Commercialisation

[Chris K]

From a post in another thread, someone contacted me about the cost of entry into certain races in the 2018 calendar and that they thought one particular race was being run purely for profit, should it be allowed in the FRA calendar? As it is a commercial point, I thought I'd bring this thread up again as most points (fairly or un-fairly) had been made already, and views will be polarised. Is there a case for race accounts to be published in 'The Fellrunner', in the same way as we used to when we only raced in black and white?

[noel]

IMHO, If someone wants to charge £20 for a race and people are prepared to pay it, that's up to them. Most races give money to local charities, some don't.

I suspect if you tallied up the amount of time a race organiser spends on organising a race, and the potential profits to be made (assuming high prices, minimal prizes and no donations to local charities), the amount made would still be less than minimum wage.

[Wheeze]

Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased to see the new FRA principles have been updated to " include reference to non-commercialism, self-sufficiency and self-navigation". With regard to commercialisation, the document states "Fell running is a non-commercial sport. Races should be run on a not-for-profit or charity/"good cause"
basis." I applaud that improved clarity.
The principles much more clearly define the sport as self-sufficient, low impact and, yes, old fashioned if you will. I'd rather view it as an adherence to the original ethos of an athlete pitting themselves against mountain terrain with barest minimum of support.
I also applaud the re-iteration of the responsibility of RO's to reinforce the nature of the event to all runners
"It is absolutely essential that ROs convey to runners the nature of the race and potential risks
(i.e. what they are “letting themselves in for”).

At long last, the position of fell running/racing versus trail and long distance/tri events has been carved out.

[benshep]

Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased to see the new FRA principles have been updated to " include reference to non-commercialism, self-sufficiency and self-navigation". With regard to commercialisation, the document states "Fell running is a non-commercial sport. Races should be run on a not-for-profit or charity/"good cause"
basis." I applaud that improved clarity.
The principles much more clearly define the sport as self-sufficient, low impact and, yes, old fashioned if you will. I'd rather view it as an adherence to the original ethos of an athlete pitting themselves against mountain terrain with barest minimum of support.
I also applaud the re-iteration of the responsibility of RO's to reinforce the nature of the event to all runners
"It is absolutely essential that ROs convey to runners the nature of the race and potential risks
(i.e. what they are “letting themselves in for”).

At long last, the position of fell running/racing versus trail and long distance/tri events has been carved out.

hear hear

[JohnK]

Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased to see the new FRA principles have been updated to " include reference to non-commercialism, self-sufficiency and self-navigation". With regard to commercialisation, the document states "Fell running is a non-commercial sport. Races should be run on a not-for-profit or charity/"good cause"
basis." I applaud that improved clarity.
The principles much more clearly define the sport as self-sufficient, low impact and, yes, old fashioned if you will. I'd rather view it as an adherence to the original ethos of an athlete pitting themselves against mountain terrain with barest minimum of support.
I also applaud the re-iteration of the responsibility of RO's to reinforce the nature of the event to all runners
"It is absolutely essential that ROs convey to runners the nature of the race and potential risks
(i.e. what they are “letting themselves in for”).

At long last, the position of fell running/racing versus trail and long distance/tri events has been carved out.

+1 on all of that

[Witton Park]

I agree Wheeze, but I think what might happen now is that on time a parallel permitting system will be set up alongside FRA by UKA/EA.

There are a lot of races now run by businesses and that might not be to make a huge commercial gain, but to give some limited protection financially to the RO - the FRA itself is set up in such a way.

A few years Pendle Three Peaks was a Champs race, put on by a commercial organisation and some feel the Yorkshire Three Peaks has become commercial since it hosted the Long Distance World Champs when the entry fee trebled (I think) and has been maintained (I don't).

Some commercial ROs have come in and taken over races from clubs who were struggling to get members to Marshall etc.

In order to keep them under UKA Rules, all under the same umbrella, there will have to be a way to do it, just like there is with the road races.

You could say a version of what happens in Wales or Scotland where I think you have WFRA/SHR races and also a handful of WA and SA ones.

