The Isle of Man was more like Spain this Easter and so when we arrived to blue skies, sun and summer temperatures on Good Friday the prospects were good for seeing the island at its best during the Manx Mountain Marathon on Easter Saturday. The route looked a challenge but a proper fell race with much of the route off tracks according to the map.
Saturday dawned clear, bright and warm although the early starters reported a bit of early mist on the tops. A coach was organised to take most of the runners to the start in Ramsey from Port Erin where the race finishes. It seemed a long way to the start although the TT racers cover the road in heart stopping times.
The race starts at sea level and quickly climbs to over 500m over moorland and tracks. There were a few barbed wire fences to cross which caught out the unwary! One on the first top there was a great ridge to run along and in the distance was Snaefell the highest point on the island. The bit I forget, was the down and up to get to it! There looked to be a train option to get to the top but the rail tracks looked decidedly dodgy so running was best.
For the mid pack runners like me the mist had cleared and the whole island was in view, stunning and it made all that hard work up the hills worthwhile.
The navigation was a lot more straight forward than I had thought when plotting out the route on the map, the main problem being that it takes a lot longer to run the distance on a 1:50000 OS map! There were quite a few trods and the route follows the lie of the land.
There was a great descent off Carraghan, fortunately down to a waymarked ride in the woods and then down to the road at???. Someone commented that Lloyd Taggart was only 35 mins ahead…..but I had only been going 2 hours and had only just passed checkpoint 5 out of 14! But it was great that the marshals were so keen to cheer us on!
The half way point came at St Johns and the kindly constables in their white helmets directed us safely across the road and a couple of miles down the old railway line. It was very warm and flat running is not my favourite but the way up the next hill was marked out with ancient flags.
It was a great relief that checkpoint 10 was not at the top of a hill as that meant that South Barraule was in sight ahead and then there were only three more checkpoints that is hills to go. The course took up past Cross Vein Mines where the trials bikers were having great fun creating clouds and clouds of dust which was ideal for hot and tired runners! It was a steady climb up the South Barrule, the last really big hill and after a good descent the marshals were offering water and much needed chocolate! The next hill was manageable and then there was a sharp descent down to the beach at Fleshwick Bay, a beautiful spot and well worth further exploration. But what goes down must go up and there is a sting in the tail as one of the steepest climbs of the day comes near the end up towards Bradda Cairn overlooking the sea. But the coast is stunning and the end is in sight as it is a shortish trot along the coastal path to Bradda Tower from which you can see the finish and the end of a great day out.
This was a great race made better by beautiful weather. The organisation was very good with transport to the start, Sport Ident timing, very friendly and helpful officials and marshals at all the checkpoints and a meal afterwards.
Everyone who completed the course either walking or running was presented with a T-shirt and certificate so as you can imagine the prize giving was an event in itself and gave ample opportunity to re-hydrate in the bar.
The race was won by Lloyd Taggart in an amazing 4hours 22 taking 17 mins off the previous record.
Jackie Lee similarly smashed the Ladies Record by over 38 minutes winning in 5 hours 13 minutes and 3 seconds and coming 9th overall.
MUC runners in the top 10 included:
Adam Breaks 2nd 4:49:17
Dan Gay 4th 5:00:32
Allen Smalls 5th 5:04:39
Bryan Carr 6th 5:04:49
Andy Davies 10th 5:13:34
Vasque Team Runners:
Julian Brown – 6:09:32
Mandy Calvert – 6:24:41 (3rd lady and 1st FV40)
