and the knee joint shattering descent at the end. But in between, teams had enough options to traverse or use ridges, as they felt appropriate.

Day 2 was a lower level, topographically more complex and safer area. Right at the beginning I ruled out using Glen Strae. The area to the east did not offer much incentive and I did not want a 2000 foot descent into the Glen, another 2000 foot climb out of it and then another 1000 foot down and up to get you on the home straight. However, whatever else, there had to be a long climb again at the start of the day.

Another consequence of having the event in an area of this scale is that the legs tend to be longer. I tried to vary leg lengths to give variety. However, I know from past experience that the shorter courses sometimes find the long legs more difficult. I think that this again proved to be the case. The spread of times on the short legs for C and D is proportionally a lot less than on the long legs.

Initially, all courses were to start at the White Corries but this was too far from the Mid Camp for the Novice Class. Originally, the second start was near the bridge 2 Km further downstream from Start 2. We then found that the buses could not turn that far down Glen Etive. As I felt it wrong to have a 4 Km walk to the start, we had a 2 Km walk with a river crossing. We were lucky with the water level. It had been dry for over a week beforehand and the burn was low.

I tried to give as much route choice on the courses as possible. There were the standard options of going over a hill, left round it or to the right. I tried to position controls so that the best route was not always the same option. This to keep you thinking the whole time. However, having selected a route, you then had to pick the best line. There were some legs, especially on the longer courses, where I deliberately positioned controls so that ‘obvious’ route was not necessarily the preferred route.

I shall illustrate these points with some examples.

Elite Day 1 leg 2. The preferred route was to the east of Meall a Bhuridh, into Glen Ba and up the ridge of Sron nan Giubhas. Because the more obvious direct route was rotten going, Debbie put more boulders on the map round Clach Leathad to try to discourage that option. However, I did not find any team that used the preferred route. The penalty for not doing so was about 10 - 15 minutes.

C Day 1 leg 1. This is a seemingly straightforward leg, yet I did not find anybody that took the correct line. From the start everybody who went straight up the hill took a line to the east side of point 864. Look closely at the map and you will see that contour lines are missing and there are several crags marked. The implication is that the going is bad. The going to the west of this point is more gentle and would give a gain of 5 - 10 minutes.

C Day 1 leg 2. Only a handful took the route over the col and dropped down into the control. The majority preferring the track. The differences are 70 metres climb or 2 Km. It was runnable all the way along the contour to below the col, a short climb over and arrive at the control at about the time the others were entering the bottom of that glen. Gain 5 - 10 minutes.

On the Saturday I was on the hill watching teams. It was pleasing to see a wide variation in route choice but it was the line that teams took that interested me most. At one point I watched Elite teams on leg 4. The preferred route was to drop into Coire Chaorach, then head for a gap in the crags and over the shoulder of Meall Dubh. One team I saw took a line slightly higher than I would have done into the corrie. But it was the line they followed immediately under the crags to the gap that gained them several minutes over a nearby pair. Thanks to Mark Seddon and Peter James for their Master Class.

Another interesting line was into E/A Day 1 Control 3. I followed several teams towards this goal. There were about 10 pairs, almost line abreast, spread over a 500 metre front moving into this control. Most were far too high. Congratulations to Wendy and Nicky for being the only pair I saw who read the contours correctly. Those who went too high probably lost 10 minutes.

This control illustrates another aspect of planning. The position was on a featureless hillside. The proper way to find it was to read the contours correctly and have a good judgement of distance travelled. If the cloud had been down, this would have been exceedingly difficult to find. Consequently, I gave a distance and bearing from a feature that everybody should have been able to find under the worst conditions.

The technique given above is one of several that are used to guide you to the correct control. A Grid Reference defines a 100 metre square. From that we have to try to guide you to the exact location under all conditions. The description is most important. We spent a lot of time making sure that these were as accurate as possible. Because of the nature of the ground we had to use contour heights a lot. These were, and must always be, map heights. I know of one or two cases where people used an altimeter and were out by several tens of metres.

Sometimes the map was not sufficiently accurate so a sketch map was used as well.

Setting out the courses for an event like this takes almost a week. It is impossible for one person to do it by themselves. Not only must the controls be put out but they must be checked independently. For their great efforts we are thankful to Angela Mudge, Len I'Anson, Rick Stuart, Brian Dearnaley and Niall Watson. However, there is always a sting. For this I must give my apologies. B Day 2 Control 1 was not in the correct position. It was 40 metres downstream of where it should have been. When I put the control out there was very little water in the burns. In fact many coming off the sides of the hills were dry. I found this line on the hillside in about the right place and the right shape for the burn at the Control. When it was checked doubt was raised as to its correct sighting. I forgot to get a third opinion. Bringing in the Control on Monday after 24 hours rain, the burns were in full spate and it was quite obvious that a mistake had been made. So again my apologies.

Lastly, an analysis of the results.

I found it almost impossible to estimate the speed at which teams would go across this type of ground. What I have found in the past is that there is not a great difference between the rates at which the Classes climb but the longer courses run more and so move faster across the ground.

I was happy with the times for Elite, D and Novice classes but am intrigued that A, B and C have total finishing times that are not dissimilar despite there being significant differences in both distance and height. I have done a few simple calculations, which are given in the table below. The ‘Speed over Ground’ and ‘Rate of Climb’ are empirical values that seem to fit the data. This table may be of help to planners in the future.

Why C was so slow on Day 1 and D on Day 2, I do not have an explanation. However, of all the courses it now looks as if C ended up being harder than I had anticipated.

In addition, what the figures do show is that there is a significant difference between Elite and the rest. I get the impression that this gap is widening with the years.

My congratulations to Alun and Ivor Powell for a superb performance and to everyone who came and participated and made the event what it is.

In addition our thanks go to Robin who helped me during the planning phase, to Mike Greenwood who controlled with an attention to detail that makes sure thinks go smoothly on the day and especially to Debbie and Martin. Without the enthusiasm of the latter there would be no event.