OMM 2013 - Our Story

We did it! Got round with no serious injuries (although injuries did hold us up a bit.) Here's our story...

Friday

Pete picked me up on Friday lunchtime and we drove over to the Brecon Beacons, eager to get our tent up and get settled in before it got dark. We stopped for some carb loading at Magor Services and drove on through increasingly heavy rain and strong winds to the event centre, hidden on a farm up tiny lanes miles from the main road. Smiling marshals waved us into the parking field, which even then looked wet and muddy... more of that later!

As we walked from the car to the event centre, in a huge old barn, the heavens opened and we were soaked from the waist downwards.Not a great omen for the weekend. After last year’s base in Sedburgh School, this was back to basics - trestle tables, big draughty barn and muddy fields. We pitched the tent in the camping field, has a bacon butty in the centre (and bumped into Owain, looking fit and ready to go!) and retired to the car to hide from the rain. We pondered sleeping in the car, but knew we’d sleep better in the tent, so in a break in the rain we carried sleeping bags and mats over and settled down for the night. We’d pitched in the lee of the forest, but it was a noisy night with rain and wind driving through the trees.

Saturday

We had a late start time (1053), so had time for a leisurely morning. We packed up the tent, got changed into mountain gear and went over to the centre for an excellent breakfast of porridge with raisins, honey and maple syrup, washed down with a cup of tea.

We had both come to the event with worrying injuries. I had strained a calf just two weeks earlier. Pete was suffering from pains in the muscles down the outside of his right thigh, from bum to knee, probably sustained from training too hard with Totton Running Club. We were both hoping that they wouldn't slow us up too much. We’d trained hard for this and wanted to be on top form.

The weather wasn't looking good, and we were both worried about the cold and wet. I put my Kamleika Jacket back in the car and opted for my Rab Bergen, which isn't too heavy, but much heavier duty that I would normally wear. As it turned out, a good choice! We also both packed an extra warm layer (Rab Vapour-rise tops) . Soon we were as ready as we were ever going to be, and even though we were a bit early we joined the throng walking to the start line, some 40 minutes walk away through the forest. Once we were there, we hunkered down in the woods out of the wind and occasional rain. While we waited we bumped into John Clarke, who looked knackered already and had every intention to just walk to the overnight camp, and Sam and Chris (DofE Leaders) who were both OMM virgins and didn't really know what to expect!

The clock counted down and all too soon they were calling “1053 starters” to the start lanes. A few minutes later we were given our maps, a hooter hooted and we were off on our six hour trip around the mountains. We stopped a couple of hundred yards up the forest track for a route planning conference, and outlined a route that we could manage, with the proviso that we would replan after every checkpoint!

Clearing the woods after a km or so, we were out on the hills proper, and immediately started a steep climb to our right to pick off our first checkpoint after 40 minutes. This was followed by a shortish leg (2km) skirting round the hilltop before dropping onto a second control hidden in a small valley. We were doing ok. My calf was absolutely pain free, but Pete was having twinges in his leg, which didn’t look good for later.

The day progressed in the usual way. Runs down hill and slogs uphill. The navigation was pretty well spot on the whole way round, which I was pleased with, and we didn’t waste any time searching around for controls. The weather forecast had predicted a hill fog, but it held off, and visibility was good apart from in the frequent squalls of rain that crossed the hills, driven on by a strong southwesterly wind. Heavy rain and strong winds were expected “in the afternoon” and we hoped they would hold off until we had a tent up at the overnight camp.

Everywhere was very wet underfoot after the heavy rains, and we had to carefully pick our way across a few raging torrents, but it felt like we were doing fine. All that training had definitely improved our general fitness, and we felt good powering up steep grassy hills. After 3 hours we reviewed our progress, and considered a long loop around to pick up some high scoring checkpoints, but Pete was reluctant to risk it, as his leg was hurting a lot. So we selected a shorter compromise, which was doable even if we walked the rest of the way to the overnight camp. More muddy paths, streams and interminable tussocky grass, and we finally got to the Day 1 Finish with 20 minutes to spare, having collected 145 points. 

We dropped steeply off the hill down to the overnight campsite, which was in fields opposite the Dan yr Ogof campsite under Black Mountain, which loomed ominously over us as we selected a spot to camp. All the sheltered spots had gone (a downside of a late start!) so we chose a flattish spot in the middle of the field and got the Laser up in a dry spell, thankfully before the forecast bad weather hit us.

