Bikedock Belles

In 2006 Taryn did this event in the C class having had no experience in the Mournes at all, no experience in map reading and for that matter relatively little experience in running.  To date it's still one of the hardest things she's ever done.  It shouldn't have been, it was only because she naïvely took the longest & most difficult route to every cp, carried far too much pointless equipment and wore trainers suitable for running on tarmac.  However it was still fantastic fun and an amazing w'end outdoors in the beautiful Mournes.  Taryn vowed to herself she would be back the following year, but with a years worth of navigational experience and training in the mountains...

So in 2007, having not been in the Mournes all year & still with no experience in map reading, Taryn entered the C class again.  Yet another awesome w'end and great banter at the campsite, the MMM is firmly set as one of Taryn's favourite races in the calendar.

In 2008 Taryn took the leap into elite class, pairing with Al Richardson.  With the goal of 'just finishing' they did well on day 1 and were delighted to even be ahead of a few teams, however on day 2 disaster struck and spending too long searching for a cp on the side of Slieve Muck, they then missed a cut off time.  On reflection it was probably too ambitious for Taryn to have entered the elite class... but there's always another year.

So on Saturday Taryn was at the start line again, this year paring up with Brian Linton and with one determined goal - to avenge Slieve Muck and complete the Elite class.  Admittedly pairing with Brian was a clever tactic - Brian is a fantastic navigator and with precise calculation between compass, map & altimeter the amount of ground & height covered was probably less than Taryn did back in 2006's C class.

Meeting up the morning of the race, with one team member being slightly late and Brian being 1st in the car park, the general format for the w'end had been set.  They both quickly went through their gear checks.  Taryn was apprehensive at the idea of equally sharing the weight of the team kit - surely the guy carries more weight?  Brian reminded Taryn it was only 3 weeks ago that he was running the TDS, the famous Ultra trail through Mont-Blanc (a mere 111km, 7000mts climb in 32hrs).  Taryn reminded Brian it was only 3 weeks ago she was doing Terrex, a 4 day non stop Adventure Race covering 400km in the Lake District.  Hmmm... admittedly Brian was doing the nav, but then Taryn was wearing the dibber... 'ok we'll start this way, but if one person is slowing up we'll swap kit about.'  

Starting from Ben Crom dam and friendly banter from the start with fellow mix team Dale & Denise Mathers, everything seemed to be going well.  Taryn was delighted to be at the 3rd cp before seeing LVO members Jonathon McCloy & Patrick Higgans who had started 12 minutes behind, although they must have flown from that point on as by cp 7 their splits showed they were an hour ahead - those guys are fast!  

With a lot of laughter and continuous chit chat, (Brian turned out to be a great Belle companion - he even brought a camera!) they were totally enjoying their day.  Brian was concentrating on the nav and Taryn wasn't concentrating at all.  The usual form for a race in the hills!  Route choices were discussed and they reminded each other to eat & drink, making a good wee team for the mountains.  (Although Brian turning round towards the end of the day & asking "Are we taking this seriously enough?" maybe shows they could have dug a bit deeper?)

By the afternoon however it began to get cold.  Cold and wet.  Cold, windy and wet.  Very cold, windy and wet. Damn it, the weather was just awful.

In Mountain marathons the ideal is to carry as light a backpack as possible, but still have enough kit to be safe.  So when the weather turns & it gets cold, the dilemma is - do you put on another layer to keep warm but then have less dry clothing for the campsite, or do you just suffer and try to run faster to warm up?  Hoping the wind would die down once they got to lower ground, Taryn persevered ......until she noticed her hands and fingers had really swollen.  That was it, the weather was just too damn brutal.  Quickly she pulled out her gloves, & slowly put them on... it's difficult putting on gloves when your hands are swollen & numb, ahem, let alone 2 left hand gloves... oops.

