Fellsman

[Steampig]

Hi BritNick,

Thanks for the advice, that goes for everyone else who's taken the trouble to offer comments and advice!
When you say "but don't forget to get to Cray in daylight before grouping" what does that actually translate into on the day? Does the time differ or do the organisers work on official sunrise, sunset times? If we get there before grouping what does that mean? presumably we can just crack on as a pair?

What sort of time schedule gets you to Cray before grouping?

...but don't forget to go as fast as possible to get to Dent in daylight before grouping. Getting the balance right is a tough one and it's why I always found The Fellsman to be the most stressful and daunting of all the events I've done. All self-imposed of course.

[Chris H]

Was listed as a 3 pointer for 2011 but doesn't appear on the UTMB qualifying races for 2012, probably because of the date changes for the Fellsman from May to April.

[plodding bear]

You'll have to be doing pretty well to get to Cray before grouping, although obviously lots of people do. The grouping time is listed in the rules, I believe. It's a safety thing so they aren't flexible about it, which is fair enough. Having said that, they usually announce at the CP's that they'll start grouping in ten minutes or whatever, so you can scoot at that point and then get grouped at the next one. (probably with the same people you scooted away with!)
The date clash is just an unfortunate thing that's happened due to the land use issues the Fellsman team have had with new land owners. Unfortunate, but can't be helped.

[thedatastream]

First time Fellsman entrant this year, walking not running mind. Aim is to finish, time unimportant.

Some good information on this thread regarding technique and past events.

I'm starting from an OK level of fitness - I can run a slow 10k or walk the Y3P in about 10 hours at the moment. Training is running (10km+ slowly!), swimming and indoor climbing once a week. In addition I'll be winter climbing in Scotland or back to back long walks every other weekend from mid Jan to a couple of weeks before the event. Running round after my kids on the other weekends is also good excercise. Hopefully this should be enough to get me round in one piece?

I'm more worried about the mental side of the event i.e. keeping going through the night. Any tips?

As for doing a recce on the route before the event, are there any out of bounds areas for single walkers (i.e. not an organised event)? I found some info on route changes on the Fellsman website (http://www.fellsman.org.uk/doku.php?...ge_information) but does this apply all year round?

Cheers
JamesP

ps Hi Bob!

[Derby Tup]

Welcome to the forum JamesP

Scottish climbing mixed with back to back long walks sounds great prep for a walked Fellsman to me :thumbup:

Some practice walks at night with a headtorch or doing some of your runs after dark should help with the mental side of the challenge. Another tip is to not spend time thinking about the enormity of the event. Try to break it down into sections and slowly tick these off as you progress

[plodding bear]

I think you'll be ok for recces on your tod or with a small group. I think it's all on access land now, so the only issue there is for organised events (hence the bother) not individuals. As far as I'm aware, the route changes are permanent.
A few night walks like DT says, navigation at night may be something that crops up, and learn to eat on the go, a little often.
The early stages won't need too much of a recce, you'll be able to see people, I'd think about recces from about Dodd Fell onwards if you're walking it.
Do you live fairly local, or are you having to travel a fair way?

[Chris H]

As for doing a recce on the route before the event, are there any out of bounds areas for single walkers (i.e. not an organised event)? I found some info on route changes on the Fellsman website (http://www.fellsman.org.uk/doku.php?...ge_information) but does this apply all year round?

I think you are OK in these areas as a single walker or as a small group (there's others on here who will give the difinative legal answer), but if you are quizzed by anyone whilst you are up there just don't tell them you are doing a Fellsman recce. That's what got the organiser into bother with the land owners last year and forced the route change.

[thedatastream]

Cool thanks for all the tips, I'm feeling a bit happier about it now I'll brush up on my night nav (long days in Scotland should help!) and try and get a recce of the section from Redshaw onwards in before the day.

@ploddingbear: I'm only down in Huddersfield so it's not too far to come up to the Dales for me

Many thanks
JamesP

[AndyA]

Long runs yes but I'm not so sure about long races.

I'm following this advice, in that I'm only doing one proper long race (Haworth Hobble) in preparation; mainly just to race test the fuelling at checkpoints/kit carrying side of things. I'm doing the Trog but i would be anyway, it's a bit of a favourite.

I can't see much value in doing more 20m+ races in the run up to this event, or at least I don't think they have any more value than just going out for a 20m+ training run instead. If anything it might be counterproductive; doing a 20m session at a proper 20m race pace will take longer to recover from and affect training for several days, whereas i could probably do two 20m training runs on consecutive days if i did them at Fellsman pace. I think that kind of back to back session is much more useful.

Hope that makes sense!

[plodding bear]

Andy, get yerself up to Silsden, and maybe we could walk some of the bits together. I'd suggest from Dodd Fell over to Hells Gap, for one.