Episode 6 The Adventure Show

This is our race pace.

Hello and a very warm welcome to The Adventure Show.

This month, we're back where it all began,

the Original Mountain Marathon.

This is the race that laid the foundation

for the thriving world of adventure racing we know today.

It's a great day. Loving it.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Almost half a century after the original Mountain Marathon,

we're here at the Galloway Forest Park, just outside Newton Stewart,

for the 2016 event.

And let me tell you one thing -

this race is as tough now as it was back then.

It started in 1968.

We aren't aware of any other two-day mountain marathon events

in the world at that time.

And that's why it's called "the Original".

-Nice day for it.

-Is it?!

THEY LAUGH

Could be worse.

A group of guys wanted to find a competition

to see who had the best bragging rights

for being able to operate on a mountain.

Part of that test is the navigation and the endurance,

strength and character that you need to keep pushing

when conditions are hard.

-Yes!

-HE CHUCKLES

Originally designed as a test of map reading,

teamwork and mountain skills,

competitors have to find their way between set points on the hill.

So this really is a challenge of orienteering, fell running,

endurance and the ability to keep a cool head under intense pressure.

This is the main goal. You don't have a track -

you have to find your own.

That's the most beautiful part, probably.

It's going to be quite long and quite difficult, it seems,

but we are here exactly for this, so no problem.

Each year, the OMM goes to a different part of the country.

And this time, we're in the Galloway hills.

Over the course of two days,

competitors need to be entirely self-sufficient,

including carrying all of their kit for an overnight camp.

You get your wet and dirty clothes off,

get the next day's clothes on,

have something to eat, get in your tent...

-And that's it!

-..out by six - that's it!

Also in this month's Adventure Show,

we'll be finding out just how little gear the fastest runners can take

to survive a night under canvas.

My rucksack now weighs about three kilos,

with everything in for the weekend,

including stove, fuel, food, tent, sleeping bag, everything.

And we're joining one of Scotland's top athletes, Donnie Campbell,

as he attempts to set a new record in the mountains.

I'm really looking forward to it in one way,

but I'm really nervous and scared as well.

But first to the Original Mountain Marathon.

While competitors know the general area in which they'll be racing,

they're only given the final route on the start line.

So they have to be pretty quick

working out the best option for the day.

This is just like doing a parachute jump.

Unfortunately, it's a long drop! THEY LAUGH

-Aye!

-It takes all weekend to get to the bottom.

You might think an event like the OMM is just for the select few.

But you'd be wrong.

Almost 1,800 people have entered this year.

And they're split up into eight different classes.

SENSOR BEEPS

Everyone races in teams of two.

And we're concentrating on the elite category,

where the competition is incredibly fierce.

There are 66 hardy folk in this group,

and ahead of them is nearly 60km of running.

But that's not all.

There's 4,600 metres of ascent

over extremely rough and challenging terrain.

And, just to make things interesting,

competitors choose their own route between checkpoints.

It's here that the race can be won or lost.

Setting the courses for the elite

is very much about setting sequential points

that they've got to find their way between.

But doing that in such a way that there are alternative routings,

whether you run round the left-hand side of the hill,

or the right-hand side of the hill.

Whether you stay low in the valley, or whether you go over the tops.

To make it even tougher, the OMM is held at the end of October,

when the nights are lengthening and the weather can be at its worst.

Yet competitors flock here from all over the world.

We come from China to take part in this.

And we want to enjoy this.

And this race is clearly addictive - many come back time after time.

You'll even find people who've done almost every one.

It's actually my 43rd.

I thought it was my 44th, but it's my 43rd.

Heavens above! What brings you back?

Why do you keep coming and doing this?

Enjoy it, particularly the Scottish ones.

Wilder country.

Less people.

More opportunities for it to go wrong and to go right.

What we really love is, you know how you get that extra hour in bed,

normally, at the end of October?

We actually spend it in a tent in a muddy field.

That's what brings you back.

OK, ladies and gentlemen,

please ensure you hit one of the two start boxes on the gantry,

then you can get going.

Enjoy your day.

Racers are set off at timed intervals so that they're not -

how can we say this? - inspired by other competitors' route choices.

It's just before eight o'clock in the morning,

and the first competitors are just about to head out on the course.

Good luck, guys. Go on.

-Got the map, guys?

-Yep.

Where are you heading off to now?

Um...vaguely....that way, somewhere!

That way? I think that's a good way.

That way, left or right, and up a hill somewhere!

What could possibly go wrong?!

Just check it's the right course, please.

-So how you feeling?

-I think the course is reasonable.

It doesn't look like it's, er...

too long. We hope.

But the ground, we know, is very tussocky.

So we're just keen to get going and see what it's like.

I'd always wanted to do the elite, and especially with ladies,

so when I found a lady that would do it with me, we've moved up.

Last year, we were timed out.

So this year it's like, come back and do it properly,

and not get timed out and finish.

-Morning, ladies. How are we?

-Good morning.

Yeah, we are fine.

A bit nervous about this. But it'll be good.

-Where have you come from?

-Sweden.

You've come from Sweden? All the way from Sweden for this event?

-Yes.

-Why? What's the attraction?

This, all this! Beautiful weather, nice mountains, yeah.

No, just having fun.

What's your strategy? Who's navigating and who does the...?

-Both of us.

-Both?

-Yeah.

And do you agree on everything?

-We don't know yet.

-It's the first time for us running together! So...

-We'll see.

-..we'll manage.

-Listen, I'll let you have a great day.

-On you go. Have a fantastic time.

-Thank you.

We'll speak to you later. Cheers.

It's very unlike Formula One, this, the competition,

because people actually start, tend to walk forward - they've run! -

and more often than not, if you walk around here with me,

people just stop. After about ten yards, they stop.

Because they have to look at the map. Navigation is key.

If you make a mistake here,

it's going to be a very, very long weekend.

How are you feeling, guys, this morning?

-Cracking weather. Perfect.

-Absolutely perfect.

-We want fog, yeah.

-You like fog?

-Yeah, I don't want anybody following us!

-Oh, I see.

Don't want anybody to be able to see where we're going,

and I don't want to see anybody else.

'I want it to be hard.

