The OMM

what the well-dressed runners wear at The OMM


Paul heading for "Drygarn Fawr" to bag our Welsh 2,000 footer for the weekend

YC ran "The OMM" at the weekend. The Original Mountain Marathon is a 2 day event run in teams of 2. Competitors have to carry all their gear for an overnight camp. This year it was held in The Elan Valley, mid-Wales. YC ran with Paul Hainsworth, his partner from The LAMM (The Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon in June - keep up). The initial rain and mist gradually cleared out to give good visibility and a little bit of sun at times.

Paul had elected that we enter the medium score event. This is akin to orienteering, with competitors navigating to checkpoints which each had a different score - 10, 20 points etc. On Day 1, we were too ambitious and mis-judged the run-in to the finish down a long and very winding lakeside road. At times, YC even said "oh dear me" as he slogged along the road, trying in vain to avoid a points penalty for finishing over-time.

We learned our lesson for Day 2, running a more tactically astute course and finishing with the second highest points score of the day. There was a fantastic run-in from the last hill - much better than the previous day's road bash.

There will be lots of mountain marathons for readers to enter next year, so don't all rush at once.

more photos

Dolphin Quiz Success

James Wilson is moving to the north-west. He signed off with team "James" entering The Dolphin pub quiz. YC was part of the team and brought along his two specialist subjects: fellrunning and Lonnie Donegan. So whilst the regular pub quizzers were experts on questions about The X Factor (YC is proud to say he has never watched it), YC excelled with answers to vital questions such as:

1 Who was the last British runner to hold the world record for the mile? (clue - Geordie lad, won The Golden Mile at The Bislett Games)

2 Who accompanied the narrator on the Sloop John B in The Beach Boys' song? (Clue - Lonnie Donegan sang about 'my grandpappy and me')

Armed with this specialist knowledge, team James finished in bronze medal position and won £4. Hurrah.

British Relays

photo - Marcus Byron

The British fellrunning relays were held near Ennerdale Bridge in West Cumberland yesterday. The visibility soon went downhill as mist and drizzle moved in, making it a bit of a navigational challenge. YC was running for NFR's veterans team (no age related comments please readers) on leg 2 with Bernard Kivlehan. At this stage the field was still quite bunched up and there were other runners to follow. YC did take the precaution of checking his map on the way round. This proved to be a wise move as there were plenty of tales of folk going astray following others who appeared to know where they were going - but didn't.

The Vets team finished 58th out of circa 150 teams. The seniors team had an excellent run, finishing 10th overall with the last runner - Nick Swinburn - running the fastest leg 4 of the day. Nick was relieved that YC was running leg 2 as otherwise his fastest leg status might have been under threat (joke).

Bernard climbing Blake Fell.


before the mist came down - the start of leg 1

more photos

The Dolphin Pumpkin Show

It was the annual pumpkin show at The Dolphin pub last night. YC hadn't grown a pumpkin this year, but he did go along to inspect the entries and sample the odd half of beer (naturally). Dolphin stalwart Duggie Dunn didn't win the show this year, though he did provide 3 entries (2 were displayed by his son and daughter) from his Mariners Lane allotment. Here's Duggie with one of the pumpkins.

The Bad Shepherds

"The Bad Shepherds" are a folk group who sing punk songs and are led by Adrian Edmondson. Emma Duff saw them at Dent Folk Festival and recommended them to YC. He duly saw them at The Sage last week. They played in Hall Two are were superb with excellent renditions of Teenage Kicks and I Fought The Law. Here is a clip of them on you tube taken at Dent Festival playing London Calling by The Clash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x5FsRLbh84&feature=related

They also did a splendid send-up of Steeleye Span's All Around My Hat which brought the house down. You can watch it below. For those who are easily offended, under 18, or (like Rev T) regularly wonder who Gazza is, it's probably best not to watch this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNU1Pxm78ww

Addendum. John Telfer (NFR) writes:
I went to school with Adrian Edmondson when he was, for some unknown reason, known as Ted. I even acted on the same stage as him when he carried me onto the stage in a very large suitcase (I was only 14 at the time). I, of course, went on to become a fell runner of worldwide repute whilst he tried his hand at acting!

music group on tour

Holy Saviour's church music group was on tour last night. They took their ceilidh repertoire to North Shields Methodist Church. There were 8 folk in the group and YC was the caller. The good folk of North Shields were soon rocking to numbers such as the Gay Gordons and Strip the Willow. The Dashing White Sergeant also went down well as the church youth club had been practising it in preparation for the ceilidh. Here's a photo of the group fetchingly attired in a selection of hats kindly provided by Rev T.


And here are the dancers in action for Strip the Willow.


more photos here

back to work

YC returned to work on Thursday. After 14 months off, it was a bit of a shock to the system. YC is looking forward to reacquainting himself with the joys of surveying and is pictured here with The Rent Review Handbook (positively his favourite read). His work colleagues have missed his jokes and pleaded for some merry japes on his return. Not wishing to disappoint them, YC duly obliged.
Qu: What kind of cheese would you use to coax a bear from its den?
Ans: Camembert