[CalFerguson]

Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased to see the new FRA principles have been updated to " include reference to non-commercialism, self-sufficiency and self-navigation". With regard to commercialisation, the document states "Fell running is a non-commercial sport. Races should be run on a not-for-profit or charity/"good cause"
basis." I applaud that improved clarity.
The principles much more clearly define the sport as self-sufficient, low impact and, yes, old fashioned if you will. I'd rather view it as an adherence to the original ethos of an athlete pitting themselves against mountain terrain with barest minimum of support.
I also applaud the re-iteration of the responsibility of RO's to reinforce the nature of the event to all runners
"It is absolutely essential that ROs convey to runners the nature of the race and potential risks
(i.e. what they are “letting themselves in for”).

At long last, the position of fell running/racing versus trail and long distance/tri events has been carved out.

+2!

I try to gain support from a few friends and local businesses but all in terms of providing a race HQ, a car park etc (which for me involves a pub and a local farmer). Understandably not all RO's can do the same but 110% agree with the updated principles, even if it's just a reminder to newcomers

[Fellbeast]

Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased to see the new FRA principles have been updated to " include reference to non-commercialism, self-sufficiency and self-navigation". With regard to commercialisation, the document states "Fell running is a non-commercial sport. Races should be run on a not-for-profit or charity/"good cause"
basis." I applaud that improved clarity.
The principles much more clearly define the sport as self-sufficient, low impact and, yes, old fashioned if you will. I'd rather view it as an adherence to the original ethos of an athlete pitting themselves against mountain terrain with barest minimum of support.
I also applaud the re-iteration of the responsibility of RO's to reinforce the nature of the event to all runners
"It is absolutely essential that ROs convey to runners the nature of the race and potential risks
(i.e. what they are “letting themselves in for”).

At long last, the position of fell running/racing versus trail and long distance/tri events has been carved out.

I agree with all of that, although with so many more commercial mountain based ultra and "trail" races also available nowadays, the choice of fell and trail races is fantastic, all offering big challenges but perhaps in different ways. For example the Lakes in a Day ultra, which I guess you'd call a commercial race, is the only race I know that goes straight down Hall's Fell off of Blencathra, a serious challenge at the best of times let alone in a 50 mile race.

In some ways the purity of some of the older fell races has been lost because of better conservation principles, with landowners and/or national parks authorities asking fell races to stick to known tracks and trails. So fell races are becoming more trailsy anyway. The 3 peaks fell race (which I love) is a trail race almost in every respect (apart from perhaps one and a half miles of the ascent up Whernside). The Anniversary Waltz is a trail race excepting it offers two possible routes up the first part of Robinson and a fairly open choice on the descent from Dale Head. The High Cup Nick is a (fantastic) trail race that goes up a fell. In fact how many fell races don't follow trails nowadays? They all are really trail races but with perhaps the only distinction being that FRA races are usually run on a non-profit or local community profit basis.

[Llani Boy]

I agree with all of that, although with so many more commercial mountain based ultra and "trail" races also available nowadays, the choice of fell and trail races is fantastic, all offering big challenges but perhaps in different ways. For example the Lakes in a Day ultra, which I guess you'd call a commercial race, is the only race I know that goes straight down Hall's Fell off of Blencathra, a serious challenge at the best of times let alone in a 50 mile race.

In some ways the purity of some of the older fell races has been lost because of better conservation principles, with landowners and/or national parks authorities asking fell races to stick to known tracks and trails. So fell races are becoming more trailsy anyway. The 3 peaks fell race (which I love) is a trail race almost in every respect (apart from perhaps one and a half miles of the ascent up Whernside). The Anniversary Waltz is a trail race excepting it offers two possible routes up the first part of Robinson and a fairly open choice on the descent from Dale Head. The High Cup Nick is a (fantastic) trail race that goes up a fell. In fact how many fell races don't follow trails nowadays? They all are really trail races but with perhaps the only distinction being that FRA races are usually run on a non-profit or local community profit basis.

I suppose it depends ho you define a "trail".

To me a trail is an obvious route which is marked/signposted and difficult to go wrong on.

Yes, most races are on footpaths of some description but I would not call Aran Fawddwy, Arennig Fawr , Wasdale or Ennerdale trail races.

[Fellbeast]

I suppose it depends ho you define a "trail".

To me a trail is an obvious route which is marked/signposted and difficult to go wrong on.

Yes, most races are on footpaths of some description but I would not call Aran Fawddwy, Arennig Fawr , Wasdale or Ennerdale trail races.

Point taken. Trail races and ultras allow gps too but there again you’re often hacking about in the mountains in the dark so they become much more of a necessity