'I wouldn't enjoy it if it was easy.'

I don't believe anything that's easy is fun, really.

You need things to be hard, to be challenging, to make it worthwhile.

Are you all right?

'I love it. It's escapism, isn't it?

'It's just nice to get on the mountains and get away from work,

'and go wild for a couple of days, really.'

So, guys, how you feeling this morning?

-A bit nervous.

-Quite nervous, yeah.

-Apprehensive, but excited as well.

It's good to see you smiling at this point.

How do you keep each other motivated?

We've not actually run together before, so we'll find out.

Keep eating and talking to each other.

We're both quite good at talking, so it'll be quite...

Knowing you've been through bad patches before

and got to the other side, gives you a bit of confidence that,

"I know it feels bad now but in an hour's time,

"I'll perk up and I'll be back on a high."

So I think you've just got to keep that in mind,

that it's going to get better.

So I think it's straight on where there's the path.

Let's go.

You need a whole range of skills to be successful in the OMM.

And at the top of that list

is the balance between speed and accurate map reading.

You can waste so much time if you get your navigation wrong.

I think some of the orienteers are very good at that.

You know - see the terrain, eye to map really quickly.

Whereas I think we know what we're doing,

we can read the map really well.

But it just takes that little bit more time to make sure we're right.

'We try to get moving fairly quickly,

'maybe have a general idea for a couple of the controls in advance.'

And, as we move forward, then we keep on checking on the map.

Always looking ahead to the next control

and trying to get a bit more of a refined route.

'What you don't want to do is get into the checkpoint

'and then be lingering around there for ages,

'because you can lead other teams in,

'and you don't want to be giving other teams an advantage.

'Try to get into the control and out again as quickly as you can.'

I'm near the first of 12 checkpoints that make up the course

for the elite runners on day one of this race.

And it looks like it'll be a really demanding course this year,

especially with today's weather conditions.

These runners are the very best of the best.

But, last year, nearly half didn't complete the course,

which shows just how tough this event really is.

-What's the first control point been like to find?

-Very hard.

We kind of missed a trick with the broken fence on the map.

Till some kind, anonymous people...

THEY LAUGH

Early morning light, it looked like a stream, but it was a broken fence.

But it's OK, we now know the grey lines are fences, so...

Oh, well, it's a long day!

-Hi, all right?

-How are you getting on?

Not too bad. A bit of trouble on that one, but...you know.

-Oh!

-Missed it.

'We've done a lot of mistakes in previous competitions

'where you grab the map'

and you just, you know, start running.

And that's really bad idea,

except for sometimes you can drag some other teams along. But...

THEY LAUGH

But it's not a good way of doing it. You need to be in control.

So, usually, when we pick the first control,

we'll go a little bit slower than on the rest of the course,

just make sure you get a good start.

Normally, in the beginning of the race, the first checkpoint,

Bjorn will be a little bit confused.

He's the main navigator.

And I will try maybe to get a little bit...

"Calm down," and then we get going and then everything will be OK.

And then later on, Bjorn will be dragging me along.

Sometimes, you know, you can be the friendly guy to watch your mate

and sometimes, you can also be the nasty guy.

From the very start, this is a formidable course.

There's less than 30 feet of visibility,

masses of bog, endless tussocks,

and finding your way demands precise navigation.

Three hours into the race,

and everyone's now spread out across the hills.

The first elite runners to checkpoint four

are Jessica Tullie and Kerstin Leslie.

They're both members of the Scottish Orienteering team

and are used to competing at international level,

but they know that picking the best route can be tricky.

You can make a best guess,

but you can't tell exactly what the terrain's going to be like

until you get there so, sometimes, you might pick an option, thinking,

"Oh, it's definitely going to be faster to go round,"

but if you end up on some very rough ground that you weren't expecting,

then it might not have been the right choice

but you made the best decision you could at the time.

Duncan Archer and Shane Ohly from south of the border

are right behind.

They started almost an hour later,

and they've already pushed through to the front of this select field.

But they know how hard it is to maintain that advantage.

Everyone makes mistakes, so even when you're running in a group,

you're still all navigating and you're still second-guessing

whoever's leading the navigation,

because people make amazing mistakes,

so you've always got to be prepared on a split second

to change and do something separate to the people you're running with.

Just seconds behind the leading runners,

Jim Mann and Nic Barbour, also from south of the border,

are powering through checkpoint four.

But they set off more than 30 minutes before Duncan and Shane

and, like many competitors today, are finding conditions challenging.

When it's clear, it's all right.

You can pick out big features and just run towards them.

When it's claggy, and especially when it's detailed on the map,

it can be really difficult.

You've got to sort of hope, you've got to use a bit of cunning

and you've got to get a little bit lucky at times as well.

-Hello.

-All right?

-Yeah.

18 minutes after the frontrunners,

Kerstin Rosenqvist and Pernilla Berg, from Sweden,

are the second women's team through the checkpoint.

Right behind them, also from Sweden,

are Bjorn Rydvall and Sebastian Ljungdahl.

They're currently in third place in the men's elite race,

but they're under no illusion as to the task ahead.

We know it's going to be very, very difficult navigation,

and we know the weather could be truly challenging.

It's nice to put yourself into some challenges once in a while.

It's a big competition.

I think it's pretty prestigious to make it good...

make it good here.

With 1,800 competitors spread out across these Galloway Hills,

we're taking a short break from the OMM

but we'll be back to see how everyone's getting on later.

Now we're heading to Glen Nevis to join top endurance athlete

and ex-marine Donnie Campbell as he takes on

one of Scotland's toughest challenges.

It's the beginning of December,

and Donnie's about to tackle Ramsay's Round.

This is a circuit of 24 Munros in the Lochaber area

that must be completed within 24 hours.

Currently, the winter record is 23 hours and 18 minutes.

And that's the time Donnie hopes to beat.

The thing that's concerning me most is...

how am I going to cope with 12 hours of darkness by myself

in the Scottish winter, in the Scottish mountains?

You know, am I going to be able to cope with the elements?

Mentally, that's probably the biggest challenge I'm facing.

It's just before nine in the evening here at the start line in Glen Nevis

and it's nearly time for the off.

