The coaches leave from the shinty pitch, we opted for a 9am departure, couldn't see the point in an early one, prefer a leisurely Scottish breakfast (porridge and then a cooked......Russ, listen and learn, this is how it should be done :-) ).
The coach takes us along Loch Laggan to the car park at the foot of Creag Meagaidh, here we are dropped and just a short walk leads us to the start. As soon as we 'dib' the clock starts ticking and we take our maps and control sheet; we spend a few minutes marking maps, checking each other to ensure no mistakes and then head off to control 1, a 2 metre boulder on the North side of a plantation. This is a little tricky, despite the number of teams around us, but we are careful and soon find the kite.
From here I take a contrarian route, across the river and climb to the path for easier running, which I think would suit us. We follow this to control 2, a steam junction which we (ok, I ) over-shoot very slightly, but we are level with teams that we were with at the first control.
From a here we are heading to the Window, a snowy col and control 3, before a climb to the summit of Stob Poite Coire Ardair, our fourth control and at a height of 1053m.
The weather is great, the views fantastic and we are, at times, in deep snow - fresh on top of old, but this makes for good running. We were given a bearing to take from here so that we avoid some steep and deep snow slopes, probably unstable too !
A long run on good snow leads us to control 5 on a knoll and then an up and over, followed by a contour to control 6 at a lochan. We run with Andy Burton, Inov-8 sales rep, for a while, it's good to catch up. We are running well and working well together but, as is always the case in MM's, we have no idea how we are doing against other teams.
Controls 7, 8 and 9 can be taken in any order but, to me, there seems an obvious choice, the ground is harder going, below the snow line, and tussocks; despite this we continue to run well. It has now clouded over but conditions are still good and we can see the finish. Good fast running and a boggy section right at the end, and in front of the camera, brings us to the day 1 finish.
A cold wind is blowing, so once we have had our free meal in the marque we put up the tent and head to the river for a very cold wash ! It's a very relaxed overnight camp, a ceilidh, beer, catching up with Nic and Winter and, good news, we are 4th and 1st in category, so in the chasing start and get a lie-in.
After a good nights sleep, and not too cold, we wake to hear rain on the tent ! But this often sounds worse than it is, then the usual routine - long wait for the loo, breakfast and then tent down and rucksacks packed. It's good to head into the marque, another coffee and a few minutes before we are called to our chasing start.
We have numbers on our packs, C4, these act like targets! Day 2, From Garva Bridge leads North to our first control on an obvious summit, just below 600m. 1 to 2 is a big leg and the cloud is down, difficult navigation and some big patches of snow, tricky but we concentrate and do well. We head down to control 2 at a stream junction and take great care, skirting the snow bridges.
2 to 3 is straight forward and then another long leg to 4; hard going over tussocks ground, wind picks up and in cloud at times. I change plans, and forget to communicate this to the team !, but this works well, a little more climbing but better terrain.
4 to 5 is down and then steep up, with a tricky river crossing in the middle. The wind picks up as we climb and then it starts to snow, wet snow ! We make it to the summit, at 884m and then it's all downhill to the finish. We are racing with C3 which adds to the fun, controls 6 & 7 pass quickly and then a mad dash to the finish at Laggan.
We have done well again, 4th on day 2 and 4th overall, 1st mixed vets. A great weekend.
After prize giving, coach back to Newtonmore and then drive home, via an enjoyable stop in Pitlochry.
More photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8693607981/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8694727386/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8693605817/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8694725310/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8694724228/
We have numbers on our packs, C4, these act like targets! Day 2, From Garva Bridge leads North to our first control on an obvious summit, just below 600m. 1 to 2 is a big leg and the cloud is down, difficult navigation and some big patches of snow, tricky but we concentrate and do well. We head down to control 2 at a stream junction and take great care, skirting the snow bridges.
2 to 3 is straight forward and then another long leg to 4; hard going over tussocks ground, wind picks up and in cloud at times. I change plans, and forget to communicate this to the team !, but this works well, a little more climbing but better terrain.
4 to 5 is down and then steep up, with a tricky river crossing in the middle. The wind picks up as we climb and then it starts to snow, wet snow ! We make it to the summit, at 884m and then it's all downhill to the finish. We are racing with C3 which adds to the fun, controls 6 & 7 pass quickly and then a mad dash to the finish at Laggan.
We have done well again, 4th on day 2 and 4th overall, 1st mixed vets. A great weekend.
After prize giving, coach back to Newtonmore and then drive home, via an enjoyable stop in Pitlochry.
More photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8693607981/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8694727386/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8693605817/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8694725310/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80790068@N03/8694724228/
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