The Northern Lakeland Fells was the latest scene for the ROC Mountain Marathon.
Local Largs runner Alasdair McCallum (North Ayrshire Athletic Club) and Tommy Begley (Irvine Running Club) paired up for this 2 day mountain navigation race. The duo travelled to this event in fine form after a series of impressive results earlier in the year. Saturday seen the start of the event with a longer than usual course. There were fine running conditions as the winds were light and temperatures cool. After some differing route choices the team completed day 1 in 5 hours 15 minutes. This gave them an overnight position of 6th place. After a stormy and wet nights camping, day 2 started with cold and blustery conditions on the first ascent to over 600 metres elevation. With simpler navigation, climbing was the theme for much of the day reaching heights of over 800 meters around the summit of Skiddaw just north of Keswick. Completing the Sunday course in 5 hours 21 minutes was the 4th fastest of the day. The combined time was good enough to complete the B course in 4th overall, 1st team, and a prize for the 1st male veteran team.
This race was the third counter in the British Mountain Marathon Championships where points are awarded per competitor's finish position. With a 3rd position in the Low Alpine Mountain Marathon [LAMM] earlier in the summer, totalling 95 points, this was enough to give the pair a 2nd place in the British Mountain Marathon, B Course championship. Missing out on the top spot by a solitary point. This finishes off a tremendous year of racing for the Ayrshire endurance athletes. They look forward to the challenge of going one better in 2019!
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