It's been a bit of a crazy drive up,

trying to get things sorted at the last minute.

I was waiting for a kit to arrive today.

It didn't arrive till 4:30pm,

so not the best preparation but you make do with these things.

It's going to take my mind off what actually lies ahead.

Only ten minutes late. Skye time.

Running on Skye time.

-SUPPORTERS:

-Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

-Go.

-Allez, allez! Good luck, mate.

-Cheers.

This challenge was created by Charlie Ramsay in 1978.

He defines a winter run as one undertaken

any time between the 1st of December and the end of February.

Today's conditions look good,

but Donnie will still have to contend

with treacherous snow and ice on the summits,

whilst undertaking most of the challenge in the dark.

Well, we've started.

Pretty tough going.

Just looking back, over towards Fort William now.

It's going to be a very lonely and cold night, I think.

Later on, Donnie will be joined

by fellow endurance runners Tom Owens and Andrew Murray

but for the first 12 hours or so of darkness,

it will be just him, his camera

and, as you'll see, an improvised lighting kit -

all carried by Donnie.

The Ramsay Round in winter is an incredible challenge.

Donnie and myself ran

the ten highest mountains in Scotland in a day,

and this is going to be significantly harder.

Not only cos it's in winter,

but also there's just so many more mountains.

You'll be tired, you're running through the night,

there are navigational issues,

so I think if he gets himself to the finish,

he'll deserve a hearty handshake and a cold beer.

Woohoo!

Munro number one done.

Happy with that.

OK. Game face on.

Er...

Heading off in that direction, where the poles are pointing.

Just trying to find the right way again.

Yeah, I think I came over that way.

'When you're running in winter, the key is not to actually sweat.

'As soon as you start sweating, if you stop,

'that moisture gets really cold and really chills you,

'so that the key is to be layering up correctly

'and kind of getting that right balance

'where you're comfortable but not sweating.

'I know I can cover the distance and the ascent.

'It's whether I can put up with the weather conditions

'the Scottish winter's going to throw at me.'

Starting to snow.

Been on the go for four hours and six minutes now.

Yeah, it's a quarter past one in the morning.

Stressful start, keeps you on the go.

'Being out there on your own,

'in dark, cold conditions is just about as extreme as it can get.'

This is some slippy path.

I think there was snow last night,

and there's a bit more ice than he probably expected.

Doing it in the summer would be more pleasurable if possible

but, yeah, for pure challenge, the winter has got to be pretty full-on.

Thirsty work.

Ran out of water on the ridge there.

Been dying for this water stop for an hour or so now.

Pretty dehydrated, so I need to kind of...start drinking again.

Cold and refreshing, though.

It is eight hours and 19 minutes on the clock.

I am heading over for my first river crossing,

which I'm not looking forward to,

and then I've got three more Munros until I see the support crew again.

So the last section of the night,

looking forward to a bit of daylight.

I'm not looking forward to cold feet in the next ten minutes.

'You kind of think, "Yeah, the summer,

' "a lot of people have done it.

' "It's straightforward to a certain extent." '

Winter, now that's different.

Now you've got loads of elements

and it's kind of that hardship, you know,

at the time, it's going to... Might be miserable, cold and wet,

but the sense of achievement once you've completed it

or even the sense of achievement

once you get back into a warm van not completing it, knowing,

"Well, yes, I survived that. That wasn't too bad."

That's kind of just being out in the winter in the mountains.

Summit number 13...

HE PUFFS

..Chno Dearg.

11 hours 58 so far.

Oh, man.

Feeling a bit sick.

Just got to keep cracking on.

Really suffering now, but...

..got to keep going. Toughing it out.

As Donnie approaches the dam at Loch Eilde Mor,

he's not even halfway through the challenge.

And he's already around two hours behind schedule.

He's been going for about 12 hours now.

Then he's done a big section on his own in the dark

and probably encountered a little more ice and snow

than he expected overnight.

He's up against it. I mean, he'll be just working out,

"Where I can take little short cuts?

"How can I make sure that my nutrition is absolutely spot-on?

"How can I get back that hour or two that I really need

"to get to the finish under that record?"

'It's going to be tough, but I wouldn't put it past him.'

-Well done, mate.

-Yeah, well done. You did great.

APPLAUSE

The Munros were really icy.

I got to the top of the first one

and the storm alarm went off on my watch,

and it started to snow.

And then it stopped snowing, and then the dusting of snow froze.

So any downhills were like, just...

Thanks.

-Need some food in me.

-Yeah.

-My stomach's struggling.

Do you want some brioche?

No, I'll just, kind of, let my stomach settle down for a bit.

-There's some bread as well?

-I'm feeling a bit queasy.

-There is only a couple of bits where I went round in circles.

-Right.

And that was going on Binnein Beag,

kind of got confused with all the lochs... It was like...

Started running round one loch, and I thought, "Wait a minute -

-"I'm going back on myself."

-LAUGHTER

Donnie may be fighting against the clock,

but at least he'll have company for the second half of Ramsay's Round.

And we'll be back later in the programme

to see if he can succeed in beating John Gay's winter record.

-Beautiful.

-Tick it off. Well done, mate.

Tick it off. Right.

Welcome back to the Original Mountain Marathon.

I'm now near checkpoint ten, although I have to be really careful

not to give its exact position away to the competitors,

as this race is as much about pin-sharp navigation

as it is about speed.

And we're probably about to get lost.

We're not as lost as we were earlier.

The first one was really hard.

There were a lot of people wandering around in the fog.

-It's very hard to follow people when you can't see them.

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Enjoying this lovely fog. It's really helping(!)

'You're trying to move as quickly as you can,

'but you need to keep in touch with the map,'

particularly if you're racing with other teams

and you're starting to watch what the other teams do.

It's really easy to quickly lose touch with where you are.

And, of course, they could be on a different course.

You don't know that they're necessarily

going to the same control that you're going to.

Points us in the right direction, which we're going to go...

Well, that white cloud.

-That way.

-Good.

You've got a problem to solve each day,

and you have to be physically up to solving it,

and then you have to stay on top of it concentration-wise.

There's focus and then there's the emotional side as well.

Like, not getting too unhappy when you're lost and stuff like that.

