UKC

In a fit of new year excitement I signed up for this year's Saunders. I was just wondering if anyone else on here was doing it this year? I know in past years there's been a bit of a UKC contingent!

Also any tips or advice would be appreciated. It's my first mountain marathon so I've got no idea what I'm doing! Having had a fun time at the weekend getting really lost in the clag around Langdale I'm feeling a bit more worried about it now...

I'll be there in the new score class with my gf - we've done a enough MMs together to have a routine although this is actually our first Saunders. Which course are you on?

- Be ruthless to minimise the weight, how much stuff do you really need for one night? Take the lightest sleeping bag you own and sleep in spare clothes if it's chilly. If the forecast is fine take the bare minimum to pass kit check, if cold/wet then whatever you run in make sure you've got enough spare warm dry layers to change into and be comfortable at midcamp.

- Large freezer bags for your feet to keep your dry socks dry in midcamp when you put your wet shoes back on. (Note.. this is the world's best known "secret tip" for MMs.)

- Don't carry lots of water, ideally have a small bottle you can refill quickly from streams etc. Do have something else to hold water at midcamp eg. lightweight bladder or another large strong freezer bag so you don't have to traipse back and forwards every time you make a cup of tea.

- Take plenty of food to eat at midcamp, it's a long evening and you won't have to carry it back on Sunday! Bring food that just needs hot water added, either straight into the packet (dehydrated camp meals) or in the lightest possible plastic / foil tub... super noodles of course but also couscous is great with soup mix, cheese, chorizo etc added for flavour. You only need one small stove pot / mini kettle between the two of you for boiling water in, which stays clean so you can make the meals and keep on brewing up hot drinks as efficiently as possible. Jamaican ginger cake or similiar is obligatory for dessert. A nip of fine malt whisky is optional.

- Stay on top of the navigation, even in fine weather have the map in your hand (folded up to show where you are) and keep cross checking to remind yourself where you're going. When you're plodding uphill is a good time for reading the map and planning your routes for following legs. Don't forget to read the control descriptions, even when it looks obvious on the map they sometimes contain vital details...

- A lot of the time you'll be totally off-piste going to random places in the hills that you'd never usually visit (which is one of the reasons I like doing MMs). Look for the most efficient way from A to B but don't spend too much time dithering. If the visibility is bad then navigate using obvious features as much as possible (paths, streams, ridges, walls etc) but do also take rough bearings to check you're following the *correct* path, stream, ridge, wall! You'll see lots of other teams but not all of them will be on the same course and not all of *them* will actually be going in the best direction...

- Don't be late for your start slot, and don't lose your dibber!

I'd agree with most of that!

But for a first MM I'd be cautious about trying to go too light weight - you need to do one to get an idea for what you personally can do without, it varies a lot from person to person (except among the elite who seem to cope without practically everything!)

For years I too adopted the bags-on-feet strategy, aided by the purpose made bags the LAMM used to supply. But eventually I realised that my feet were sweating inside the bags, which made my socks damp anyway. So now I don't use them, and just wear my shoes without any socks around the mid camp. This keeps my spare socks dry for overnight.

Main advice I'd give the OP is to concentrate on navigation and don;t worry at all about speed. In our first event we managed to get into the chasing start despite walking the entire day, simply by nailing the nav. You'll do far better walking slowly in the right direct, than by racing off at speed down the wrong valley!

Actually the real main advice would be to try to relax and enjoy it

We're doing Fairfield by the way, should make a change from our normal almost-last-place in Bowfell

Tbh I mentioned the bags-for-feet thing mainly because if I didn't, someone else undoubtedly would at this years LAMM it was quite amusing watching people dutifully putting their bags on to stroll round the lovely dry springy grass on a perfect balmy summer evening.

One other thing for the OP - have a permanent marker or china pencil handy at the start for marking up your course onto the map (which will have all the controls printed on it, not just yours). Do it straight away and cross-check with your partner that you've got it right. Just reading controls off the sheet as you go along makes it much harder to plan ahead and far too easy to accidentally miss one...

