Add loads of climbing to your training.
practice what foods/gels etc work best with you as you will need sustainance.
Recce the route loads as you could be supremely fit and still mess up big time if your navigation goes wrong.
Stay overnight as there is a bit of a beer fest afterwards.
Enjoy it cause it is a belting race
Cheers TeamPie, all sound advice! I manage to get a decent amount of climb in to my training, it's just the lakes recces I need. Always fancied this one I must admit and having read some of the posts and met various forumites it sounds like a serious one to do.
Now, all I need is a buddy who's mad enough....
no bother.
I found the climb up grey friar a swine and hardest of the day, but you do have the bonus of a checkpoint b4 you set off. And watch out for the bogs on the runbetween Helvellyn and Scafell pike, fella we were next to went chest deep!
I will be back next year
We did the OCT for the first time this year and perhaps because of the weather found the nav pretty straightforward - my running partner had never been up Scafell and I'd never been up Hellvelyn. Given a clear day we could see where we were heading most of the time and had a number of teams in view for most of the day.
It was a train of people to the top of Hellvelyn - a fast descent down (again in the crowds), a plod up Wythburn but hard to go really badly wrong (falling into bogs notwithstanding) still a number of teams around, contour around Hard Knotts - might need a bearing in the mist to hit Stake Pass - paths from there to the Pike, South Summit and down from the Pike.
The descent off Scafell pike was a bit hairy and we were a little unsure of the right line, but saw we were on the same line as Yiannis so stopped worrying too much. Headed across the Moss underneath Long Crags and picked up the path(s) into Mosedale.
Got the map out in Mosedale for a sanity check as we were spookily alone. From there up and up to the col East of Grey Friar and picked up the paths to the Old Man. Back the way we came and then contour round Great carrs picking up the path to the 3 Shires, road and paths home. Took a great line after entering the Langadale valley proper after Blea tarn - made up 2 or 3 places going direct (thanks to lots of open gates) in a diagonal across the fields.
A fantastic day out, thoroughly recommended. All fell races should come with strategically placed tea and egg butty stops.
OCT Results: http://www.achille-ratti-climbing-cl...p?page=results
Yiannis
I know it's early to resurrect this thread but you know how races fill up these days....
I fancy doing the OCT this year but haven't really done any long races for a year or two. Does anyone know how rigid the entry requirements are?
By Heck, Andy! Fancy asking a question like that on here? By now the R.O. can't open his front door for entries. You went and woke-up all the b**g**s
Do you really think they needed my post...
Certainly went and put it on the radar! They were all still chewing over the Walsh v Inov8 thread...as if that hasn't been done to death over the last 5 years..just 'cos some lad needs reassurance that his mum has bought him the correct footwear.
Thus far the OCTs has not been afflicted by the sort of elitism that some otherwise good races have. The entry requirements are not rigid but this is a serious challenge and in bad weather it can be quite testing. As you run in pairs, you wouldn't like to let your partner down, so start training for it!Originally Posted by Trundler
Yiannis
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