It can be a bit devastating, really, when you know you've lost time,

and you're going backwards in the field, but it happens.

It's just like life, isn't it? You have setbacks.

Oh, I can see it in the corner.

I can see it in the corner. Well done, boy.

One thing is for sure - these Galloway hills are not easy to walk,

let alone run across.

They're boggy, rough, tussocky and totally pathless.

These OMM competitors are hardy folk.

We've been knee-deep in bog...

-Only once.

-..and it took us an hour to do a kilometre.

I think this is one of the most challenging terrains

I've ever been to, in terms of those bumps,

and holes, and the amount of water.

-Hello.

-All right?

-This one was really hard for us.

We messed it up.

It will be hard on our feet

because when you go uphill, it's not technical,

but when you go down, you need to train that a lot,

and we don't have that possibility in Denmark.

That's the hard part for us, I think.

In the elite class, Duncan Archer and Shane Ohly

are still the fastest team.

They won the OMM in 2011,

and are expert at navigating over complex terrain.

A lot of the skill with the route choice

is actually things that aren't even clear with the map.

It's where the good running is going to be,

so maybe you see a flat area that's a bit marshy

and you think, "Oh, that's going to be

"really tough running through there."

We went over the top of Merrick, which is a big hill here,

and it was actually really good running.

There's a good walkers' path goes over the top,

so those sort of route choices make a big difference.

But they know they're up against

some of the best runners in the world,

including Nic Barber and Jim Mann.

Strategy is key here, and Duncan and Shane are masters of this as well.

We overtook Nic and Jim and they caught us back up,

and then it becomes a tactical battle.

We know we're in front of them cos we started later,

so we don't actually need to push,

so we just sat behind them and let them work for us.

And I thought running was meant to be a friendly sport!

Ah, well.

But these four have raced against each other many times,

and know each person's strengths and weaknesses.

I'd say that actually letting me and Jim do the work

is probably a risky manoeuvre,

but, yeah, we took on a really steep climb at the end,

and I tried to break the group apart,

but Jim couldn't quite come with me.

Yeah, I've not had a great season.

I was sick earlier in the season and I'm just getting back now,

so it was touch-and-go whether I'd run.

It would have been nice to have a little bit more

and just make them suffer a bit more, if nothing else.

There's a few times when you can feel them pushing to move away,

when we just say to each other,

"We've just got to stay with them, no matter what it costs,"

and then at the moment we thought we were ready to go again,

we'd left them for dead, which was nice.

THEY LAUGH

It's just before three o'clock

and we're waiting for the first of the elite competitors

to cross the line.

Now, everybody's been out on the course for over six hours,

but when they get here, there's no rest -

they'll have to set up camp, make some food

and then spend the night in fairly soggy conditions.

Five hours and 59 minutes after setting off this morning,

Shane Ohly and Duncan Archer are the first of the elites

to complete today's race and reach the overnight camp.

-How was that, guys?

-Very hard.

-Yeah.

-We were together with Jim and Nic until 11,

and the second we punched 11, we just hit the turbochargers.

I'm not sure what's happened to them.

So who knows how that'll feel tomorrow?

You might have broken them emotionally, I think.

-Well, we'll see.

-That was the plan.

-Yeah.

Jim Mann and Nic Barber just couldn't match that phenomenal pace.

Today, they're 18 minutes slower than Shane and Duncan.

-Well done, guys.

-That looked like hard going.

A few nav errors early on,

then we caught Shane and Duncan up and we just trod along together.

We tried to attack but they wouldn't shake off.

It was the last...K and a half, wasn't it,

-when I was really suffering.

-Yeah.

Obviously, you'll get to recover now, get some food on board,

-get a decent sleep and...

-Food.

-Food. Clothes.

Yeah, warm clothes, food and then more of the same.

Yeah, more of the same.

Are you guys enjoying the course?

HE SPEAKS IN SWEDISH

Third back are the two Swedes,

Bjorn Rydvall and Sebastian Ljungdahl.

They're 30 minutes slower than the leading team

and were hoping for a better time.

I'm really disappointed about my orienteering technique.

-We made a bit too many mistakes.

-Er...

Well, we had too much time orienteering.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Was it that was the fact that you couldn't see much today?

-Was that a problem?

-Yeah, we made the mistakes

very close to the checkpoints, but we lost too much time.

In the women's race, the Scottish orienteers

Kerstin Leslie and Jessica Tullie are having a great day,

but, before the start, they were less sure of how they'd cope

in this tough, ultracompetitive class.

I've done quite a few Mountain Marathons,

and it's always seemed like something impossible, you know,

the elite category.

I used to see all these runners after finishing the course

and think, "That just looks impossible. How do they do it?"

And so to get to that stage, to think, "Maybe I could do that."

Well done, girls.

The mist has caused us to make a few wee mistakes, though.

-OK.

-But hopefully nothing too... Nothing too drastic.

You're both still smiling, so that's great.

-Yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

-Yeah. Right.

-OK.

-Downhill all the way now.

This year, three women's teams signed up for the elite class.

Currently, Nicky Spinks and Jean Brown are in second place,

and they'd both like to see more women competing.

I'm not a fast runner, and I want to show the other women, you know,

this is possible for us.

You know, if you... Yeah. If I can do it, you can do it, really.

So to have the two Scottish orienteers

actually have the courage to enter it is really good.

And it's great, pairing up with another lady for these things.

-It is.

-So, the paired events, you know, it makes so much difference.

-Yeah.

-Cos it's... If you're in a mixed team,

there's always this thing that people think,

"Oh, well, the chap's carried everything

-"and done all the navigating," even if they haven't.

-Yeah.

Whereas, a ladies' team, you've had to do it all yourselves, and we can.

The third women's team to brave the elites

are Swedish runners Pernilla Berg and Kerstin Rosenqvist.

Are you enjoying it?

-Yeah.

-Kind of.

But it's Jessica Tullie and Kerstin Leslie

who've got the fastest time today.

CHEERING

Thought we might be a bit longer than that, so...

Yeah, pleased to get back in a decent time.

We were worried we might have needed our head-torches!

Did it feel like a pretty long course?

It didn't feel, like, long, like, distance-wise,

-but it felt pretty tough.

