Entries and Changes
The Vet category is open to teams where both members are aged 45 or over. Only the elder team member’s age is used to calculate the handicapping with an additional 10 years being added to the woman’s age for this calculation. This is explained more fully in Courses section.
Yes, the minimum age on the day of the event is 18yrs in the Elite and 16yrs in the B, C, D and Score classes N.B.Juniors must be partnered by an adult aged 21 or over who is their parent/guardian or someone appointed by them. A parental Consent form must be submitted before Junior entreis are accepted.
If anyone has a burning need for a particular Start Time that’s not available please contact us and we will try to slot you in as desired
You will receive a confirmation email from SI Entries (which you should keep until after the event) and successful entries are automatically published on the Entries List page. Parental Consent forms for Adult-Junior teams will be acknowledged upon receipt and processed within two weeks. If you are concerned about your entry status please contact us.
Use our Facebook page to find partners (for this event only.!!). If you are unsuccessful please note the rules about refunds. Good Luck.
Yes. See “Withdrawing your entry” on the Entries page.
Setting a fair value for deferrals is not simple. Our unrecoverable costs rise steeply from August onwards and we are taking a bit of a gamble in offering deferrals as we may lose money on deferred entry.
They are also an admin overhead that has to be managed into the next year and they need to be fair to people who choose to take the refund instead. Frankly we’d rather give a refund.
Yes. Entries are transferable however the ownership remains with the original card payer and it will be up to you to sort out exchange of monies. Please also ensure that any new participants read and accept all the terms of entry.
A proper mass start is when everyone starts at the same time. However, for the Mourne Mountain Marathon we hold a rolling mass start on the Sunday morning for all teams between 08:00 and 08:45. You can start any time within this window and your Start Time is registered in the Control Box. Teams are free to use this window to competitive advantage.
Kit Questions
Many people have “waterproof” jackets for running and cycling however these are often far from waterproof. The key test is that it must have been sold as waterproof – not showerproof or windproof. Typically such coats will have taped seams and be tested to a hydrostatic head of at least 5,000mm. Of course, the coat must also be in good condition such that it is still waterproof after years of use.
Yes and No
There are a number of quality walking trousers that are also fully waterproof. These will pass muster.
However, an ordinary pair of waterproof over-trousers (whether they are Gortex or simple proofed nylon) will not do on their own as these have practically no insulation properties. You will need leggings or walking trousers under these to keep you warm.
We chose a “1 season” sleeping bag as a MINIMUM safe standard. Combined with your clothing and hot food you should be able to survive a night in the Mournes in September without coming to harm. Beyond that, any need for comfort is up to individuals. Standards vary between manufacturers but typically “1 season” means a lower comfort limit of 5degC (as defined by EN13537).
No. Not instead of a tent. Teams must carry a proper tent with sewn-in groundsheet: it must be manufactured as a tent and not as a bivy or something else. One survival bag is ALSO required per team.
The course has been planned on the Mourne Mountains 1:25,000 Superwalker map from Harvey Maps. The OSNI activity Map of The Mournes won’t be as useful. Both maps are available from any good online or local retailer – including our superb sponsors – Jackson Sports. WE DO NOT SUPPLY maps as part of the entry process.
Some modern hi-tech bits of gear are reasonable replacements for bulkier and heavier “traditional” equipment. The key thing is that the safety functionality and performance of this gear must be at least as good as that of the gear specified in the rules. There is so much gear on the market that we can’t possibly check it all out. If you are in doubt please contact us but bear in mind that we will err on the side of caution and may refuse some products if we can’t be confident that they meet the grade.
The Mourne Mountain Marathon is a TEAM event and we believe that part of that experience is sharing your tent – for better or for worse. A two person tent is also an important for safety as in the event of one person having an accident it provides enough space for the other to provide care if required sheltered from the elements. Allowing two smaller tents would also give us problems with enforcing the rules around bivy bags and what constitutes a tent.
NOT FOR NAVIGATION – GPS watches are common for tracking courses and post-event analysis. We think they’re great. Many mobile phones also have GPS with, at very least, basic map functionality. We don’t consider this to be of much use in mountain navigation and therefore not an issue. However, you can also install proper GPS navigation apps with OS based maps. Use of these apps or any dedicated GPS navigation device is not allowed as they provide considerable competitive advantage and are very much against the spirit of a mountain marathon. We can’t practicably check everyone for these devices so we are relying on peoples’ integrity. However, if someone is spotted and reported using GPS to navigate, we will do a kit check and if the offence is confirmed the team will be disqualified. Altimeters are allowed.
