(Ed: The race later became known as the IOM Mountain Ultra or Isle of Man Mountain Ultra)
It was late August that I received an email stating that I did have a place in the MMM, which left little time to make arrangements. Nonetheless I managed and was ready to go, albeit nervously. With a week to go I started to feel the cold excessively and by the Wednesday it was obvious that I had a virus of some sort. I resolved to travel anyway as it was too late for refunds, but I did not feel optimistic about being fit enough to run.
Port Erin Bay
I arrived in Port Erin on Friday, checked into the Falcon's Nest and after a quick pint went for a walk on Bradda Glen. I felt "remote" from the event and was worried about transport to the start in the morning so when I saw someone flagging the route's finish I introduced myself. The someone, who introduced herself as Jackie, was a young woman with the poise of a model, natural good looks and a warm smile. I later found out that this was Jackie Lee who in addition to the foregoing qualities can run like, well, Jackie Lee - Ladies winner and course record holder. Jackie promised to confirm transport for me later.
I rose at five for the six o'clock taxibus to Ramsey. I was not sure whether the headache and fuzziness I felt were due to the virus or the fact that I had hardly slept for several nights. I decided to give it a go, I would quit at the first safety check if it all went wrong.
We set off along the seafront then swung right and uphill past Ballure reservoir and plantation and onto the fells. The first punch at 4.6km was on North Barrule (565m) 564m above the start! The west wind on the ridge must have been force 6 or 7, making it difficult to make the clips and gloves went on all round.
The wind continued, some runners dropped lower for shelter even though this meant more heather bashing and extra ascent. After the second clip we dropped 130m before ascending Snaefell at 616m for the third clip and a total of over 900m ascent in 10km.
The wind tore at my eyes so fiercely that I could not see properly so I waited for those just behind me and then followed. As we descended to the safety check at the Bungalow (and a little respite from the wind) I realised that there were going to be some unique navigational problems and hoped I could keep locals in sight. I forgot to consider retiring.
By now I had come to realise that this already very tough event was made a lot tougher by the terrain. There were bogs, rocks, bogs with rocks and miles of heather bashing. Where there were paths, they were boggy and sometimes extremely narrow and deeply channelled. Sometimes these deep channels were hidden by heather top growth. There was very little in the way of paths for the next 5 checkpoints. The descent off Greeba (CP8) was via a deep, narrow, slippery channel hidden by gorse instead of heather for some painful variety. One competitor slipped here, gashing a knee badly, and had to be rescued. This descent took us right down to 27m.
I waited for a local runner just behind me, at the end of the Greeba descent, he was closing on every descent and the wait took less time than getting the map out. This was a good decision, we stuck together for the rest of the race, him pacing me on the level and descents, me setting the pace on the ascents. As we went through the safety check at St. Johns I dutifully considered retiring but decided not to.
My companion, Dave, wanted to wait for his support for a short while at St Johns so I set off through Slieau Whallian plantation alone. I missed a marker on the flagged route, when I noticed my error and retraced my steps I found Dave waiting for me at the turn! Now that's good mannered. More heather up Slieau Whallian where we caught another runner at the clip. He pulled ahead and out of sight on the (heather) descent.
There was now a short road section past some old mine workings as we headed to South Barrule and checkpoint 10 at 35.5 km. South Barrule marked a turning point as the route now swung west towards the coast. We caught the same runner as before and again he surged ahead on the descent as we turned west towards Cronk ny Arrey Laa and the coast. The views now became spectacular.
We passed the same runner on Cronk ny Arrey Laa and Lhiatee ny Beinee summits and again he surged away on each descent. I lost sight of him completely as we descended into Fleshwick Bay
The last ascent, of Bradda Hill is only 200m but is very steep, some regard this as the cruellest part of the race. Just as our ascent started, the sun made a real effort and we were glad to feel the wind again at about two thirds height. We followed the scary coastal path, "with caution" as the route description advised, until we met the flagged route to the finish.
We finished together in 9:14 by my watch (confirmed). We were greeted by Jackie Lee who would have finished hours earlier, but was still around to marshal and congratulate us instead of taking a well earned rest.
Dave and I shook hands and remade the acquaintance of the fellow we had passed and been passed by so many times. He said that he had not finished that far ahead of us, but as the finish was nearly all descent from Bradda Hill he had made some time.
By the time I had caught my breath my head was streaming and I was coughing and sneezing, the revenge of the virus. I headed to the Co-op for crisps, a sandwich and LemSip capsules. I then pulled my windproof trousers over my filthy legs, took off my muddy shoes and headed for the hotel bar. Thus disguised I enjoyed a pint of beer (with quite a few similarly disguised people as it happened) before my shower .
Again I was reminded of how poor my descent technique is. If I could raise my game to the level of other runners who spent similar total time on the course, without losing my ascent speed, I could be nearly a couple of hours quicker than I am! Descent will be the focus of my training for the foreseeable future, this will mean more travelling at weekends. Unfortunately that will have to wait until this virus, which has already meant two days off work this week, has cleared up
I really enjoyed my stay on the Island, everyone was so friendly, people seemed content and got on with things in a no fuss way. I will be back.
I made this traditionally 31.5 mile, 8000' ascent race, 30.25 miles and 8808.6' on this years course. I later realised that this was not just my first long "category A" fell race, but in fact my first "category A".
There is a feature on the MMM at manxathletics.com
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