From John Hayes…
This year’s OMM Lite in Grasmere was blessed with glorious sunshine. The event is very relaxed and friendly and the organisers and volunteers who make it all happen are a fabulous team. There are various trail races on the Saturday and Sunday and two navigation courses spanning both days. These are the long score (7 hrs Sat and 5 hrs Sun) and the short score (5 hrs Sat and 4 hrs Sun). The key to a score event is to visit as many controls and amass as many points as you can but don’t be late back (or you risk losing some or – worst case scenario – all of them!). Sarah Hayes, Kate Lofthouse and Clare Smith teamed up to do the long score. Their tactics were simple: Walk round, stop for sandwiches and navigate flawlessly. This worked very well and they came in 86th out of 120 finishers.
I entered the short score as an individual. My tactics were more suspect: Run until exhausted, don’t carry sandwiches (too bulky) and navigate flawlessly. I managed the first two ok. But navigationally I went AWOL a bit, in particular on day one, when I decided to run round in circles rather than stop and work out where I was. I never seem to learn in that regard! Despite this, I was pleased to come in 14th out of 109 finishers and 2nd vet. The excitement I felt when handed my prize voucher (which I immediately spent at the OMM festival shop) reminded me of when I was 4 years old and I won a toy rabbit in a campsite raffle…