-Tough, yeah.

-Uh-huh.

-Underfoot was really, really tough.

-Yeah.

-Right.

-I was surprised.

They're such rough hills - they managed to get a course

with actually quite a lot of running in it.

-Yeah.

-Which surprised me.

I thought it would have been too... too rough to run,

but we ran quite a lot, actually.

So these are the positions at the end of day one.

Shane Ohly and Duncan Archer were the fastest men

in five hours, 59 minutes exactly.

Nic Barber and Jim Mann were second in six hours, 17:44.

And in a time of 6:30:43,

Bjorn Rydvall and Sebastian Ljungdahl are currently in third.

For the women, Kerstin Leslie and Jessica Tullie finished first today

in a time of 7:28:38.

Nicky Spinks and Jean Brown were second-fastest in 9:09:25.

And just 25 minutes slower,

Kerstin Rosenqvist and Pernilla Berg came in third.

A tented city has sprung up in the Galloway Forest Park,

as all the competitors now have a night under canvas.

What you carry on your back makes a crucial difference

to how comfortable you are, and also to your performance.

I did my first event in 1984,

and I had a 60-litre backpacking rucksack,

crammed full of the kit I assumed one needed in the overnight,

and I'm now down to a 20-litre rucksack,

including stove, fuel, food, tents, sleeping bag, everything.

So there's a minimum kit list for the OMM that requires everything,

so that is a waterproof jacket.

It's the lightest one in the world at the moment, it's about 100g.

And that is a pair of waterproof trousers,

similarly at about 100g.

That's my food for the overnight,

so all you need to do is put boiling water in,

eat straight out of that.

I've got my breakfast and my brew kit here,

so I've got a soup and a breakfast bar,

and then this is an old insider trick.

These are two cut-down carrier bags.

When you get to the overnight, you take your wet socks off,

put these on and put them back into your soaking wet shoes

so that you get dry feet when you're on the overnight.

That's my tent. This is for both of us, for two people.

Weighs 800g, with carbon poles and titanium pegs,

and is comfortable for two, but...

but not roomy and spacious, should we say?

That's my first-aid kit, which is pretty minimal.

Some painkillers, some blisters, a little bit of cream for rubbing -

which you can get blisters or other rubbing things,

as one does in a marathon - and a little bit of spare toilet paper.

This is my brew kit, so this is everything in here -

fuel, stove, matches, food, kettle.

So a titanium microlight stove, and some little cubes of solid fuel,

which is the latest way of creating enough heat

to boil a kettle of water.

And a windbreaker around it made of foil.

And then the OMM requires a minimum of warm spare clothing,

so that's some tights, a T-shirt and a pair of socks.

And the lightest head-torch one can buy, 28g,

and if you need this, it's gone horribly wrong.

You should be well tucked up before you need a head-torch.

And then your last bit, that keeps you the warmest,

an ultralight sleeping bag.

So that's 250g of down,

which should keep you warm down to freezing point.

The modern equipment is so light, so warm, so fast-drying,

that makes a massive difference.

My rucksack now weighs about three kilos

with everything in for the weekend. And it is a compromise -

there's no doubt at all I will be fairly chilly and fairly hungry

and fairly thirsty by the end of it,

but I will have sufficient to get round,

and it's finding that fine, fine line.

BAGPIPES PLAY

Hi.

Day two of the OMM starts off in style.

There is no rest for any of the 1,800 competitors.

Good morning, good morning. What was breakfast this morning?

Breakfast was brown porridge.

I'm not sure if it was brown owing to the burning

-or to the chocolate but...

-Right.

-..it was brown.

-How was your evening?

-It was really good.

Yeah, we slept very well, surprisingly.

-Everyone said that.

-From, like, 7pm.

-Yeah.

From 7pm to...? Oh, really, you slept that long?

-Yeah, we keeled over and, just... That was it, you know?

-Great.

And then the bagpipes was a treat.

-Plenty warm enough, that's not a problem.

-Right.

There's now quite a lot of condensation in here,

so it's quite damp in here this morning.

Well, putting the dry clothes on was good.

Now I've just got to get through the aches and pains of today,

and try and muster up the courage to go and run up another mountain.

We've brought new mattresses and they're about that thick,

and - ah! - the bee's knees.

Better than the bubble wrap that we had last time.

The OMM isn't about people having a good night's sleep

and being comfortable, it's about misery.

Unusual this year - end of October, almost November,

and it's really, really warm here.

Good morning, everybody.

Anyone for the seven o'clock start, that is the seven o'clock start,

please proceed through.

Once again, there's a staggered start for all the classes,

but today the top five elite teams are set off sequentially,

with the fastest heading out first.

For obvious reasons, it's known as a chasing start.

So, gentlemen, how are you feeling today?

Apprehensive but, yeah, looking forward to it.

-Yeah, we are fairly rested. Had a lot to eat last night.

-Uh-huh.

-That's the main thing.

-We just want to get on with it now.

-Yeah, it's...

-Just go out and do it.

AIR HORN BLARES

We know what's coming. We've done this a lot.

We know the second day's hard,

but you also know that you just have to dig in

and get on with it and suffer a bit.

After their struggle with Shane and Duncan yesterday,

Jim Mann and Nic Barber aren't wasting any time this morning.

A quick look at the map and they're off.

Have a good day!

They've got to make up 18 minutes to take the lead,

and they also know that the Swedish team,

who are just 13 minutes behind, are psyched up for the battle.

Hope for a better race today.

-We're going to find the checkpoints directly today.

-OK.

Oh, we messed it up quite much yesterday, but that's the way it is.

-Yeah.

-It's part of the game.

-Good positivity today?

-Yes.

-43.

-SENSOR BEEPS

-Yup.

-Have a good day!

Good luck, guys.

We had a plan and we tried to be very accurate,

but still we made big mistakes very close to checkpoints,

and especially the second one,

we went to the right spot but we couldn't find it,

and we messed around for a long time afterwards,

so we were not happy with that.

THEY SPEAK IN SWEDISH

Morning. How are we doing? How are we feeling?

-Good. Yeah.

-How was yesterday for you?

Yeah, it was all good. It was a bit tough that it was all right.

