Ach Dot - KIMM 2004

The Karrimor International Mountain Marathon has a number of different categories. Elite – nae idea whit these folks dae, Fixed route – A,B,C (different lengths) and the Score Classes. The idea of the score classes (long, medium and short), is to plan a route that takes in as many controls (and therefore points) as possible in the allotted time. Fierce penalties are applied if you go over time. Sounds simple enough eh ?

"Fresh" from the Loch Ness marathon at the start of the month Big Lee (aka Dot Cotton) and myself were up for a good hard couple of days in the Long Score event. This allowed seven hours of competition on the Saturday with a further six hours to add to the total on the Sunday. With revised transport logistics in place, we ended up giving a lass called Helen a lift down to Wales from Glasgow. The more she chatted about her previous orienteering exploits, the more we realised we were going to the same place for very different reasons.

The traffic was murder with a tailback which started near Manchester continuing until past Birmingham. Eventually we arrived at registration and Helen went off to find her partner for the weekend. With the ground in the campsite being a little damp, the KIMM organisers had arranged for car parking to be provided about half a mile from the event centre. We opted for a feed at Wilfs before moving anywhere. Met up with some folks that who I knew from previous events - which is always good. Quick debate about dossin in the car vs walking back and forth to the camp and we were tucked up listening to some Jazz on Radio 3. After a few minutes Lee announced “I’m no listenin tae this sh!te” – nae taste that boy.

Next morning we were up and back to Wilfs for breakfast without the hassle of packing a tent a way. The directions to the start were a little confusing – we were able to find different sources of information that indicated either a 45, 30 or 10 minute walk. We took for the safe option and ended up standing about for a while but better that than rushing.

It started well … first control cattled and a fairly good scoring skeleton route picked. The geography was brilliant – unlike anything we had been previously used to. Some of the controls were tucked away deep in sinkholes (of which there was plenty). The route to the second control seemed fairly straightforward … along a ridge, over a small top then descend left to a coll. In the end we chatted too much, drifted right and spent another 20 minutes faffing about until we relocated and got the control in question. Having been brought back down to earth we became a little less ambitious and when we did a quick time / distance calculation opted for a “safe” route to the mid-camp. With two hours still to go we did decide on a wee side excursion to pick up a wee 15 point control. Great running down a grassy ridge to find the control sitting as described “hill north side”. For the first time in five years of doing the KIMM, the electronic punch wasn’t working. With the mechanical substitute punch marked on the map we started a traverse / climb line back up the hill. Ma feet were killing me. The innov8 shoes had been tearing away at my heels and there was no denying that some serious blisters were forming. Dot seemed to gain some smug satisfaction in my increasing level of complaints. We dropped down to the Llyn y Fan Fach (the wee loch below Mynydd Du aka Black Mountain) and I dipped my feet in every available bit of water trying to take the burning sensation out my heels. By this time the mid-camp was getting close. Another two controls and a watch check indicated that another side trip for an additional 10 points was possible. I looked at Dot and he reply “naw” before I even read out the description. We decided on a “get a guid pitch at the camp” strategy and ran down to the muddy track leading to the finish. The printout showed we had completed Day 1 with 40 minutes to spare – not exactly “long score” eh ?

The campsite was good – level ground, not too boggy and a supply of water. Tent up and a brew on. I checked my feet to find my left foot worse than expected i.e. seeping blood. Much compeed and moaning later Lee seized the opportunity to transfer the Dot Cotton handle over. To keep a little Germanic flavour “Dot” was prefixed by “Ach” and every moan was then met with a cry of “Ach Dot” for the remainder of the weekend. Sometimes to rub salt in he threw in “aye – wait tae the Big Yin hears o’ this”. A check of the results board indicated we weren’t even in the top 100 !

Next morning it was race time again. Plan was to try and improved our position or hold onto it at least. Looking at the map we had two options … heavy first half then head for the finish or take a fairly direct line to the east side of the course then pick up as many controls as we could later on. My feet (unsurprisingly) hadn’t improved overnight … it was going to be a long day. We seemed to be doing ok for the seven controls then I had a gnome moment. I had scoffed everything I had to eat within easy reach on the rucksack and had to dig into the main section to refill the pockets. Stupidly, the bag containing the food was … at the bottom. This meant a complete unpack / repack. Frustration soon turned to anger … which only served to slow the whole process down. In total, this took at least 5 minutes which equates to a loss of 10 points if we ran over time. Finally on the move again we headed east to a point where a descent (albeit steep) through some crags looked “possible”. Peering over the edge would of scared even the bravest of eagles. “Possible” was replaced with “nae chance” – the lure of the 30 point control was gone. We were faced with two options – up the hill or doon the hill. The advantage of going “up” was that we could pick off another control on the way. Whilst ascending I checked the map against available time – it looked less than good … at least 10km over a couple of big hills - with just over an hour to go. The descent / ascent / descent / ascent seemed to take forever and we stopped looking at the watches. It didn’t really matter now, we were over time but we could still run as hard as we could in order to limit the damage to our points tally. In the end we wiped out the last 4 controls with time penalties. Funny thing was we finished smiling …

As with most things in life, you learn more from mistakes than successes. For me the lessons were kinda obvious but well illustrated over the weekend. We could of tried harder on day 1. You have to push very hard if you want a good result. Taking an “easy” option can sometimes leave you wondering. Things can (and very often) don’t work as planned – your plan “B” should always be a good un. Giving up is seldom worth it – there is always another angle.

Now back to my feet … utilising the National Trust toilets in lieu of a shower I gingerly took my socks off. You didn’t need to be in the medical profession to realise that they were trashed. Both were bleeding and the next couple of days were spent trying to keep infection at bay. Lesson well learned – back tae Walshes next year !