Duncan ArcherI thought 2023 was a busy year with plenty going on and lots of change. Pippa took leave from Durham University to pursue a career as an outdoor climbing instructor and we moved from Durham to the Lake District. Read all about it in the 2023 blog! Turns out 2024 was another busy year with […]
In case anyone doesn’t know, I’ve changed employers and career! Short version: I left Microsoft (who previously acquired Metaswitch) and now work for Ourea Events. Long version: read on… 25 years in software engineering Half a lifetime ago in 1998 I joined Data Connection as a graduate software developer. At the time it was a […]
As previewed in my blog post a year ago, this has been a year of change. Pippa had decided the stresses of academic life need not be forever, so she started an 18 month sabbatical to see if a life in the outdoors would suit her, working as a climbing and mountaineering instructor. In May […]
Many will be familiar with the OMM or Original Mountain Marathon (or, for those with longer memories, its predecessor the KIMM or Karrimor International MM). The two day event is held in late October each year, and teams of two compete over linear or score courses, carrying all they need for two long days of […]
After an inaugural annual review of 2021 I thought let’s do that again. So here we go… Orienteering has been somewhat selective this year. As I moved up to M45, I was super pleased to win the British Night Champs for the first time (and only my second ever British O champs title in any […]
My last couple of years have seen various injuries meaning I’ve never put in a solid block of training and had to watch with envy as people do personal challenges and chase FKTs, especially during Covid when there was no racing. However, the last few months have been good and I decided to have a […]
In the absence of any one major thing to write about this year, I thought I’d write a post about everything that has been going on with Pippa and I. It has not been a great year regarding injury and illness. We have both thankfully dodged Covid (so far at least!), but the last year […]
Four years ago I did the Tour de Mont Blanc, 167km, 12,500m ascent, with Shane and Heather Ohly. Similar to the UTMB non-stop race, but we took it at a more leisurely running pace, spread over four days, staying in mountain huts. A wonderful experience, great views and trails, but also very popular for walkers […]
Another runner eases past, making it seem effortless, whilst my trainers slap the tarmac, wasting what little energy I have left. Crowds pass in a blur, not due to my speed but because tunnel vision takes over, just focussing on the road ahead. That light spring in the step an hour ago seems a distant […]
The Tour de Mont Blanc is a trail that circles the Mont Blanc massif (as the name suggests!). Mont Blanc itself stands proud at 4,809m, with the TMB varying from 1000m in the lower valleys up to 2600m cols. Along with Shane and Heather Ohly, we completed the TMB in early September 2015, as a […]