Second yesterday for the women,

Nicky Spinks and Jean Brown know that their Swedish rivals,

Pernilla Berg and Kerstin Rosenqvist, aren't far behind.

Now lining up at the start are yesterday's fastest women,

Jessica Tullie and Kerstin Leslie.

They've currently got a strong lead,

but one mistake and that could vanish.

Had a quick look - what are you thinking?

I think this bit looks tough.

And then forestry.

-Forestry can...

-Oh, at the end.

What's the issue with forestry?

I guess that out in the open, the contours,

-you can kind of see them a bit more and...

-Yeah.

..see what's going on, whereas the forestry,

there's tracks and the rides, and you think it's going to be easy,

and you're running faster cos you're on the tracks

and you're on a downhill to the end,

but we need to be careful and not do anything stupid out there.

-We'll let you concentrate, guys. Have a great day.

-Cool.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

Ahead is 24.7K of running with 2,025 metres of ascent.

It's a shorter course than yesterday

but, with stiff, tired legs and a night under canvas,

this will be an extremely hard day.

We're on the uphill.

We're used to that, but the soft terrain is killing us.

-Me, at least.

-HE LAUGHS

The... The terrain we've got here

is some of the toughest we've got in the country

that we use for this event. It's a lot of steep-sided hills.

It's got a lot of tussock grass.

It's got a lot of heather.

There's a lot of streams running underneath it,

which means that when you put your foot down,

often you don't know where there's a hole underneath.

So, from the point of view of ability to run fast

through the terrain, it really is a challenge.

Oops! That's our camera person down, too.

It's never easy. The circumstances are often really trying

in terms of, you know, the endurance -

tired and wet and cold -

and it's a good, good friendship tester.

Can you smell us from there?

Lucky the technology for Smell-O-Vision hasn't arrived yet.

Have a good day.

The first year we did it, we turned up and we really had no idea.

We had trained to the nth degree.

We'd been out weekend after weekend.

We'd put the mileage in and, physically, we were up to it.

And we turned up at the start line

and there was a man who probably was as old as I am now,

who said, "So, lads, have you done a lot of training?"

And we went, "Yes."

And he says, "You have no idea what you're letting yourself in for."

And we're thinking, "Well, yeah, we are, because we can run.

"We can do this." And we set off and it hit us...

-HE CLICKS HIS FINGERS

-..like that. You're on your own.

If anything goes wrong, it's up to you to get out of it.

I've made my way back up into the hills

in anticipation of the first runners arriving through checkpoint four,

about a third of the way along this route.

As you can see, we're still in the mist at the moment,

but we're hoping the clouds will lift later

and give us some great views of the Galloway hills.

Right now, we're taking a short break from the OMM,

but we'll be back soon to see how our racers are getting on.

Now we're back again with Donnie Campbell

as he attempts to set a new record for completing Ramsay's Round.

That's 24 Munros in 24 hours.

He's done the first night-time section,

but is currently behind schedule.

He's now got a few hours of daylight,

and he's been joined by two experts fell runners,

Andrew Murray and Tom Owens.

It's a lot of concentration to be out there on your own.

I think having a bit of company and a bit of banter -

to take your mind off things a little bit - will help enormously,

and hopefully help him, you know,

make sure he's looking after himself all right

and keep him en route as best we can.

There's no coming out of that one.

In the summer, you can do Ramsay Rounds unsupported.

In the winter, since you're out for so long in the dark and cold,

you know, even just meeting someone with a hot cup of tea

or, say, a hot cup of soup,

it's such a boost to morale,

and, again, seeing someone that cares about you,

and just having someone to talk to

or share what you've just gone through in the last

five, six, seven hours, is going to be great as well.

So we've been climbing with Donnie for about an hour.

We are just coming up to our first Munro.

It's very, very boggy, and very, very heavy underfoot.

He looks strong but it's tough.

After this Munro, Donnie's only got ten more to go,

and he's done 14.

We've maybe got ten more to go and we've done not even one.

By this stage, Donnie is rapidly getting exhausted

and struggling to keep fuelled up.

Even so, it's hard not to notice the wonderful surroundings.

Oh, it's a cracking route.

You know, the views you can get are absolutely stunning,

and the remoteness as well.

When I was recceing it in the autumn, I seen stags rutting,

and it was just an incredible place to be.

You know, very remote.

Not many other walkers on some of the Monros,

cos they're so remote.

It's great. You've got the whole place to yourself, just about.

Ramsay's Round follows in the footsteps of another famous route

created in the Lake District by Bob Graham in 1932.

It was while undertaking this challenge

that Charlie Ramsay decided to create his own round in Scotland,

which he completed in 1978,

two minutes under his 24-hour target.

I was in the Lake District several years ago with Chris Brasher

when he took on the Bob Graham Round and I got through in about 22 hours.

After dinner, Chris said to me,

"Why didn't you look at a possible challenge,

"similar to the Bob Graham, but, in fact, in Scotland?"

And I went home and I thought about it over the winter

and I came with the idea of simply extending Philip Tranter's Round -

the Mamores, Grey Corries and Aonachs and the Dearg -

and all I had to do was to extend that by going round Loch Treig.

So, Donnie, 20 Munros done, we're coming up to 3:30pm,

we're going into your second night.

Excited, terrified, knackered?

-BREATHLESS:

-Knackered. I'm knackered.

-CHARLIE:

-'Bob Graham had to do 42 peaks in the Lakes within 24 hours,

'so the magic is as many as you can do within 24 hours.

'So I have just simply lifted that and planted it on Ramsay's Round.'

Numerous people have done it over several days,

over several years, etc -

that's fine, but to go on to my list of finishers,

you've got to have completed the Round within 24 hours.

It's really slippy going on the rocks.

There's a light dusting of snow, which makes it like ice,

but we're moving along.

If I don't make 24 hours, if I'm slipping down the timescale,

I still want to finish it.

So even if it takes me 24, 25 hours,

for me, it'd still be a great achievement.

This might actually be the top, then.

'It's definitely not a race, it is only a challenge.

'People are looking at the Round,

'taking on board the challenges that are faced with them, you know,

'and there's the distance, there's the height,

'there's the overnight section,

'there's the planning and the scheming

'and all the preparation that goes into the challenge.'

