Edale Skyline Fell Race

Personally I'd prefer a system where you could enter an entire Champs series at the start of the season - say £60 for all six English Champs races. That way runners who want to commmit to the champs can do so, and other runners who want to do specific championship races could enter in the usual way.

Lucky to get online at 10.30 this morning - 419th out of 425 I think!

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Originally Posted by compo

Personally I'd prefer a system where you could enter an entire Champs series at the start of the season - say £60 for all six English Champs races. That way runners who want to commmit to the champs can do so, and other runners who want to do specific championship races could enter in the usual way.

Lucky to get online at 10.30 this morning - 419th out of 425 I think!

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Good Fair Point Compo. But dont encourage them to charge more they can do that on their own. 30 to 40 is plenty.

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Originally Posted by Stolly

Well I disagree with compo :).... while agreeing with the organisers for putting some race entries aside. Compo almost went as far to say that us 'plebs' (okay he didn't say plebs, I'm just pretending he did) should not even dare enter championship races but instead leave them for our betters, which is of course bollocks. I entered Edale because it fills the gap perfectly between the HPM and the Fellsman and, more to the point, I love the race and the route. I didn't even know it was a championship race. And in any event it won't have filled up so quickly just because of it being a championship race (although that will have played a small part)- the peak district must have the highest concentration of fell runners in the world per square inch (what with Sheffield and Manchester both being on the door step) so such a classic route is always going to really popular.

And anyway with the SI registration its not beyond the wit of man for the organiser to do some pre-loaded registering of preferential runners straight off the bat, which is probably what has happened.

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Aye.. The peak district is bang in the middle of 4 or 5 major cities.. the pressure is huge. More than 500 want to do this race so some will miss out and be unhappy.. it's a hiding to nothing really for the organiser.

last year entries were by post and the race was still full in a few days (the poor postie's still off work with a bad back!) i had several entries hand delivered within an hour of the form being available. So there's clearly a demand for the race!

i can see what IainR is saying, and agree to an extent - my 'system' (and I use the word in its loosest possible sense!) is pretty vague. Basically give people a couple of extra weeks to enter so they can defend their Champs Titles then give the remaining places to folks on the waiting list.

for example - as of now none of the top three men or women from last years English Champs are there either. Many Vets don't currently have places.



More importantly the English V40 women's 2012 champion doesn't have a place in the race yet - and I'm married to her. Surely you can see what i need to do there...

'sorry Darling you can't run' - hmm, the ear bashing to end them all!

Will someone please help me with this, I feel that I have totally misunderstood what fellrunning is all about. See, I thought fellrunning was a non elitist sport enjoyed by like minded people with a love for the outdoors. I didn't realise that mid packers like myself should even have the nerve to enter races that I will never win or probably never even obtain a point.

I think that makes sense.. it seems a petty for someone to miss out for being away.. I do think the proper elite should always be accommodated.. as said I think you are on a hiding either way on this.. 1000 into 500 doesn't go..

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Originally Posted by compo

Personally I'd prefer a system where you could enter an entire Champs series at the start of the season - say £60 for all six English Champs races. That way runners who want to commmit to the champs can do so, and other runners who want to do specific championship races could enter in the usual way.

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I can see the logic in that but the trouble with this the drop out rate is huge.

last year entries opened 15th Jan. I encouraged substitutions and let people defer their place until next year. I took 450 entries - on the day (which was a gorgeous sunny day if you remember) just 335 people turned up! more than 80 had either subbed or deferred already. that's the biggest frustration for me as I know just how much people want to run it! I know some will get injured last minute, several people emailed to say that had happened but most didn't. If I could be bothered I'd make a list of everyone that didn't turn up and look at it getting cross!

as others have said the Peak is a popular place and is well surrounded by people, demand is high.

As an organiser though, I've just tried to do what is going to suit most of the people most of the time, I have very few complaints. Some people will be disappointed if they miss out, some will disagree with how things are run but so long as we all behave in a civil manner it'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by Tindersticks

Will someone please help me with this, I feel that I have totally misunderstood what fellrunning is all about. See, I thought fellrunning was a non elitist sport enjoyed by like minded people with a love for the outdoors. I didn't realise that mid packers like myself should even have the nerve to enter races that I will never win or probably never even obtain a point.

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No you haven't misunderstood it Tindersticks. Mr Taggart will line up in his rightful place at the head of the rest of us also rans. We will set off and each run our own personal race no matter what our ability is and long may it continue. :D

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Originally Posted by Tindersticks

Will someone please help me with this, I feel that I have totally misunderstood what fellrunning is all about. See, I thought fellrunning was a non elitist sport enjoyed by like minded people with a love for the outdoors. I didn't realise that mid packers like myself should even have the nerve to enter races that I will never win or probably never even obtain a point.

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I don't think anyone is saying that. Certainly Fellrunning is a non elitist sport where anyone can take part.

but maybe some would consider that a Fell race is slightly different. All I am saying is that the competitive element should be how fast you can run round the course. Not how fast you can fill in an online form.

last year I kept back ~10% of places (this year will be similar) for people 'at the sharp end' - as I've said - some will disagree but its how I organise this race.

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Originally Posted by Tindersticks

Will someone please help me with this, I feel that I have totally misunderstood what fellrunning is all about. See, I thought fellrunning was a non elitist sport enjoyed by like minded people with a love for the outdoors. I didn't realise that mid packers like myself should even have the nerve to enter races that I will never win or probably never even obtain a point.

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It is for sure.. championship races are to find the best runners in England.. so it makes sense for them to be in it?

It's 6 races out of 600 or whatever it is in the calendar and only some of those will be full. The shorts are often OK as the women and men are split. It must be well under 1% where there is any sort of elitism at all, and of those only a small % of those races will be for elite only. Incidentally it looked like Carnethy 5 shifted to a much more performance based approach.. where everyone enters and runners are picked afterwards..