Sunday Sunshine For The Survivors

Rob Howard / 30.10.2017

Those who made it to mid-camp at Cockley Beck in the upper Duddon Valley after a ferocious day one of the OMM faced a windy night on a damp field as a reward for their stamina, endurance and navigational skills. It was a more sparsely populated campsite than expected too as the retirement rate was very high, especially on the fixed route courses.

The fierce winds continued into the early part of the night, bending a few tent poles, but had fortunately dropped by early morning, and the runners awoke to clear skies and the promise of a bright sunny day. There was still a chilling cold wind to deal with and competitors setting off were wrapped up in all the clothes they had, with hoods wrapped tight and gloves on.

Once again the starts were staggered through the morning and as the later competitors set off the sun made it over the Coniston Fells and lit up the Duddon valley, and for the rest of the day the skies were clear and the Lakeland views crystal clear – what a contrast to Saturday!  A game of two halves indeed.

While Saturday favoured the nagivators, Sunday was a day for the runners, if they had the legs left to make the most of it as they made their way around the courses back to the finish in Langdale. This was a magnificent setting for the 50th race and all the runners were welcomed back into the venue with hot and cold drinks and food.

There were few changes to the leaders on day 2, with most of the day 1 pressing home their advantage.  In the prestigious Elite category it was defending champions Duncan Archer and Shane Ohly who raced in for back-to-back wins in a time of 14 hours and 19 minutes over the two days.  It was their 3rd win altogether as they also won in 2011 and they join two other pairs who have 3 or more elite titles. (Derek Ratcliffe and Pete Irwin have five, and Mark Seddon & Steve Birkinshaw were also 3x champions.)

Ohly stressed how team work is key to their success. “I think it is one of our greatest strengths that we can swap navigators when we need to and pull each other through when we are suffering.  Either of us can set the right strategic pace, pushing it when we need to.”  They finished ahead of 7x Elite winner Steve Birkinshaw, who was racing with Andrew Berry. Only 10 teams successfully completed the full elite course, including one mixed pair, Kim Baxter and Dave Sykes.

Another mixed pair, Zoe and Quentin Harding won the A class comfortably and there were only 8 finishers in this category, while the B class fared better with 55 finishers and was won by visiting international pair Magnus Andersson & Daniel Ljungdahl.  Tom Elliot and Chris Barton held onto their lead in the Combined Class, and there were only 6 teams who won their full certificates in this class.

The Score classes fared better with competitors able to choose their routes in the rough weather and in the Long Score the experienced pair of Nick Barrable and Darrell High were dominant, finishing with 130 more points than their nearest rivals.

Mixed pairs dominated the Medium Score with half of the 10 finishers and the winners were Jonathan Davies and Nicola Mason. In the short score overnight leaders Simon Kingston and Andy Fry just held on to win, despite being out-scored by 7 other pairs on day 2.  Their performance on Saturday was just enough to carry them through to the win.

By the time the last finishers came in the sun had long since dropped behind the hills leaving Langdale in shadow and dropping the temperature even further, and all who made it back to cross the finish line there will remember their experiences at the 50th OMM in Langdale for a long time to come.

You can find all the results, videos and more on the event at www.theomm.com.

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