So, taking all the elements of the challenge, putting it all together,

to get in and under 24 hours is a remarkable achievement.

Just try and get up.

Donnie and Tom are still pushing hard, trying to make up lost time.

But, as night falls, the Round has claimed its first casualty.

Andrew's been suffering from a sickness bug

and has had to retire from the mountains.

It's just absolutely amazing out there.

You can see for miles.

But it's really hard. It's like much, much harder

than this sort of thing would be in summer.

Just feel as if you're pretty much running through treacle constantly.

It's not bad, is it?

When you get up on the ridges and stuff,

there's that little bit of snow and that little bit of ice

that you just spend a lot of time on your backside.

And Donnie is hardly managing to get anything down,

so it's on a total knife edge.

Quite excited, actually.

Follow it on the tracker and we'll see how he gets on,

But fair play to him, I mean, like him and Tom are tough boys.

Good stuff, Donnie.

Penultimate Munro coming up.

I don't know how he's managed to run 20 Munros already.

I think I've run like two or three and it's just so heavy underfoot.

If he gets this done, it'll be pretty special.

Donnie's still in shorts.

We think he might be the first winter Ramsay Round in shorts.

Right now, the end is tantalisingly close.

Now in complete darkness,

Donnie and Tom are nearly down Ben Nevis and onto the final sprint.

It's coming right down to the wire.

Get to the other stile. Got the river crossing here.

The path's the other side for you.

Go on, kick it.

Let's go.

Go!

Get down, Donnie, get down.

Well done!

Nearly there!

Up that way, up that way.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-You've done it. You've done it.

-CHEERING

You OK? OK?

Yeah, I'm all right.

Oh, wow.

-Well done.

-Well done, Donnie. Get this thing off.

-Do you want a drink?

-No, he's all right.

-Are you OK?

HE EXHALES

Well done. Great. You've done it.

23 hours, six minutes.

23 hours, six minutes.

-That is the hardest thing I've ever done.

-Each side, mate.

DONNIE GROANS

-Well done.

-Hey.

Donnie's done it. 23 hours and six minutes.

He's created a new winter record - what an amazing achievement.

But Donnie's record wasn't to last long.

Just seven weeks later, Jim Mann,

who's currently sitting in second place in the OMM,

completed the Round in 22 hours and 23 minutes.

Well done, Jim.

LAUGHTER

-Thank you very much, guys.

-That was fantastic.

I think that earns a hug, not just a...

That's fantastic.

Our congratulations to both Jim and Donnie.

A fantastic effort and the big question -

will Donnie be back next year to see if he can reclaim that record?

If you want to find out more about Ramsay's Round

and to keep up-to-date with all our Adventure Show news,

follow us on Facebook.

Welcome back to the OMM, where the frontrunners

are just coming through checkpoint five now.

The terrain is a bit more forgiving today

but the navigation's still really tough

and the route choices will make all the difference

in a tight event like this.

-Hiya.

-Hiya.

For the higher teams in the elite corps certainly,

they will be doing this flat out and they will be navigating

and making their decisions whilst running flat out

and for the elites, they'll be running in as straight a line

as they can between those checkpoints

and they will not want to move off that direct line,

which will take them through some incredibly difficult terrain,

especially in an environment like this.

-Hi there.

-How are you doing today?

Yeah, good.

Duncan Archer and Shane Ohly set off today

with an 18-minute advantage over their nearest rivals,

and they're still in the lead at this point.

But, for Shane, this race is about far more

than being first over the finishing line.

I actually think these are life-affirming experiences

and it's fantastic to come away for a weekend

and park everything else that's going on in your life

and you push yourself physically and mentally

and you're challenged and I'm a really strong believer

in, actually, the result doesn't matter, you do your best.

And you can't control other people,

so you do your best and whatever happens at the end happens.

Being able to read the map

whilst you're running over these big tussocks is... It's hard.

But I guess you just sort of develop this peripheral vision

and you sort of see stuff coming and you see,

"Oh, there's bit of a clear bit here,

"I can read the map in the next ten metres or something."

And you're really not looking at the map for long,

so you have to take a lot of information off the map

in those ten seconds.

We were falling over, we must have each fallen over a dozen times,

you put your foot down a big hole and you're just on your face

and, you know, you've just got to pick yourself up and get on with it.

But there's still a long way to go,

and other teams are pushing hard to overtake Duncan and Shane.

Hi, guys, how are you getting on today?

Yeah, it's good today.

In fact, Nic Barber and Jim Mann

are only 37 seconds slower to checkpoint five.

When you're going well, it's magic, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, when you're going really well,

there's not much better in any kind of race,

whether it's a 5K road race or something like this

but when you're just cruising along and you're feeling really good

and there's views and it's... Yeah, it's just really good.

You know you're going to have tough times, don't you,

you always know that even if you're the stronger of the pair,

you're going to have down times when you're really suffering

and there's something about coming through those,

you know you've had a proper weekend.

In third place yesterday, the Swedish team,

Bjorn Rydvall and Sebastian Ljungdahl,

are pounding round the course.

They're currently the fastest team today,

but they've got to make up over 30 minutes to take the lead.

It's a huge ask.

Hi, guys, how's the race going today?

Yeah, so far much better than yesterday.

Yeah. Why is it better?

-Because we're...

-No mistakes so far.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-We found, er... found the controls.

OK. Better conditions today for running?

Yeah.

'I think what's very important is that you're good on your feet.'

The less time you have to spend to check where you put your feet,

the more time you can spend looking at the map.

In the women's race,

the Scottish orienteers, Jess Tullie and Kerstin Leslie,

are keeping up the pace and they're still well out in the lead.

-How are you today?

-Not too bad.

-That was a big climb, though.

-OK.

-A few aches and pains.

-You can see a bit more today.

-OK.

-A little bit less mist.

It's not helping us right now, though,

cos right now we need to find this control.

-Oh, it's up here!

-SHE LAUGHS

I can't see it for looking.

Are you still feeling as enthusiastic as yesterday?

Well, it's good on the second day cos you know when you finish,

that's it all finished, so that's quite nice.

-Have a good day, girls.

-Thanks.

-Thanks very much.