NOT FOR NAVIGATION but – GPS tracker and pace watches are allowed. These are great for tracking courses and post-event analysis. To support this fun activity, we provide a number of USB charge points at the overnight camp so bring your charger lead along.
Yes, A mobile phone is great for use in emergencies and should be kept safely wrapped in a plastic bag in your rucksack or an inside pocket. We are aware that many smartphones have mapping and GPS capability. USE OF THE GPS NAVIGATION FUNCTION IS NOT ALLOWED. In general, the use of the 3/4G based map navigation is too slow, intermittent and inaccurate in the Mournes to be relied upon.
Aside from the competition rule above, anyone with any real experience of smart phones in mountain conditions will know that they are not to be relied upon – especially in cold or wet conditions. Phone batteries are particularly prone to suddenly dying when cold and, of course, if you drop your phone in a bog hole it’s knackered. A phone is great for use in emergencies and should be kept safely wrapped in a plastic bag in your rucksack or an inside pocket.
Yes. but GPS navigation devices are forbidden.
See the Equipment section for a list of obligatory equipment. See Rules of the event.
There will be an area to leave travel bags which will be locked overnight. However, security is not guaranteed and competitors leave valuables there at their own risk. Neither the Mourne Mountain Marathon nor the event centre’s owners will accept any liability for any lost or damaged belongings.
Out On the Hills
No. For safety and competitive reasons both team members must stay in contact throughout the event and visit all the controls together. In practice this means you cannot have one team member take a short cut whilst the other climbs up to a control. Some controls will be marshalled and marked as such on the control description sheets, but there will also be secret marshals at some controls. Any team failing to visit a control together may be disqualified forthwith.
No. Teams are required to be totally self–sufficient on the hills. Mourne stream water is commonly drunk directly but the quality is very dependant on location and weather. We recommend that you carry water or appropriate purification equipment. Drinking water will be available at the overnight camp although it may come from a spring which should also be purified.
Only waste food, packaging and gas canisters may be dumped at the overnight camp. EVERYTHING else must be carried for the 2 days. This is important for both safety and fairness. We will be monitoring this closely and there will be spot checks on equipment.
No. Teams are only required to be able to make a hot meal on the first day – either at the end of the day or in an emergency out on the course. All other cooking is optional although most teams will also make hot drinks in the evening and at breakfast the next morning.
No. Sorry, but we don’t allow dogs as it would complicate our relationships with the various landowners whose cooperation we rely upon. There is also the potential for disturbance to other competitors at the, often, busy campsite.
No. In no circumstances will anyone be allowed to continue along the course alone. You may pair up with another individual (similarly afflicted) or another team, however both teams will then be deemed non-competitive and no place awarded. This is for both safety and competitive reasons.
Please visit our navigation tips page.
If you are new to this type of event you might not have heard of this particular feature before.
A re–entrant is a small valley in a hillside, the centre of which would collect water and funnel it downhill (if it were raining hard). It appears on the map as a U or V shape in the contour lines, pointing back into a hillside rather than sticking out of the hill (as would a spur). Hillsides are covered with re–entrants and they are very popular as control features with course planners – especially ours!!
Routegadget is a great tool for analysing your route choices compared to other runners. After an event the organiser uploads the map, the straight-line courses and the results to the RG2 server. Competitors can then go in and, without adding any more info, simply view selected routes and animate them in real time or speeded up against each other. To do this:
- Go to LVO Routegadget and select your event
- Click on the Results tab then select the course you want to see
- Check the Show Course box to the Right of the course name to see the purple straight-line course
- Scroll down the results list and check the box to the right hand side of the people you are interested in
- This will put them on the map and pop up a Play/Pause fast/slow box in the corner of the map
- Use these controls to “run” the people along the map in relative time. N.B. they only follow the straight line courses and the times are averaged across each leg
- HOWEVER, if someone has drawn their actual route or uploaded their GPS plot then you will see their name listed again with two check boxes
- If you check both boxes you can now run them along their actual route
- For hand drawn plots the time is averaged between the controls but for GPS plots the time is accurately plotted as recorded by the watch
- You can zoom in on the action and drag the map around for bets view of the interesting bits
- N.B. Unfortunately, if you are hand drawing your route, Routegadget doesn’t handle free order sections if they aren’t in the default order provided. Sorry about this. GPS plots work fine as Route Gadget just runs it as given.
