Once a delight for ultra runners at home and abroad, the two famous mountain marathons in Scotland have recently died a quiet death.

 

At the beginning of June this year hundreds of runners ran up Clisham mountain on Harris as part of Scotland's last ever mountain marathon. The sad news that it was the last ever one was announced to runners at the LAMM event's prize-giving on Saturday 2nd June.

 

As all hardcore runners will know, a mountain marathon is where you run up a mountain, carrying everything you need on your back. Runners compete not only in the running, but in paring down their necessities for the two-day race, for instance chopping toothbrushes in two. A favourite of ultra runners, they are typically between 40K and 80K in distance over two days and over rough ground.

 

The LAMM mountain marathon, which has been running for 24 years, has come to a sorry end this year. Dubbed “the connoisseurs mountain marathon”, organisers decided June 2018 would be the last one. It was a two-day mountain competition with an overnight campsite, with runners competing in pairs. We tracked down organiser Martin Stone to find out why.

 

“There's no drama to it, it was just time for the party to end. A lot of the same people do it every year so it's almost like a friendship group. It's going to be my 60th birthday this year, I'm getting older and so are my volunteers. It's not cancelled, it's just that that was the last one,” he said.

 

“I announced it at the prize giving that it was the last one and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I've kept it away from social media as much as possible, kept it retro, it's almost like being at a private party. We have hundreds of people who return each year,” Stone said.

 

“Economically things were going well. We gave 4k in proceeds to the school in Tarbert that hosted the finish for their school activity trips. Then we gave 3K to two mountain rescue teams and some money to cancer and MS charities.”

 

The LAMM had five different running courses, ranging from 40k to 80k and with climbs from 900 metres to 2,100 metres.