Fly I trust Andy��Originally Posted by Derby Tup
Fly I trust Andy��
Don't belittle your achievement Nic. A great performance.
Regarding numbers, many years ago, there was only one big challenge - the Kimm for people to do. There is a lot of competition these days with all of the different running challenges and biking and adventure races and and and.....People got turned away.
If someone has the top ten from 86 or 96 .and the entry to the Elite?...that might be interesting to look at the names, and times. But bear in mind this year was delightful weather. All other times up there have been a bit grim. Times would have been slower. Campsite washed out in 86? If the planners have looked back at times to gauge the course lengths it might have affected things?
Oh, he is certainly fly!
I don't know why racing for 2 days would be any more of an inconvenience now than it was 10+ years ago, but you're probably on to something with the decline in navigation experience. I think the Lake District Mountain Trial is possibly suffering something similar due to lack of knowledge and/or desire for developing mountaincraft
Not sure why that might be though as the chances to develop yourself in welcoming environs of orienteering/mini MM/OMM lite type events is only increasing, and the availability of nav training courses seems to be growing.
Like you say, perhaps people simply prefer the lure of ultra type challenges which maybe catch the imagination more, but don't require many specialist skills other than putting one foot in front of the other (aside from some notable exceptions e.g. Dragons Back, The Spine.
For me though, the OMM always provided the most rounded challenge of the year. Always fun to try and balance going as light as possible, staying warm enough, being comfortable enough to recover sufficiently for day 2, managing rough terrain, managing terrible weather (usually at least 1 day), specific fitness, eating strategies, pacing strategies etc etc. More than enough to work on to keep this type of event endlessly interesting.
Definitely a shift in the last 30(?) years in this country though from a culture of competing to one of completing.But that in itself shouldn't account for the drop in overall numbers, just in the strength in depth of fields. Our local winter trail series now has 500 or 600 participants where just a few years ago 200 was a big field. But the number who could realistically hope to snatch a win is probably 5-6 for any given event.
I should have probably said less convenient than inconvenient.
I love the Mountain Trial and rate it as one of the best events I've done but it's a far cry from the "cool" trail and ultra scene which is popular. I don't think there's the same interest in the style of event as there was. You're right in that there is a growth of "Lite" MM events, but mainly score style (I think) which is a lot less intimidating than a linear style event.
With the exception of the full Rab MM (which seems to growing) are all others struggling? No more Highlander (great shame), LAMM is biannual (potentially) , any idea about the Saunders?
Saunders still seems popular as it's summer!
I think we are definitely in a complete rather than compete age. There's a lot of competition for people's attention. Maybe people are just softer now, not willing to try something, expose themselves to a bit of risk and excitement...
Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy
What a great phrase "complete not compete" and it probably sums up a huge change in reasons for entry. The success of trail races and the explosion of ultras support this? When you look at the entry/results/standards achieved it is clear to me that many of the entry are there to complete.
And why not, not necessarily a bad thing. I wonder if the overall participation of "long" off road running has actually increased.
The knock on is the competition for the established races.
To me, there is a move to safe events. People seem to like a fully flagged route on less challenging terrain.
Perhaps some of them will get more adventurous and look for that next level of challenge?
For some of us you could probably replace 'cool' with commercial, or expensive, or pompous! For me the thing they seem to have in common is that they are highly marketed, largely by the kit companies who want to create markets for their products. They also fit well with the social media world. (What is with the oversized medals?!) Popularity will hopefully not be a concern either way for our fell races, so long as events remain viable.
Cracking run in the elite class ba-ba, both days. Well done!
OMM appear to have found an acceptable balance, imo, between the event and the commercial side. If you get your entry in early enough it's (only?) £55 per person which compares favourably, only about £10 more expensive with SLMM, Highlander. They highlight that they don't make revenue from the event.
Obviously there's some social media activity, filming etc. going on but it still feels the same event as it was on my first 8 years ago.
I agree that "complete not compete" isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least people are getting out there! Just I reckon people are capable of more than they realise - if you'd told me age 19, when I started running purely so I could eat pizza and drink beer (still do really!) that I'd be racing OMM elite by my mid-20s I'd have laughed you out the room!
Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy
I agree - I'm thinking more of the high profile trail running / skyrunning / tough mudder type events than mountain marathons typically.
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