Wasdale

[Richard Eastman]

Hi all, this is Richard Eastman, Wasdale Race Organiser for this year as Will can't be there.
Thanks Will for posting requests for help on the ground & at the checkpoints, & also to Mandy Goth et al for offering to help me out.
This post is just to say that I have temporarily frozen the pre-entered list & started a reserve list due to the expected much higher field this year as it is an English Championship.
Both lists are posted on my CFRA website at :- http://www.cfra.co.uk/wasdalepreentries.pdf
What I am doing now is to still accept the later pre-entries that are trickling in, put them on the reserve list but to hold the payment & will not take any money until said reservist has been granted a slot due to a pre-entered runner contacting me to let me know he/she can't run (CR). I then move up the reservist onto the main pre-entered list & offer the CR a free entry into 2018's Wasdale.
So, please any of you who know ahead of the event (I can update the listing up to the last few days & forward to SportIdent for the dibber allocation) that you cannot run, please let me know so I can move folk up from the reserve list.
The normal field limit for the Wasdale is 250 but I have requested an extension to 300 from the National Trust but am still awaiting a licence. As I have not heard anything with a month still to go I don't think there will be a problem now.
Thanks to all of you for your kind comments about the marshals at the race last year held in such inclement conditions & I take my hat off to all of you who pitted yourselves against the BigW in such weather.
My thoughts go out to Colin Dulson who is making the same decision right now about the Ennerdale as the forecast is almost identical to mine last year.
I am so impressed by all of your forum comments particularly from Ash & others about the effects of hypothermia & how to best prepare yorself both with the equipment & most importantly your psychological approach, how you plan your run, how you meter out your finite resources against the anticipated challenge.
Knowing the route (local knowledge) I would say is essential, not just desirable, otherwise you simply cannot conceive what a course like the BigW is capable of throwing at you. Doing at least one recce is to credit the course with the respect it deserves & also is a lesson in perceiving your own humility & letting it guide you to make adequate preparation so you set off knowing that you are there not merely hoping just to survive it, but can get round with still some reserve left in the proverbial tank. If you end up running on vapours then mistakes & accidents creep in to the void you have allowed to develop. As Ash pointed out the most important thing to realise is when/where your fuel actually is going to run out?
Last point is just to say that if you are running the Wasdale, having a bad day & do feel that the course is too much, best call it a day & bail out, tell folk you are doing so if possible & get yourself back to registration & check in, hand in your tallies & get changed, warm up & get home safely. There will always be another chance to run it successfully. The alternative will not usually end very well.
Cheers for now, Richard

[Manhar]

Very well put Richard. Wasdale is certainly beyond my capabilities, even if I was fell fit for a v long day out. Still ok to Marshall- usual spot (?)

[Richard Eastman]

Hi Manhar, yes please, as usual but I will try to find you relief as it is a long stakeout on Lingmell. Last year the conditions were awful for you. Will you be able to take some pictures of the start if you are there that early?

[RaceTheSweeper]

Hi Manhar, yes please, as usual but I will try to find you relief as it is a long stakeout on Lingmell. Last year the conditions were awful for you. Will you be able to take some pictures of the start if you are there that early?

Hi Richard, MrRTS is running. Beau Dog and I would be happy to take the Lingmell spot for the duration if you would like to put Manhar somewhere else. I know the spot well so would be fine getting there. I will have Beau Dog, camera and warm kit with me so add a marshal vest and I'm good to go. If yes let me know what you need from me on here or by e-mail. [email protected] If you would rather I helped elsewhere happy to help. :-)

[Travs]

I'm not racing this year, however will be staying in Ennerdale for the weekend.

Can anybody give me a reasonable estimate what time the leaders would be passing over Pillar on a good day? 2 hours?

Planning on knocking off a decent number of Wainwrights that weekend, but a repeat trip to Pillar to see the front end of a race for once, may be in order!

[Richard Eastman]

Thanks very much, have sent an e-mail to the address given. Cheers, Richard

[Richard Eastman]

Hi Travs, for a finish time of about 3hr 45min the leader should go through Pillar in 2hr 5min-ish.
I ask the marshals to open up the checkpoints 15min before Billy Bland's 1982 record schedule of 1hr 56min at Pillar so they should be there at about 12.40hrs. Hope this helps, Cheers Richard

[Travs]

Thanks very much Richard, that is fantastic info, i'll try to time it so i'm in the vicinity...

Pete

[noel]

How many no-shows of the ~375 runners on the start list do you think there will be this year?

[Graham Breeze]

How many no-shows of the ~375 runners on the start list do you think there will be this year?

Well 300 finishers would be good and compared with the 25 who completed in 2000, very good.

That was in the era when Richard Eastman told me that whilst he lost money organising the event he would keep it going for as long as runners wanted to turn up. That led to the creation of the LCT and then the FRA Committee agreeing to award Ennerdale and Wasdale English Championship status (and hence a large entry) every three years to ensure their long term future.