Entries open for Marmot Dark Mountains™
In January, earlier this year, atrocious weather brought heavy snow to much of the country. Whilst most people opted to cranked up the heating, a few select runners were testing themselves at a new mountain marathon called Marmot Dark Mountains™
This event 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, Marmot Dark Mountains™ packs everything into one, long winter’s night.
In the last few days entries for the 2014 event have opened (via this link).
With many of the course at the inaugural event selling out, the 2014 race has added an extra score course to help cope with demand. The challenging line up of courses include Elite, A, B, C, Short Score and Long Score and promises to satisfy the full range of nocturnal deviation competitors enjoy.
The location changes each year but for 2014 the event is going to be in Northern England and is less than 1.5 hours drive from Manchester. Precise details of the event location are only revealed at the beginning of January 2014 but the event area is described by Race Director, Shane Ohly as:
“Absolutely fantastic. It is one the best upland areas in England and amazingly, it hasn’t had a mountain marathon event for many years. With the success of the 2013 event, new courses for 2014, an amazing area and the continued support of sponsors Silva and Marmot, I am very confident that Marmot Dark Mountains will be a big success in 2014”.
In a bid to make the event open to a wider range of competitors, the organisers have reduced the difficulty of the navigation on the easiest course. Ohly continues:
“Based on our 2013 experience we will be making the C Course slightly easier to navigate around by only using major features and/or linear features as checkpoints on this course. Each of the other courses will get progressively harder with the Elite Course having the hardest navigation”.
The organisers have also confirmed that there will be a £500 cash prize for the winning elite team so competition is expected to be intense on this course.
Key Event Information
Website: www.marmot-dark-mountains.com
Date: 25/26th January 2014
Venue: Northern England
Entry: £90 per team of two
Courses: Elite, A, B, C, Short Score and Long Score
