Marmot Dark Mountain 2014 winners Steve Birkinshaw and Tom Gibbs setting off from the start. Photo: Ian Corless
Organisers of a gruelling overnight winter mountain marathon have revealed it will be held in the Howgills early next year.
The Marmot Dark Mountains event has previously been staged in the Lake District and the Peak District.
Next year’s race will take place in the Howgill Fells, sandwiched between the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District.
Dark Mountains takes the classic two-day mountain marathon format and gives it a new, darker twist. Rather than two days of running with an overnight camp in between, the race packs everything into one winter’s night.
The event kicks-off on the Saturday evening with the longest classes setting off first for dusk-to-dawn racing.
The shorter classes set off later in the evening with the aim of most competitors finishing within an hour or so of each other the following Sunday morning. This makes for an exciting finale as all the courses and most of the competitors converge on the finish as dawn breaks.
Race director Shane Ohly said: “The Howgills provide a superb setting for Marmot Dark Mountains.
“The terrain is definitely more runnable than previous editions of the race but with the steep sided valleys that are typical, there is significant height gain, and the course is sure to provide a suitable test of endurance.
“The Howgills also seem to catch more than their fair share of winter weather and we are anticipating a tough challenge for those competitors brave enough to enter.”
The elite course will be 53.1km with 2,966m of ascent, the A course 42.3km and 2,415m; B course 35.8km, 2,311m and C course 33.9km / 1,770m. The long score event will run over 10 hours and the short score eight hours.
Marmot Dark Mountains has a growing reputation as the test of competence for experienced mountain runners. A standard mountain marathon with its combination of mountain running and navigation at its heart is a tough enough challenge but Marmot Dark Mountain takes it a step further by packing two days of running into one long winter’s night with dusk-to-dawn racing.
The 2013 event experienced extremely poor weather and the completion rate for the linear courses averaged just 21 per cent. In 2014 the event moved to the Peak District national park and with better weather the completion rate rose to 53 per cent.
However, these are low completion rates considering that competitors are vetted for experience before their entry is accepted.
Working in collaboration with Harvey Maps at the 2014 Marmot Dark Mountains bespoke high contrast maps were produced for the first time. These were designed to show contours more clearly in the dark and when the map is illuminated by high-powered headtorches. These were deemed a success and the 2015 event will also feature these special night maps.
A high-contrast map developed specifically for night navigation.Photo: Ian Corless
Mr Ohly said: “For an event that is focused on mountain navigation and running, we understand completely that the quality of the map is directly linked to the quality of the overall experience and as such, we invest significant time and energy into the map.
“As in previous years we will be using waterproof and tear-proof paper and our special night-nav high-contrast printing developed with Harvey Maps.
“While checking control sites both Charlie Sproson and I have been recording new paths, fences etc with GPS and combined with Harvey’s updating their base data from a new photogrammetry survey data, we are confident that we will provide a high quality and accurate map for the competitors.”
The Marmot Dark Mountains event will take place on 24 and 25 January.
In 2014 Steve Birkinshaw and Tom Gibbs won and Alex Pilkington and Kim Collison won in 2013.
