Mashup 2009 Declared a Huge Success

230 runners and walkers enjoyed a fantastic day on the hills this Saturday. Families with kids searched for flags in the Mineries whilst the top mountain marathon teams scoured the 21 miles of trails across Black Down and down into Roberrow Warren.

Local knowledge proved its worth in route planning and produced a tie at the top of the table between Team Cheddar (Greg Brock and Simon Tucker) and Mendip Hash A (Aidan Phipard, Ian Noad & Tony Hogg) both with 880 points. John Rance collected the most individual points for the men at 870, closely followed by Lynette Porter for the Ladies with 850.

• Full results can be found here
• Hidden flags are now revealed on the route card
• Read and make comments on Runners World
  

Aidan Phippard was weighed on the beer scales and the free beer was shared out to start the party. Major Major played their Glasto festival set and only had just enough CDs to meet the demands of fans as they set off for their next gig in Pilton. Groovegrinder took the party on until midnight and generously donated all takings from their CD sales.

The catering team produced fantastic teas in the marquee, a superb race supper in the Charterhouse dining room and full cooked breakfast on Sunday morning.

Donations received so far, together with profits from the event total just over £4,500 to be sent off to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

The venue has just been booked for the same weekend in 2010 - hope to see you all again then!

Major Major to play

Liverpool band Major Major are to make a guest appearance at the Mashup. The lively four-piece indie band will be in the area for Glastonbury Festival where they have won a chance to play via a national contest.

They will play the warm-up slot at the Mashup from around 8pm before dashing off to another gig in Pilton. Our main band Groovegrinder will then take the stage for the rest of the evening.

More details on the bands at: www.majormajor.co.uk and www.groovegrinder.co.uk

Cider Provider

We now have an official Cider Provider!

Shepton Mallet based Gaymers Cider Company will be providing the Mashup with Addlestones cider, free of charge. The cider will be available to buy in the bar and a case will be presented as a special prize.

An area of the route map has been renamed Addlestones Orchard to mark the link.

2009 Route Map Published

This year's route card has just been published over on the event website. With more flags, more trails and more points to collect the challenge is on to choose the best route for your pace and time period. Although there are many obvious circular routes from the start there are also lots of diversions to tempt you astray.

Each of the flags has a name with some sort of connection to the local area or to the event. See if you can spot last year's winner, the band and the sponsor's brands.

Unlike classic orienteering events, the Mashup map is published in advance to give competitors the chance to discuss, plan and even recce their route before the day. But don't forget that there are five flags not shown on the map. These are the hidden flags sponsored by the Hidden Brewery that will be placed, one in each of the five areas, just off a marked path.

Bath Ales photo-shoot

Just got back from testing the Mashup beer scales at Bath Ales brewery - what a laugh!

The brewery is an amazing place with giant stainless steel vats, pipes and kegs everywhere. Fork lift trucks wizz about, steam hisses and the fantastic smell of hops hits you as soon as you open the car door. We chose the conditioning room for the photo shoot as it had a great wall of kegs stacked to the ceiling - this was to be the backdrop for the press photo.

Things started to get interesting when the Bristol Evening Post photographer arrived and suggested that the beer scales would look best balanced on top of a pallet of kegs. This was all very well until Mike Brown, who was to be the runner in the photo, realised he had to stand on one end while we balanced his weight with beer at the other - with nothing below him.

Mike's nerves were soon calmed with a slurp of Gem and Richard Dempster, Bath Ales director got to work with stacking beer to balance his weight. The warehouse had beer in all sorts of containers; from full sized kegs through polybins to individual bottles. We tried them all, the scales worked, Mike was weighed and the photo was taken.

Regulations prevent me from revealing Mike's exact weight in beer before the main event but I can say that we are in for a good party on 20th June.

Check the Bristol Evening Post later this week for the offical story.

Martin

Beer Weighing Scales Ready for Testing

The Mashup beer weighing scales are now ready for testing.

The design has been adapted from a classic see-saw style weigh bridge with central balance indicator. The winning runner stands on the left side while beer is loaded onto the right until it balances. Early prototypes required significant strengthening to be able to withstand the weight of both runner and beer.

The scales will be tested in earnest for the first time tomorrow at Bath Ales brewery in Bristol. Mike Brown (keen Mendip runner) has volunteered to be weighed and Richard Dempster, director at Bath Ales has agreed to provide a warehouse of beer to weigh him.

Check back here soon to hear how it goes.

Winner's Weight in Beer

The overall winner of this year's Mendip Mashup will be weighed and their weight in beer will be shared amongst the competitors.

Bath Ales have kindly agreed to provide the beer and a special set of scales are being built for the purpose. The winner, or nominated person from the winning team, will stand on one side and beer will be stacked on the other until it balances.

So we are hoping for a well built winner and not the usual rake-like racing snake!

Meeting the Tough Tenners

The marketing team went to the beach today but there was no time for picnics or ice cream. Instead, we were spreading the Mashup word to the 1,200 or so runners who were enjoying the Tough Ten Challenge. This ten mile classic starts on Weston beach, goes under the now burnt-out pier, does a lap of the woods on the hill and finishes back on the beach.

There was a great atmosphere with everyone keen to get out into what must be the first hint of spring weather this year. As always with this type of local event, there was a wide cross section of entrants; from the athletic Team Easyrunner in their smart red tops to the 70 year old man doing the race for the 8th time, not to mention the bloke in the yellow chicken costume and the three sisters from Bristol running in memory of their mother.

We handed out 200 leaflets, chatted to runners and their partners and generally evangelised the event. The response was great - it was so satisfying to watch people's expressions change from indifference at the offer of a leaflet, to sudden interest at the mention of live music and a party afterwards!

Mashup on Facebook

The Mashup has become social and joined the Facebook revolution! You can now keep up to date with the latest developments, post comments, upload photos and join the guest list at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50302883415

Spread the word...

Groovey Band Booked

This year's Mashup band is Groovegrinder. I heard them play in Glastonbury's King Billy late last year and luckily they are free for 20th June. Of their music, their website says:

high energy music that has its roots in blues but also takes a healthy swig from 70's funk and british rock, all freshly ground up to produce an eclectic mix of original and covered songs.

The band's lead guitarist, Ross Cordrey play at the Mashup last year with the Hard Road Blues Band but hopefully has forgotten the experience. They had to stop playing for a while when it rained so hard that water poured through the marquee onto their electrics - or was it the thunder and lightning that put them off - anyway, he will be back with Groovegrinder for a perfect summer's evening of live music this June.

Website revamp

With the New Year now well behind us it must be time to start thinking Mashup! Although it is very wet and cold outside I have my mind set on the beautiful midsummer evening we are definitely going to have on June 20th.

I've just finished revamping the website and used a selection of the great photos taken Chris and James last year, to create a rolling gallery. Some clever programming keeps the image sequence synchronised across the entire site - so it doesn't restart every time you change pages.

Otherwise, the 2009 event will be very much the same as the first edition. The running will be the same combination of an orienteering score class with the navigation made easy by giant flags, marked trails and a simple map. The evening entertainment will include the same great food in the homely Charterhouse Centre, real ale in the marquee and a new band for improved dancing.

I am looking forward to it already!