Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon 05 July 2009 Gavin Long reports: By comparison, the winner’s time was 6:43:36 The fastest day 1 time was 3:41:40 The fastest day 2 time was 2:57:01 This was a new experience for Steve and I. Loaded up with rucksacks containing our tent, sleeping bags, stove, food, clothes etc, we navigated our way across rocky crags, loose scree, ridiculously steep grassy slopes (both up and down), marshes and fern covered fields to find checkpoints hidden in the Fells above Coniston in the Lake District. Day 1 was a steep learning curve but, despite making one or two poor route choices and a couple of navigational errors, we still found ourselves in the top 30 (out of 120ish) at the midway camp with a time of 5 hours & 10 mins. We were never going to be the quickest team, but we certainly were the best fed as we enjoyed bagels, snacks and a three course meal before a whisky nightcap. Our fellow competitors, with their meagre portions, looked on with envy. The two man tent was more snug than either of us would really have liked, but well-rested and well-nourished we were prepared for the final day. The slightly shorter day 2 had a couple of runnable paths which really suited us and thanks to some excellent route choices from Steve, we sped along to the 5th fastest time of the day moving us up to 13th overall. When every muscle and joint in my body stops aching, I’m sure I’ll want to do another one of these again.