The default straight line routes don’t tell you a lot so you can have even more fun if you draw your actual route or, better still, upload your GPS watch file for second by second accuracy.
To Draw your Route
- Pick your event and click on the Draw tab
- Select your Course and then select your Name
- Now click on the map some short distance along your actual route from the Start to the first control (shown red) to draw your first section – shown as a red line
- Repeat this in short steps along the route until you get to the first control at which point that the control circle changes colour to purple and the next control goes red
- Keep clicking along the route with as much detail as you can be bother with. Tip: don’t go crazy with points along the straights
- If you make a mistake click the Undo button
- Zoom in and out of the map at any time using your mouse scroll wheel.
- To move the map, either check the “Move Track and Map together” box or right click your mouse and drag it.
- Once you get to the Finish control (double circles) and you are happy with your route, click on “Save Route”
To Draw your Route from GPS file
First you need to make a .GPX file from whatever format your watch uses. You can usually do this with your Garmin, Tom Tom (etc) software or website but if this isn’t available then other free websites such as All-Trails are great for file conversion. Then:
- Pick your event on Routegadget and click on the Draw tab
- Select your Course and then select your Name
- Click on the Browse button under Load GPS FIle and “browse” to your downloaded .GPX file.
- Your route will now be overlaid at some random scale and position over the map.
- At this point you should try the Autofit button. If this looks good enough then Bingo, just Save the route and you are done
- More likely this plot won’t be very good and you will have to drag and scale the route to fit. So:-
- Click on an easily identifiable Control somewhere near the top of your route so it turns green.
- Drag this point to the correct feature check-point on the map – note how the whole plot moves with it.
- Click on the Control again to make it go red which locks it in position
- Now pan down the map to the bottom end and find a good identifiable point and, as above, click on it to make it green then drag it to the correct position.
- Note that this time the whole plot squeezes in (or stretches out) because the top point has been locked.
- When you release the bottom control on the right feature you should find that rest of the check-points are correctly positioned.
- You can repeat this process with pairs of points to left and the right hand side if the plot is out slightly in this dimension.
- Once you are happy with the plot – click on Save
ROCs (Radio Online Controls) – The Mourne Mountain Marathon Experience
Since 2017 we have used a number of Radio Online Control (ROC) boxes to relay live data from checkpoints around the course back to the finish computers. These provide additional safety information and can also be used to display real-time team progress to the gathered spectators.
These controls will look slightly different to normal ones in that they will be mounted on a stake and not lying on the ground.
Overview
The system uses cheap and readily available components to interface with a standard SPORTident Master (download) station to collect the punches and send them via 3G mobile signal over the internet to the SI Timing™ software on the laptops. SI Timing™ displays the punches as safety data or on a Commentary screen for finishers to view. (SI Timing™ is the new version of Autodownload™)
The Kit
Each ROC (Radio Online Control) comprises:
- SI USB Download station (configured as a Control)
- Raspberry Pi microcomputer
- 10Ahr USB rechargeable battery pack
- 3G MiFi Dongle
- 20cm x 12cm Tupperware box to house the kit
The station connects over 3G via the internet to a server in Sweden which collates the punch data from many events each day. The SI Timing software now on our laptops collects this data from the server and presents it on screens in various formats.
Deployment
Once the initial build and configuration of a ROC is done, the actual deployment at any event is very straightforward and is just 5 simple steps:
- Replace your normal control with the USB wired “Download” station
- Plug the USB into the RPi
- Turn on the MiFi dongle and check for good 3G signal
- Plug RPi into the USB Battery pack
- Wait 2 minutes and then use your smartphone to check the online sever is getting the data
Before the event you have to make sure that that all the batteries are charged and that the Download station is reprogrammed as a Control. If the systems fails due to, say, the 3G signal being weak or the battery dying, the Control Box has its own battery and continues to act as a punching control so there is no risk to the race results.
How did it work?
In practice we found that the system worked better than expected.
On Day 1 we had two stations signalling back; the first from the manned checkpoint about half way round the courses and the second from one of a cluster of controls up on Slieve Binnian above the finish camp site. The early control was of limited value although it was good to be able to confirm to the marshals that everyone was through their checkpoint.
The 2nd control on the cluster proved to be invaluable especially later in the day as we started to wonder where the straggling teams where. As darkness fell it was good to know that the last 3 teams had made it that far and where, therefore, likely to be making their way down the mountainside towards us.