The score sounds fun - I quite like the idea of doing as much (or as little) as you feel up to. How long do you get on the score?

Thanks for the tips. We're doing Harter Fell. Seemed like the most sensible class for two novice MMers. We've both done a few of the Kong/Rab mini MMs before but this is our first full event. I'm definitely feeling a bit more nervous about the navigation after Sunday's cock up so we'll take it pretty slow - we're not aiming for a place, just to get round this one (and not come last). The long range forecast suggests it might be another hot weekend so we might be able to dispense with the bags - last weekend I went round day 1 of the 2009 Harter Fell course and my feet stayed dry all day!

Sounds like you've done plenty of prep, I'm sure you'll be fine!

It's seven hours on Saturday for us and five on Sunday.  I've found I like doing score classes when it's an area I know well as you can make maximum use of "home advantage" knowing what the terrain is like and where the good lines are. If it's somewhere unfamiliar (eg last months LAMM) then there's more guesswork involved and I'll happily just let the planner take me round a linear course.

(Doing score at the OMM in late October also has the advantage that you're at midcamp relatively early, barring disasters, therefore warm, dry, well fed and wrapped up in your sleeping bag while the stragglers on the linear courses are still arriving after dark...)

Looks like you guys had a good event - 3rd in FF pairs. Well done! How did you find it? I really suffered with heat and blisters but we still managed to make it into the top half of the field. We walked the vast majority due to the aforementioned problems but managed to do well on the nav, only making a few minor errors here and there. It's immensely satisfying to find yourself ahead of a faster pair due to a better line! 

How about you Elliptic? Did you get on ok? 

Such a hot weekend. 27th in FF pairs, dropped 10 places on day two as the heat wiped me out and we made some stupid nav errors. Still, good weekend all round.  Body is not so happy today.

Thanks, we never do as well as that so ought to retire now while we're ahead! I think we picked a good route on Saturday, making the most of the extra 2 hours to get to the farthest controls in the west. And took the opportunity of the planning time on Saturday evening to rein in my initial over-optimistic plans! We should have scored an extra 10 or 20 but made the mistake of descending the bracken from hell on the south side of Gibson Knott - I knew it was there but mistakenly hoped there'd have been a trod worn by then.

Heat was awful, but at least there was a nice breeze on the tops - nowhere near as bad as the LAMM last month which was also windless and humid. I suffered badly with blisters at the LAMM so came prepared with plenty of compeed.

We got round in decent shape having reined in our ambitions both days, could have scored significantly higher if we'd pushed harder though we might also have blown up rather badly! Felt like a good weekend to be on a score course with the option to cut back early. One minor line cock-up contouring too low out of Ore Gap to the control below Charnley crag but that only cost five minutes. Ended up in 17th place and a slightly embarrassing amount of spare time left on the clock.

Sounds like you're getting the hang of it

17th sounds very respectable, especially if you finished early. Yeah, the score course seemed like it might be a good option this weekend. It would've made for shorter days at least, though I feel like I might have suffered a crisis of moral fortitude faced with the option of finishing early. As it was, we were out for 14 hours over the two days and that felt very tough.

I was pretty convinced on Saturday afternoon that I'd never do another mountain marathon but now I've cooled down, rehydrated and had a good night's sleep I've found myself contemplating the ROC in September...

We just ambled round really, I think FF solo was where the real action was. Very impressive running from Tom Gibbs especially. When I saw the map straight away I though someone could clean it up completely but the control down in Mickleden might be the deal breaker... which it was!

You know you really want to...

We're already signed up for the B course, its my gf's birthday weekend so I'll be carrying extra cake.

That's very impressive - he seemed to be way ahead of his nearest rival. I'm looking forward to them getting the Routegadget up so I can nosy at what everyone did on their courses.

http://www.slmm.routegadget.co.uk/rg2