So who wants to take part in the Fantasy Fellrunning competition this year?
Newcomers very welcome!

The rules are the same as last year:

You must select a team of four runners. At least one has to be a man and at least one has to be a woman.
However you only have a few pints of Black Sheep with which to bribe runners into joining your team, and each runner costs a certain number of those pints to join your team.

There are 3 leagues:

The "Timothy Sheep Daleside league" comprises teams from the top managers of last year:
Another Team, BillJ, GeoffB, Inspector Gadget, PaulJonesforEngland, Weetabix Power, Derby Tup, So Wood, Also Ran, BGSec, Pigtails, IanDarkPeak, Wynn.
The TSD teams each have 15 pints with which to select a team.

Then there's the "Boddington-Smith league" for the next tier of managers:
Samt, Multiterrainer, Lost in the Clouds, Bad Magners, Stagger, Dew Class Lassalle, Feet in the Cowclaps, Fnstein, Socks, Jellybaby, Maloni, Mr Brightside, Dux de Lux, Saz, Inov-8 Insider, Al Fowler, Johnny Foreigner, Dominion, Turbo Tom, Marrow, Morning Glory, Stentifrog.
The BS teams each have 14 pints with which to select a team.

Finally the "Kaliber league" will comprise teams from these managers:
Leeds Rhino, NirvanaBliss, Tomcee, Ady in Accy, Tallpaul, Runway, TheHell I Will, Fellgazelle, Mrs Stagger, Duff, IainR, Eleanor, Flightless Bird, Green Flash, Biara, Spring Heeled Jack, Noel, Bo Peep, Penguin - plus anyone who joins the game this year.
The K teams will each have 13 pints with which to select a team.

At the end of the year there will be promotion and demotion between the leagues.

From the date that you select them, your runners score points at every race in the English or British championships:
1 point just for finishing the race;
20 points for the 1st man, down to 1 point for the 20th man;
20 points for the 1st lady, down to 1 point for the 20th lady;
8 points for the 1st male vet, down to 1 point for the 8th male vet;
8 points for the 1st lady vet, down to 1 point for the 8th lady vet;
Points are cumulative.

In addition, your runners will score points at the Lakeland Classics and also the Midsummer Madness weekend(*).
These additional races don't score as many points as the national championships, though:
1 point just for finishing the race;
10 points for the 1st man, down to 1 point for the 10th man;
10 points for the 1st lady, down to 1 point for the 10th lady;
4 points for the 1st male vet, down to 1 point for the 4th male vet;
4 points for the 1st lady vet, down to 1 point for the 4th lady vet;

During the year you can make 2 substitutions - either swap 2 of your runners for another pair who cost the same total number of pints, or twice swap one of your runners for another one of the same pintage.

Anyone who puts in a team late (i.e. after the first championship race) will only be allowed one substitution during the year, and will not score points for races that have already happened!

There will also be a cup-style knockout competition for all teams, as we've done for the last couple of years.

So post your team of four to this thread, with a team name.

My next two posts will list the runners in the pub and how many pints they'll cost you.

(*) Midsummer Madness: the weekend counts as a single race for FF points, with everyone's best result from the weekend in one combined list, whether they do one race, two races or all three.