300 runners shelter in Honister slate mine!

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Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

16 years ago

You couldn't make this up, but it has to be the most bizarre mine-related story of the year...

From the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/7691020.stm

Quote:

Several hundred people taking part in a run in the Lake District near Keswick have been stranded by flooding and torrential rain.

The runners are thought to have been taking part in the Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) run when they were overcome by the weather.

Honister Slate Mine manager Mark Weir said he was sheltering 300 of them.

He said ambulance crews had already taken a number of the fell runners to hospital suffering from hypothermia.
Honister Slate Mine is at the top of one of England's steepest mountain passes in the Borrowdale Valley.

No one from OMM has so far been available for comment but their website describes the run as being founded in 1968 and it being the "originator of the two-day mountain marathon type event".

It involves teams of two, carrying all clothing, equipment, tent, sleeping bag, and their food for 36 hours, during the run. They must also navigate their own route and camp out overnight.

Honister information here: http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Honister-Slate-Mine/

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

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Captain Scarlet
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

:lol: I was coming out of a place this afternoon, to be accosted by 3 bedraggled and sodden fell walkers demanding to know "is it dry in there?"

I assured them is was just as wet if not wetter... :lol:

STANDBY FOR ACTION!!!!...

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

16 years ago

A bit more of a story now from the Beeb:

Quote:

Honister Slate Mine manager Mark Weir said he was sheltering 300 of them and some were suffering from hypothermia.

Mr Weir said he believed that between 1,500 and 2,000 people had been taking part in the race.

Honister Slate Mine is at the top of one of England's steepest mountain passes in the Borrowdale Valley, rising to some 2,000ft in height (610m).

Mr Weir said he had set up three refuge points - one at the mine itself, a second at a cattle shed at Gatesgarth, and a third further down the mountain in the town of Cockermouth.

Speaking to BBC News he urged anyone with a van or bus to contact him at the mine to help ferry people down the mountainside.

However, he added that the job was being made more difficult by the weather conditions which had led to the closure of some of the roads in the area.

He said the race should never have gone ahead in such conditions.

"Now we've got several hundred, into the thousand, stranded, cold, tired, some hypothermic," he said.

"We've overwhelmed the emergency services - the poor mountain rescue are out trying to find people on the side of the mountain, in the dark. It's just a bizarre day."

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Bruce
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

its made bbc main news countrywide lol

ben88800
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

What is it about bad weather that brings the nutters out and they where evey where today not just in the lakes i nearly mowed down a couple of cyclists coming down killhope they had no lights on or high vis markers it was pitch black blowning a gale and absolutly hammering down with rain. one of the upsides of going underground this time of year you dont miss the weather

toadstone
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

"Colonel Mustard" wrote:
:lol: I was coming out of a place this afternoon, to be accosted by 3 bedraggled and sodden fell walkers demanding to know "is it dry in there?"

I assured them is was just as wet if not wetter... :lol:

You little :devil: :lol:

I was at work this AM and the boss asked me about the weather. The forecast was originally not too bad with the rain supposedly coming in later in the day but it was clearly apparent that the weather had other ideas as I watched the rain run round the rim of the camera lens I'd set up to do some time lapse of a building we're constructing. "Are you not down some mine this weekend?" he said in his singing Irish accent, "You're a nutter so you are."
Too wet I said. Wet getting there, wet while you\re there and wet getting home! Having a weekend not getting wet 😉

I then thought about some of you who may have been down exploring and mentally wished you God speed. Only to hear on the car radio the story unfolding in the Lakes.

Take your point ben88800 but we have had some manic weather conditions spring up this year.

Peter.

Bruce
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

Check out the omm entry declaration under 2008 entry form:

http://www.theomm.com/downloads.html

The organisers have the right to refuse entry on insufficient experience!....i think the organisers should disqualify themselves AND refund the £85 entry fee.
That is why it was not called off days before, all to do about making money, so put peoples lives at risk for your profits OMM!
Like Mark said "The organisers should be shot"

Dark Prince
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

Wasn't just the Lakes that were damp. Spent last night at Cwmorthin sleeping in me Land Rover. Holy crap was it ever windy and rainy. Got up round about 4.30am this morning to answer a call of nature and promptly stood in Llyn Cwmorthin, which when i parked up approx 6ft away from my door!. The lake was overflowing just before the weir as well. Lake level adit had over a foot of water in it. Twas a very wet weekend.

Glad to see all the runners are safe though.

DP

simonrl
51% (Neutral)
Administration

16 years ago

Strewth, I was sweltering in Greece when this was happening! Were all the runners accounted for in the end?

my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

16 years ago

#10

Yup.

Don't know if Mark Weir got the admission money from all 300 though! :lol:

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

jagman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

#11

"Vanoord" wrote:
Yup.

Don't know if Mark Weir got the admission money from all 300 though! :lol:

Apparently not.
He was interviewed on Radio 2 as well as the event organiser.
The organiser said help was not asked for or required, Mark Weir responded by asking why 300 of the competitors had taken shelter in his buildings and should he have refused access unless they were paying customers?

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

16 years ago

#12

Mind you, he's done very well with the amount of publicity he's got. If I were a more suspicious sort of person, I might suggest that he was well aware of that before he started provideing provocative comments - although to be fair, I doubt anyone running that sort of tourist attraction would consider 300 soaked runners to be a Godsend of any sort... ::)

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Buckhill
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

#13

If you read the tales emanating from that place reported in local papers over the last few years you would realise that it's definitely a case of "no such thing as bad publicity". Some of the rubbish would make you cringe, especialy when you hear the "alternative view". :lol: