Cheats

[Joe]

To be quite frank having the rules apply what ever the conditions is unreasonable. The FRA in their frustration(at people not carrying kit in cold wet conditions) have said "right let's make them carry kit all the time so we don't have any problems."

So we end up carrying kit on a roasting day, for no reason at all.

Don't blame the FRA!

Kit Requirements are only mandatory at Cat A Long & Medium Races - Kinder Trog was a BL.

In addition, FRA rules stipulate only windproofs.

The notice at registration saying the kit requirements were as per FRA rules wasn't correct.

[Duncan]

Cheating is the word for it if everyone's expected to carry stipulated gear - whether it's FRA policy or at the stipulation of the RO. I've seen people DQ'd on the OMM for failing a finish-line kit check and full kit is something that's adhered too.
Whatever the safety aspects, surely the ethos of fellrunning is such that a level playing field and sportsmanship are still values that we all aspire too when we enter a race?

[TheHeathens]

If I was running in one of these races, I'd be carrying about 3 stone more than most of you anyway so 1lb really wouldn't be any hardship!

[skennaugh]

Cheating is the word for it if everyone's expected to carry stipulated gear - whether it's FRA policy or at the stipulation of the RO. I've seen people DQ'd on the OMM for failing a finish-line kit check and full kit is something that's adhered too.
Whatever the safety aspects, surely the ethos of fellrunning is such that a level playing field and sportsmanship are still values that we all aspire too when we enter a race?

Absolutely. And i enjoyed the Roots Manuva. Haven't heard that for ages!

[Richard123]

It's not up to the RO to enforce the kit check, it's all to do with respect, personal honour and sportsmanship. If the rules state you carry the kit then man up and carry it - if you see someone racing without the kit call them a disrespectful, dishonourable cheating c*nt as loud as you can so everyone hears and kick them up the ass

[No map, no compass]

There are a lot out there who put nowt in it. You can clearly see that to carry full kit your bumbag should be pretty full. In fact i struggle to zip mine up.
You see runners with a pete bland bumbag thats flat, empty.

Rubbish - you can carry full FRA spec (windproof) kit and have a bumbag which looks pretty empty and is very light - just buy Montane featherlight pertex top and trousers. Both pack into stuff sacs which are about the size of an apple.

Great on a nice day, but not so good if the weather turns shite!

[ultracollie]

at the end of the day (or the race) rules are rules. if you choose to break them and get caught then its your own fault no matter how strongly you disagree with them in the first instance.
i was barred from running with my dog at wharfedale..he'd done it the year before and nobody said anything. this year they did. they said it was the rule. i could have ignored it but that would have been blatantly wrong.
i guess if you dont like the rules go do something else

[Coops2723]

A bit of rant here.

An old topic but it really does p!ss me off. The Race Organisor of today's race KT (which was run really well) stipulated the the kit required to do this race, saying there would be a kit check at the end. Maybe the kit list was a little harsh but thats up to the RO and he has put the time an effort in to organise the event so I happy to respect it and take it.

I know of three runners who took no kit (well one had an Ipod) and saw many runners with just a windproof, no map, no compass, no waterproofs, No w/pants , No scruples, no respect. In otherwords they cheated. They cheated themselves and all the runners who came in behind them who followed the rules. It show HUGE disrespect to the RO to blatantly cheat. Yes cheat I'll say it again because that what you are....

this could be helped by RO actually doing a kit check and DISQ any runners who don't carry kit because they will keep doing it until they caught.

Sorry for that

I hope you all enjoy your sunny weekend

I see where your coming from but can't help feeling that your getting a bit too worked up about it - I would let them 'cheat themselves' as you put it and concentrate on your own run and enjoy it. In the past this is what I have done, perhaps if I was running to a higher level where the margins are smaller then it would make me angry - personally I don't see the point in getting stressed about decisions that other people make...I just worry about enjoying my time running.....

[IainR]

Interesting debate, there was an issue at last years UTMB regarding the winner.

Re Killian Jornet,

Here's the press releases:

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/page.php?page=CP2008

Here they are as PDF's, as you can see their is various references to protests.

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/documents/cp_utmb_saturday_30_august_2008_gb.pdf

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/documents/cp_utmb_sunday_31_august_2008_gb.pdf

It's unclear if he did carry the required gear, some day his support carried it, but also what about the record now, as they say his actions were 'not in the spirit of the event', so by using pacers he set an incredible record. It seems a bit harsh to ask runners to try to beat this record using harsher guidelines.

The guy is clearly class, and regardless of what he carried or got paced he still covered that terrain in an unbelievable time, but it will be interesting to see if they redo the record.

[Wheeze]

Agreed Coops...I rarely let it bother me. But. There is a wider angle to cover here. What we all take for granted as 'freedom' to run hangs by a thread so thin most of us will never see it.
But just imagine for a moment if the situation at OMM last year had turned sour with deaths to competitors...and it turned out those competitors had not followed kit compliance. Can you imagine how the media outcry would have become deafening? Can you imagine the subsequent ramping up of insurance and pressure on RO's?? Such things could squeeze the life out of our little sport.

So when a runner decides not to carry mandatory kit, its not just cheating. Its deliberately putting the future of the sport at risk.