On Day 2 a similarly placed late control on the edge of Donard Park provided great entertainment value as spectators could see when their competition or loved ones had hit this “outer marker” and were on the home straight. Cameras and cheers were at the ready. The commentary screen showed live team position and time gap from the leaders at that point which made for some tense moments at the finish line.
For the organisers it again gave us a means to cross check our finishers for any who might have gone astray in the last mile. This proved to be the case for a couple of very late teams.
Costs
The whole kit costs about £80 (excluding the SI Download Station) plus £2 of 3G data to run on the day. The use of the online Server is free to us however we did make a PayPal donation to the website for its upkeep.
Credits
The ROC system has been created by a team of Swedish orienteers – Oskar Berg and Erik Berg who developed the Raspberry Pi software and kit and Christoffer Ohlsson and Bo Karlsson who seem to be responsible for providing the hosting server – http://roc.olresultat.se
ROC punch data is directly support in the SI Timing™ software available from SPORTident UK™
Disclaimer
Please note that the ROC hardware and system are not provided or directly supported by SPORTident UK™ and they may charge for any support or advice requested in relation to this equipment.
Radio Online Controls – The Mourne Mountain Marathon Experience
Since 2017 we have used a number of Radio Online Control (ROC) boxes to relay live data from checkpoints around the course back to the finish computers. These provide additional safety information and can also be used to display real-time team progress to the gathered spectators.
Overview
The system uses cheap and readily available components to interface with a standard SPORTident Master (download) station to collect the punches and send them via 3G mobile signal over the internet to the SI Timing™ software on the laptops. SI Timing™ displays the punches as safety data or on a Commentary screen for finishers to view. (SI Timing™ is the new version of Autodownload™)
The Kit
Each ROC (Radio Online Control) comprises:
- SI USB Download station (configured as a Control)
- Raspberry Pi microcomputer
- 10Ahr USB rechargeable battery pack
- 3G MiFi Dongle
- 20cm x 12cm Tupperware box to house the kit
The station connects over 3G via the internet to a server in Sweden which collates the punch data from many events each day. The SI Timing software now on our laptops collects this data from the server and presents it on screens in various formats.
Deployment
Once the initial build and configuration of a ROC is done, the actual deployment at any event is very straightforward and is just 5 simple steps:
- Replace your normal control with the USB wired “Download” station
- Plug the USB into the RPi
- Turn on the MiFi dongle and check for good 3G signal
- Plug RPi into the USB Battery pack
- Wait 2 minutes and then use your smartphone to check the online sever is getting the data
Before the event you have to make sure that that all the batteries are charged and that the Download station is reprogrammed as a Control. If the systems fails due to, say, the 3G signal being weak or the battery dying, the Control Box has its own battery and continues to act as a punching control so there is no risk to the race results.
How did it work?
In practice we found that the system worked better than expected.
On Day 1 we had two stations signalling back; the first from the manned checkpoint about half way round the courses and the second from one of a cluster of controls up on Slieve Binnian above the finish camp site. The early control was of limited value although it was good to be able to confirm to the marshals that everyone was through their checkpoint.
The 2nd control on the cluster proved to be invaluable especially later in the day as we started to wonder where the straggling teams where. As darkness fell it was good to know that the last 3 teams had made it that far and where, therefore, likely to be making their way down the mountainside towards us.
On Day 2 a similarly placed late control on the edge of Donard Park provided great entertainment value as spectators could see when their competition or loved ones had hit this “outer marker” and were on the home straight. Cameras and cheers were at the ready. The commentary screen showed live team position and time gap from the leaders at that point which made for some tense moments at the finish line.
For the organisers it again gave us a means to cross check our finishers for any who might have gone astray in the last mile. This proved to be the case for a couple of very late teams.
Costs
The whole kit costs about £75 (excluding the SI Download Station) plus £5 of 3G data to run on the day. The use of the online Server is free to us however we did make a PayPal donation to the website for its upkeep.
Credits
The ROC system has been created by a team of Swedish orienteers – Oskar Berg and Erik Berg who developed the Raspberry Pi software and kit and Christoffer Ohlsson and Bo Karlsson who seem to be responsible for providing the hosting server – http://roc.olresultat.se
ROC punch data is directly support in the SI Timing™ software available from SPORTident UK™
Disclaimer
Please note that the ROC hardware and system are not provided or directly supported by SPORTident UK™ and they may charge for any support or advice requested in relation to this equipment. Similarly the author is not in a position to offer advice or support beyond what has been shared in this document. Please refer to other guides and information sources online to learn more about the various components of the ROC system.