The continual rain had made the ground extremely muddy and feet were frequently sinking into bog, which also drains the energy out of your legs.  As they climbed Spelga Mountain Brian warned how steep the descent was on the other side.  He was right, it was steep!  As they made their way down suddenly Brian slipped and went sliding down the hill on his backside.  At first Taryn was impressed at the speed of Brian's technique, until she realized it wasn't intentional.  He was clearly out of control and not able to stop.  Picking up speed he turned onto his front and tried to dig his hands into the grass but still he kept going.  At this point Taryn wondered what to do - how can you help your partner in this situation?  You can't throw them a rope or shout anything useful.  (Obviously the first thing you think of is, 'where's the camera?'  but unfortunately Brian was carrying it)   Luckily he managed to stop before reaching the boulders and he was able to retrieve the map that had been blown further down the slope.   Wow, it brings home how easily someone could be injured, thankfully no one was.  ....Taryn gave it at least a minute before laughing at the rip in his shorts.

Delighted to eventually reach the overnight campsite - and even more delighted to discover they were in 5th place, out of 14 teams, and with a very respectable time!  (Brian's ability to navigate in the mist had given an advantage over teams who made a few mistakes.)  Heck, so much for just completing it!!  The pair were ranked above teams who are good.  Suddenly there was a whole new agenda, no longer content with just finishing it, there was a new goal now - to keep the lead on Rick & Enda and gain bragging rights for a whole year.  Day 2 was going to be serious.

With the horrendous weather, day 1 had become a long day.  Usually at the campsite everyone sits in the evening sun chatting, slagging & general craic - but not this year - everyone was huddled in their tents in an attempt to keep warm, meaning social chat was minimal.

Day 2.  Just making the start line as the hooter sounded wasn't exactly the planned aggressive start intended, auk well, at least the weather had improved!

As the team made their way across Pigeon Rock Mtn Taryn spotted/heard Gerry Kingston and knowing he shouldn't be in view at this stage guessed something was wrong, then discovered all the top teams were scattered about searching for cp 6.  No one could find the cp, no matter how many times the co-ordinates were checked & re-checked, and repeatedly reading the description, 'faint spur/ridge W of pond'.  With the weather from the day before there were so many ponds, was this definitely the right pond?  Even the pond feature on the map began to disintegrate with the amount of times Brian pointed to it with the compass.  

So, what do you do?   If you miss a point (mp) then you fail.  That wasn't an option anyone wanted but eventually there was a big enough crowd to safely conclude that the cp was not there.   The top teams such as Deon & Eamon, Billy & Gerry, Alex & Mark made the call, "look if we all agree it isn't here, then lets all go on?"   This made sense - if no one found it then the organizers could accept it wasn't there and not count the cp.  They all agreed & headed on.   However Brian & Taryn realized not all the teams had been in that decision.  Dale & Denise weren't there, Fred & Ricky weren't there, Rick & Enda weren't there..... what happens if any of those teams find the cp?   Everyone else would get a DNF.  They chatted to Ricky and he was determined to still search for the cp.   Aghhhhh what to do now?   Neither Brian nor Taryn wanted to take the risk, they did not want a DNF.  'Right, lets spend 5 more minutes, then we'll head.'    About 30 stubborn minutes later they reluctantly made their way off Pigeon Rock Mtn.  Feeling deflated, adrenalin gone and heads bowed they quietly made their way to the next cp.   Brian muttering something about 'never having missed a point ever', Taryn muttering back something about 'just wanting to complete the elite class'.  

It wasn't long before Pigeon Rock had been forgotten, chat mode was back and the team were again enjoying scrambling over the magnificent, albeit mucky, Mourne Mountains, this time to the finish.

No one found cp6 and it was removed from the results, which meant Brian & Taryn successfully completed the elite class.  Goal accomplished!!!  The fact they came 1st mix team and 6th overall, was an added bonus.   Also a bonus was the generous prize from Jacksons Sports - always reliable to kit you out for the MMM, ahem, often very last minute!

To complete the 2010 MMM was an achievement in itself due to the weather.   Out of 202 teams starting, only 128 completed the course.   A few friends, new to the MMM, had been encouraged to enter this year with the promise of a beautiful day on the hills, great craic at the campsite and a fun day out... apologies to all those who were lulled by this and endured what turned out to be a cold wet windy weekend.... sure, next year it'll be sunny and back to the usual MMM.    The organizers just arranged the weather this year to test our endurance -  besides isn't it always the things we do in savage weather that stick in our memories the most? 

Taryn