Jess is definitely more of the expert navigator

and I've done a bit more hill work,

so I'm probably more used to sort of being out for longer days

in the hills and using maps that are bigger scale as well.

Right, this looks like the bog.

-We head around the left there.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Hi there, how are you getting on today?

-All right? Yeah, good.

-Are you enjoying the views?

-I am, yeah.

-Yeah?

Nicky Spinks and Jean Brown are currently in second place.

They're both very experienced fell runners

and Nicky's set many new records,

including being the fastest person - man or woman -

to complete a double circuit of the Bob Graham Round

in the Lake District.

That would be an amazing achievement for anyone,

but especially for someone who's suffered a major illness.

It was ten years ago when I got the breast cancer,

and so this year's been a really special year.

I got the breast cancer when I was only 39,

so I think since then I've really appreciated life

and even today, when it's not been going right, or yesterday...

I think it was a bit harder work yesterday with the weather, I think,

and just longest course, I can still look out and think,

"Well, here I am, you know, I'm really not enjoying it

"but I'm enjoying it, I'm still here."

When the OMM was first held in 1968,

events like this were virtually unheard of.

And even 30 years ago,

they were still the preserve of just a few enthusiasts.

Today, adventure races are a rapidly growing sport,

but this event is still considered to be one of the toughest.

Try and explain it to people and it's very, very difficult.

You say, "I'm doing a two-day mountain marathon."

"Oh, are you going to run round for 26 miles twice?"

"No, that's not actually what I'm going to do at all."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to run up and down mountains.

"I don't know where I'm going half the time, or where I'm going to be."

"And how far are you going to go?" "Couldn't tell you."

Fell runners as a general breed aren't...

aren't normal.

They're all a little bit odd, and like their own company,

they like being in the mountains, they like the on their own a bit.

And I think that's part of the reason

they like being in the mountains.

How are you today?

Oh, a bit tired.

Hopefully the orienteering is better today than it was yesterday.

A lot of hills, of course, but it's tough and fun.

-It's fun.

-We will come back.

Rargh!

It mirrors all the elements of daily life.

There's all the aggravation, the difficulty,

the mental stress of it

but also there's a huge physical outlet there,

which is just wonderful and it's good for your mental health

in the long run.

It's a great way to explore the country.

If you're being an adventure tourist,

it will take us like three, four days

to cover the area we can do in two days here.

Hi, guys, how's the navigation going today?

It's all right but we've just hit the clag, haven't we, so...

It's the adventure and drive to succeed and to push your limits,

your boundaries and to be in the mountains alone.

It's fun.

-Hey.

-You all right?

And now it's nearly all over for the fastest men -

four hours, 52 minutes and eight seconds

after leaving camp this morning,

Shane Ohly and Duncan Archer are on the final straight.

Over the two days, they've been on the go for ten hours, 51 minutes

and are the first of the elites to cross the finish line.

What a fantastic race they've had. APPLAUSE

Well, well, well, boys. You went for it.

We did. I'd no idea where they'd be.

Yeah, we've just given it everything today, you know.

There was a really long leg in the middle, big route choice,

didn't know which way they'd go, so you just had to keep pushing

and it went all right.

I just, I think, if I looked over my shoulder once,

I looked over a thousand times today.

'And with good reason -

'Jim Mann and Nic Barber have had a much better run today.

'They couldn't match that winning time,

'but heading over the finishing line,

'they're just eight minutes slower than Duncan and Shane.

'And that gives them a well-deserved second place.'

Well done, guys. That looked like hard going today.

And the fact you were doing that chase as well, it makes it tricky,

doesn't it, when you know these guys are 18 minutes ahead?

-Well, we know them well as well.

-Yeah.

And we know the guys 30 minutes behind us are strong.

They're really strong as well. Are we second in?

-You're second in.

-Yeah, great, well done.

-Yeah.

The Swedish team, Bjorn Rydvall and Sebastian Ljungdahl,

also improved on yesterday's run.

They're the second fastest today,

just two minutes slower than the leaders.

But they had 30 minutes to make up, so they're in third place overall.

Well done, Sweden.

Today was better.

Yeah, I think we didn't have so much mistake today.

And in the women's race, no-one's been able to match

the two Scottish athletes, Jess Tullie and Kerstin Leslie.

They've completed today's course

in six hours, 19 minutes, and 16 seconds.

And they've not only come in first for the women,

but they're the ninth fastest team overall, a tremendous result.

-Well done, girls.

-Thank you.

-Fantastic race.

That was a tough finish.

Jess did a good job of pulling me along in the last couple of Ks.

I found it quite a lot tougher today, you know,

a lot more steep ups and downs, seemed pretty unrelenting.

Yeah, we saw a lot of the guys' teams out there,

so we kept trying to keep an eye on them and see if we were gaining

-or falling behind but...

-Yeah.

You must be delighted.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. Delighted to be here at the finish.

Delighted to have finished, yeah.

Nicky Spinks and Jean Brown are the second fastest women over the line.

With over nine hours of running in their legs from yesterday,

it's another fantastic achievement.

-Need a drink.

-Yeah.

So confirmation of those final results.

For the men, Bjorn Rydvall and Sebastian Ljungdahl came in third

with an overall time of 11 hours, 24 minutes and 58 seconds.

In second place was Nic Barber and Jim Mann in 11:18:29.

But, in 10:51:08, Shane Ohly and Duncan Archer

were over 27 minutes ahead of everyone else to finish first.

In the women's race,

Swedish runners Kerstin Rosenqvist and Pernilla Berg came in third

in 18:14:28.

Second place went to Nicky Spinks and Jean Brown

with their time of 16:49:08.

But in a time of 13 hours, 47 minutes and 54 seconds,

Jessica Tullie and Kerstin Leslie took the top spot.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

As always, every single person who took part in this race,

in my opinion, deserves a medal.

Amazing effort from all the competitors

at the Original Mountain Marathon.

I'm sure they'll want a warm bath,

some hot food and perhaps a cool drink.

Next time around, we'll have an Adventure Show special

with landscape photographer Colin Prior

as he explores the Scottish mountains.

In the meantime, from all the team here in Glentrool,

thank you so much for your company. Bye for now.