Report from Natalie Hawkrigg
They are already saying The OMM 2026 was the one that everyone will ask ‘were you there?’ Veteran OMM runner Wendy Dodds was interviewed after completing her 50th OMM this year and said this years OMM in Talnotry, Southern Upland Hills of Galloway Scotland, was the worst weather conditions she had ever experienced at an OMM.
I was running this year’s OMM again with Rose Singleton. We had won Short and Medium Score at the 2024, 2025 OMM so we had our eye on a hat trick and entered the Long score for 2026.
We knew our competition was tough, with fellow Borderliner Emma Stuart paired up with the legendary Nicky Spinks on the same course, but we knew if we got our tactics right we may have a chance.
What we didn’t factor into our planning was the arrival of storm Boelo. On Friday I was with a friend and she was very surprised to hear that it hadn’t already been cancelled. I said to her ‘they never cancel the OMM!’, but when I read the weather report I did wonder if they might! Amber weather warnings for the whole of the North of UK, with particular emphasis on the Dumfries and Galloway area!
No cancellation email arrived and we set off at 4.30 am in the eye of the storm to drive to the event center near Newton Stewart. The morning was overcast with low winds and no rain. As we set off it was hard to imagine how bad the weather could get.
I have run in these hills before, finishing the 42km Bruce’s Crown Ring of Fire event in 2024. It was terrible storm conditions then too, and we ran through the night in winds over 70mph. So you would think I would have remembered how difficult the underfoot conditions were, but my brain must have blocked the trauma from my memory banks – these Southern Upland Hills were going to show us no Mercy!
Things didn’t go too well for us right from the start. We made a decision to ‘sweep’ the first hill area of all controls, but soon realised this was impossible due to the slow terrain. Then we made a costly navigation error in low visibility in complex terrain. We worked hard to stay mentally positive.
Time was ticking and progress was slowing despite our navigation and decisions improving, but now storm Boelo was starting to rage, and conditions were only going to get worse.
By the time the gusts and rain were at full force we were on complex high terrain. We had to make the decision to leave controls that we originally planned due to the weather deteriorating. Every step was hard work – stumble, trip, slip, slide, fall, wipe glasses, navigate, try to eat, repeat!
Rose suddenly got very cold after we crossed a dangerously high river in spate. We made decisions to abandon more controls to start keep moving faster on a path in order to warm up. By now we had all our layers on – double rain jackets (including heavy weight Paramo), long sleeve merino, double gloves, buffs and hats.
It’s hard to do justice to just how bad the conditions were; imagine the worst boggy uneven, tussocky, muddy, slippery and rocky pathless hill and then add in 60mph wind gusts and heavy rain!
We pulled ourselves together after warming up by running on a path for 10 mins, then decided to head up high again to score more points. We knew this was a last attempt to stay competitive. We climbed up beside a raging torrent waterfall that was most likely a small trickle in summer.
As we descended the final miles into camp we passed a competitor in serious trouble with hypothermia. He couldn’t walk and had to be helped by others. Then we saw the rescue helicopter sweeping through the mist below us.
We were safe and others were not. We were thankful to survive without further decline. We made decisions that cost us a competitive result, but ultimately kept us safe.
Once back in camp, dry warm in our tent, we surveyed the results. We were Second Ladies to Emma and Nicky, who had an outstanding score, finishing as First Ladies on day 1 on the Long Score and even beating the total score of Jasmin Paris running as a mixed pair with her husband Konrad.
Borderliner Karen Parker running with Julie Ferris-Worth had an epic on Course A, finally returning to camp at 7.30 pm (just 30 minutes ahead of the cut off) to finish first Vet team on their course. Their durability and resilience to stay out for so long just to finish and remain in the competition was inspiring. They both have huge experience in the hills, and kept themselves very safe.
Later I learnt that Borderliners Andrew Lewsley and Paul Gaines (both OMM and KIMM legends) had similar experience to myself and Rose. They had a decision point and as they had 2.5 hours left (half their time) and based on speed so far decided they had time to go for it. Unfortunately about 400m later on the wind changed direction, and worsened – the tussocks deteriorated. Andrew couldn’t stay on his feet Paul had to hold him up! Also the ‘forest’ they had to go through to get to rhe track was windblow!
They started to get cold and had to abandon a 40 pointer 50m away- just headed downhill to get out of the wind.
The Score course is always a bit of a lottery as runnability isn’t shown – you can only go on what you’ve experienced so far in the race. However, Borderliner Jeff Powell Davies obviously got it right and made good decisions with his OMM partner. In spite of the terrain and weather, they came 1st Vet Team on the Long Score and 2nd overall on day one.
Waking up to the bagpipes the next morning is a OMM tradition, and even though this year we struggled to hear the pipes over the gusts of wind, it still sent a tingle down our spines. As we pulled on our wet clothes to get ready to compete in Day 2 they announced the decision to make the day non-competitive. All runners were to return to base via a low-level 16km escape route. Rose and I could not have been more relieved. We were not looking forward to going out again in the bad weather, but if we had too we would!
My final thought is that it was nice to hear the race organisers say at the end that they only felt confident to run the race in those conditions due to trusting competitors to make wise decisions. They acknowledged that they face the critical judgement of external bodies in going ahead, but felt everyone competing had justified that decision.
