FRA/Club help for beginners

[Mr Ricepudding]

However....my real suspicion was that underlying the FRA reason was not in fact an environmental one, but a deeper sort of collectively personal, perhaps even elitest one about wanting to keep the sport small, special, and not universally popular.

Fellrunning is just not elitist at all.

[Mud]

wanting to keep the sport small, special, and not universally popular.

Anyone for controversy?

Doesn't sound very controversial to me.

[chris smale]

Well there are one or two intelligent posts on this thread. It didn't start promisingly.

Mud states his views well but I wholeheartedly take piglit's side.

My wife and I had a run over the Rossendale Hills today. Did we see a runner? A walker? A studmark?

No the place has been abanboned to motorcyclists and 4x4 drivers and barbed wire and rubbish. The presence of a great big windfarm doesn't help but I'm not going to get on my high horse about windfarms.

No. The place needs walkers, runners, horse riders, in their thousands. The national parks can take care of themselves and their erosion on the central fells. Motor cycling plagues the whole of our countryside (including the Duddon Valley last time I ran it).

[biara]

Speaking as a relative newcomer, (moved up from Herts 2 years ago), best advice is join a club and talk to the other members. Joined one, now racing regularly off road and had never done one before. Other members will have advice on what to do, how far to go and give you masses of advice.
I'm not old, but am not fast, regularly last male back from my club but still greeted by others and spoken to. Aiming to do enough races to qualify for Ben Nevis next year and do full Yorkshireman this year. A good club with friendly fell races is the best advice.
To say how much I've benn 'converted' to fells, ran Wrexham half marathon last week and was thoroughly bored, ran through the puddles just to liven it up!!!!!!

[Twister]

As fellrunning is dominated by ageing balding men I think more should be done to encourage / assist newcomers into the sport to keep it alive.

Completeley agree. This is the general perception of fell runners (even by runners in my local road club). There are lots of fell runners who think that it should be kept away from the masses, but lets face it, the majority of runners out there are unlikely to want to run up hills - let alone get there shiny new asics a little dirty

[The Piglit]

the majority of runners out there are unlikely to want to run up hills

This is the defining comment on the matter IMHO!

[Stolly]

As fellrunning is dominated by ageing balding men I think more should be done to encourage / assist newcomers into the sport to keep it alive.

First off, I'm not balding, OK? I've just got a high forehead is all.

Secondly I think you'll find the sport is thriving with many, many races being over subscribed, and many trail races (not usually 'real' fell races) charging huge wads of dosh and runners more than willing to pay too - see the lakeland trails.

Thirdly people tend to be attracted to what they want to do and don't need coercing. If the sport is full of balding men, then maybe its because lots of baldies want to do it . All the same there's a fair few younger runners that enjoy it too.

[Grouse]

And maybe it makes you go bald?