LAMM 2006: Assynt

It's Tuesday: two days after the LAMM, in which I 'ran' (mostly walked) 43.8km officially and 50km actually, in two days. Amazingly, I feel pretty good, which is handy because there is a club race on tonight!

The LAMM is an annual event, for pairs, held in different parts of Scotland. Experience is useful as some features of the event crop up year after year. Although I'd not met my partner before the event, he filled me in on a few details:

You get kept in the dark about the start location, route length and mid-camp location right until you get there. We only knew for sure when the bus pulled over a few miles from the event centre and we started within a minute of getting off the bus.
Day one often starts with a twist - like a bus to the start - or a train or boat.
There is lots of climbing and rough terrain, with one or two really big legs between controls and often a choice of routes between controls.
You have to try hard on day one as it is much harder to make up places on day two.

This last one I'll have to test with my own experience, because looking at the time difference between places, it seems pretty similar on day one and two. For example, we came 65th on day one and 23rd on day two. 23rd to 65th on day one was an hour difference and on day two... it was also an hour difference.

I round day two to only be forty or fifty minutes shorter than day one, taking into account our day one deviation!

Anyway, the LAMM is a great event if you think you are a hardy camper and fell runner. If you go out with the attitude that you are as tough as everyone else, and maybe a bit faster than most, then you will get round alright. If you want to explore remote areas of Scotland, but think it's a bit far out for running, then come along and you won't be alone! Just don't expect it to be easy.

More info at www.lamm.co.uk.