But it did hit us! Not long after we got the tent up heavy rain and strong winds forced us to retire inside for the night. Bands of rain and wind came through overnight, separated by drier, calmer periods. We cooked up our supper - an excellent Fuizion Chicken and Bacon Pasta (which we put too much water in, but it made a lovely soup!) and a more mundane Expedition Foods Chilli Con Carne (800 calories, but just not the same class as the Fuizion meals!)

Night Time Diversion

We put our clocks back, and snuggled into sleeping bags, but realised that it was only about 1830 - we had a long night ahead of us! Luckily we had a diversion! At about 2100 I suddenly realised that the groundsheet was wet. I put on a headtorch and found the whole tent swimming in water. A quick check outside showed that our part of the field was about 2 inches deep in water! Luckily the thermarests and slight slope had kept our sleeping bags mainly dry, but we clearly had to move! I woke Pete and in a lucky dry break in the weather, we hauled all the kit out and carried it to dry land, then unpegged the tent and carried it further up the field. We warned the guys in the tent next to us, and they did the same.

We poured out what water we could, repitched the tent, and then dried things as best we could (with a roll of loo paper nicked from the loos!) This did a pretty good job on the groundsheet and thermarests, and a foil blanket over the foot of the tent gave us a dry place for our feet in the night. Disaster averted, we climbed back into our sleeping bags and settled in for a long night, broken by howling gales shaking the tent and torrential rain waking us at regular intervals.

Sunday

Before dawn broke we were awoken by the sound of people stirring and chatting, and by a megaphone saying it was 6 o’clock. We didn’t need to leave the campsite until about 0830 (for a 10 minute walk to our 0849 start), so we had a slow start. Rain came and went and we boiled water for porridge (premixed with milk and sugar in ziplock bags, and then mixed with hot water in the bag) and a brew. We packed our bags in the tent and then emerged to get the tent down, stuff it in its bag and put that in my rucksack, ready to move.

With a big weather front due in the afternoon and a severe storm forecast overnight, the organisers invoked a bad weather day, which for us meant that we had only four hours to get to the end point, rather than the original five.

We walked the ten minutes to the start (actually more like 15, so it was lucky we set off early!) and joined our queue. 0849 and we were off again and the map didn't give us a huge range of options, given the four hour limit. Things were further restricted by the fact that Pete’s leg meant that he really couldn't run. It wasn't hurting that much (probably due to the massive doses of ibuprofen!) but when running on rough ground it would just give way. We started with a slog up the ridge of Black Mountain, to a checkpoint above a waterfall, and then a slightly hairy river crossing before some precise navigation to find a suitable spot to dropping down over the scarp slope. From there we had a long cross country transit back to the Finish , via a few more checkpoints.

More mud, more river crossings, more contouring on steep slopes and we were finally slogging up the last ridge before dropping into the forest for a 2km walk to the finish line. We knew by that stage that were going to be too early, and we could have picked off an easy control nearby, but it was too late. So we walked through the woods as others ran past us. (Actually, most people were walking!) We got in over 30 minutes early having picked up just 55 points.

We were soon back at the event centre and the bog of a car park. Pete was very keen to get moving as soon as we could while there was still some chance of getting out. There were already two tractors pulling cars to the makeshift road, and every car made more mud and deeper ruts. So I queued for our free meals (a very nice sausage and bacon bun and chips) while Pete packed the car and fitted the tow hook. As soon as I got back with the food we were on our way, and nearly made the temporary road, being pushed by a couple of the farm workers dragged in for that purpose! But before we got there the wheels started spinning and we were stuck. Soon a tractor loomed in front of us, shackled us on and towed us across to safety and we were on our way. I shudder to think what the field was like after all the cars had got out!

Quick Afterthoughts

Looking back, a week on, here are a few quick reflections (which I might expand on in a later post!) ...

I was disappointed with our score and position. We got a total of 200 points, which put us 170th out of 200. This is worse than we have scored before and a bit of a disappointment. We had trained hard, but injuries, the conditions and the bad planning on Day 2 took their toll. Must do better next year! 

On the other hand, I was very pleased with my navigation, which was generally spot on. Conditions were generally good for navigating, but all the same I was pleased with myself when we dropped straight onto controls or waypoints.

Our kit all worked well. We could probably have lightened our loads a little, but not much. My decision to take the Bergen was a good one. The Kamleika is good, but wouldn't have kept me dry in those conditions, and I had a huge fear of being cold and wet. The Bergen kept me perfectly dry (ok, I was a little sweaty!)

Food was good with a nice mixture of energy bars, flapjacks, etc, which we aimed to have every 30 minutes. We didn't quite manage that, and but we managed to keep our energy up and didn't have any problems with that. We didn't drink much - probably not enough.

It was a good weekend, but we'll do better next year!