Stretton 27 Apr: Champs Race 2

[LissaJous]

Goody bags should keep AndyA happy then! Pre-entries preferred, £2 each, standard FRA Junior form

Cheques for pre-entries payable to "MERCIA FELL RUNNERS" please but don't worry if you've sent one payable to Pauline, we'll sort it. Entries on the day will also be available but it will help us a lot if as many as can pre-enter over the next few days.

Post to Pauline Richards, 23 St Annes Road, Collegefields, Shrewsbury, SY3 6AU
Course & venue info here
Facebook page here

[FellJunior]

Maps for the event centre, parking and all the race routes can be printed from here.

[AndyA]

This should keep AndyA happy then!

Oy!

I heard that!

(hmm....goodie bags eh?.....tempting.)

Unfortunately I suspect that you won't see many Clayton Juniors there, purely because of the travelling time (well over two hours from Burnley).

Nothing against the venue/course, they can't all be local, hope it's a success etc.

I'm sure one or two diehard runners with keen parents may make the trip anyway. I'll certainly publicise it through the club but we'll be operating our training sessions as normal on that day.

[Lefty]

Hoping for a full complement of Rossendale Juniors there despite the travelling.

[jtinnion]

Nice one Lefty. How many roughly?

There are some other details on the event facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/499349576756853/

Cheques for pre-entries payable to "MERCIA FELL RUNNERS" please but don't worry if you've sent one payable to Pauline, we'll sort it. Entries on the day will also be available but it will help us a lot if as many as can pre-enter over the next few days.

Look forward to seeing you...

Jim

[Clash City Rocker]

Looks good and hope its a great success as new venues/races make it all very interesting unfortunately though its not on the list of 4 from 6 for us at Calder Valley because it would be 6 hrs in a car for the round trip. Sorry I'm sure it represents some great opportunities for those that do travel to pick up some valuable points and fair play to that.
Good luck everyone.

[Gazmuz]

I am very concerned that having read the following quote on the Facebook page for this event; "U18s is a little under 9km, U16 a bit under 7km. We were asked to provide proper routes, apparently a lot of the junior athletes were complaining that last year's champs races were too easy. " Having attended all of last years events and talked to numerous athletes, parents and coaches this is not the impression that I got, in fact Cowpe has been shortened this year for the older age groups. If anything there were concerns that some of the courses were too long and dangerous in places for the U16 age group. When the phrase "a lot" is used I always want this supported by facts and figures as one of the major issues in junior fell running is the high drop out in U16 and U18 age groups; having overlong courses is just going to add to this problem as does unnecessary fixture clashes. I wonder who asked for these courses to be near maximum distances and who were the junior athletes that complained that the courses were too easy?

[LissaJous]

I am very concerned that having read the following quote on the Facebook page for this event; "U18s is a little under 9km, U16 a bit under 7km. We were asked to provide proper routes, apparently a lot of the junior athletes were complaining that last year's champs races were too easy. " Having attended all of last years events and talked to numerous athletes, parents and coaches this is not the impression that I got, in fact Cowpe has been shorted this year for the older age groups. If anything there were concerns that some of the courses were too long and dangerous in places for the U16 age group. When the phrase "a lot" is used I always want this supported by facts and figures as one of the major issues in junior fell running is the high drop out in U16 and U18 age groups; having overlong courses is just going to add to this problem as does unnecessary fixture clashes. I wonder who asked for these courses to be near maximum distances and who were the junior athletes that complained that the courses were too easy?

Last year, the Cowpe U16 course was altered (combined with the U18s race) at short notice due to the International team having no other plan for a selection race. This was nothing to do with the Juniors team.

I believe the quote of races being 'too easy' must refer to races from a few years back. We have no intention of making the races harder than last year's, and would not be allowed to do so in any case.