I see there are a few completely new races in the 2018 calendar. Doctors Gate a new AM near Glossop looks good. Any others?
I see there are a few completely new races in the 2018 calendar. Doctors Gate a new AM near Glossop looks good. Any others?
Isn't Des doing 2 new ones? The above plus Cock Hill(?) On 7 July. Assuming that one is a short. Hoping to do Doctors Gate...
It's a little known fact that Des actually organises more races than Tindersticks has competed in.
I think Dave Parry was the most prolific race organiser (about 24 a year, 12 winter 12 summer!) before he died.
Andy Plummer puts on a few (9 trunces help boost number!) but is Des the most prolific?
Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy
Dave certainly was.
It was one reason why I wanted to recognise him - "race organiser par excellence" - in my series of articles on the history of the FRA in The Fellrunner (Summer 2016) before he died. It was in a phone conversation about the article that he said if he counted "everything" ie not just fell races, then he had been involved in organising 1500 races in his lifetime.
Because his races were all round the North York Moors he never had huge entries and never received the wider recognition that I feel was his due. He was an intelligent, cheerful, dedicated and amusing man who always made doing one of his events into a joyful occasion rather than just a fell race.
If you won a category you knew you would go home with 3 bottles of wine from M&S. And because he never took spare bottles home he would hand out whatever he had over to anyone left at the prize giving - which was usually a crowd!
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
Indeed he does and he is my favourite (living) RO and his races are very special and he is a lovely person but please keep that all quiet 'cos if 400 people turn up and his races start to look like some other brash and vulgar events then he'll stop organising them and like the late lamented Cononley Gala Fell Race - to be immortalised shortly in the august journal that is The Fellrunner - his low key events will be lost to us and future generations and we wouldn't want that... so sssh.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
The first rule of fellrunning (forget all the don't climb walls, tell someone if you're DNF'ing stuff) is don't leave a Brett prize giving till it's all done. I once got a bottle of his legendary Badger Creek Pinot Grigio for being 3rd V40 marshall at Kildwick
Poacher turned game-keeper
He is just a shadow in the dark.