in your opinion whos the best fell runner / mountain runner ever ? ;)
in my eyes jonathan wyatt 5 times world mountain running champion some record ?
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in your opinion whos the best fell runner / mountain runner ever ? ;)
in my eyes jonathan wyatt 5 times world mountain running champion some record ?
Me! because nobody else matters when i am running walking crawling:)Quote:
Originally Posted by scott baistow 93
Its my battle
same answer for who's the worst!
Having not been in the sport (running) for very long (in comparison with many others) from what I've read and been told, when Kenny Stuart turned up (in his prime) you were racing for second place so my vote goes to him
Kenny as best racer, but best all round fell runner? Billy Bland.
All these guys are legends, but Kenny Stuart hands down for me. No one will ever touch that Ben Nevis record.
Ian Holmes for me.
Kenny Stuart, no contest.
Billy Bland and Angela Mudge: not necessarily in that order.Quote:
Originally Posted by scott baistow 93
Wyatt will not and therefore cannot run downhill and if you look at his record he only competes in the WMRT in alternate years ie when it is an uphill finish.
Not 100% true. What about the WMRT in NZ? Did he not win it there and was it not an up and down year?Quote:
Originally Posted by GrahamB
Totally agree with Trundler.......Kenny best racer, but Billy will always take the biscuit for me.
In the male category, as a true "allrounder" it's got to be Billy Bland; from setting his 13 hours 54 minutes record for the BG ( It's now 26 years old ) to turning out and winning the Fleetwith Pike Race (AS), outright, as a V40. And in between he had multiple wins in all of what are now termed 'The Lakes Classics' and plenty of AS & AM wins.
Joss has a better record in the real ultra stuff and some AL wins, but not much in AS's & AM's
Kenny had a great record in races, but never tackled any true ultra stuff.
JUST GOT TO BE KING BILLY!!
PLUS he could navigate, plenty of Trial & 'O' event wins. Kenny would never have set his Ennerdale record if Billy had not shown him the way round - Kenny's own words at the time!
Colin Donnelly was (is) awesome...and was at the top for longer than Stuart.
But I would not argue with King Billy!:)
If the best fellrunner is the best all round one rather than one who has run some very fast races then Billy Bland is by far the best among all men and women.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrahamB
Yiannis
Good man! Yes he did win there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadrunner
I was England Selection Chairman in 2005 and actually went to Wellington when I was on holiday in New Zealand to run the course in the Spring.
It was a multi lap race and a mixture of promenade (start/finish), grassy banks and running through a wood; so very soft underneath. Not a stone in sight.
As Team Manager Mark Croasdale wrote in TFM (Feb 2006, page 20) "the course was different to any World Trophy course I had encountered before".
Given Wyatt's antagonism to running downhill the NZ people designed a course that he would agree to run on. Perhaps Jonathan designed it himself? He was WMRT champion and for NZ to host the WMRT and their own WMRT Champion not run there was clearly unthinkable.
And yes he won and the Senior Women's race was won by, surprise, surprise, a New Zealand woman.
So there you go eh?
Now Graham I didn't need to add the course was totally different to that one would expect of a WMRT up and downhill. I have only ever seen pictures of the race with runners on tarmac!!!!
I think CD, 10 Welsh 1000m Peaks wins, how many did Billy have? :-)
3000ers record too.
For his career longevity, 49 and winner of Knock Du, awesome to stay at the top for so long.
Comparing Donelly, Bland, Mudge et al though is like comparing Cloughie, Shankly, Paisley and the great Sir Alex. All top of their game.
But then Kenny S held and still holds records of so many great races, e.g Snowdon and the Ben.
Yeah Wellington race route, while tough, was basically a hilly trail route, hardest part was probably that road section. Ran it many times when living there.
It seems fairly clear that Billy Bland and Kenny Stuart are the greatest ever British fell runners, although probably nobody has run longer at such a high standard than Colin Donnelly, still winning races 23 years after he clocked 1:25:48 at Ben Nevis in 1986.
How about greatest of the current crop of fell runners?
I'd say Rob Jebb, Ian Holmes and Simon Booth.
But Clough was just a little bit better than the others - he performed his magic with 2 provincial clubs remember! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by IainR
Keith Anderson,Ian Holmes,Andy Peace and Joss Naylor.
Mick and Steve Hawkins on the day were invincible.
We have not even seen the best of Rob Jebb.
Carole Haigh/Greenwood,she still holds a fair amount of race records.
Ricky Wilde gave Kenny Stuart a good run for his money.
As to the best fell runner ever,sorry,undecided
I don't want to denigrate any of these runners as they were clearly top class Nationally and will be legends of Fell Running.
But were they world class?
How did they do "offshore"? You can look at the likes of David Lewis and Glynn Tromans on the Cross Country who were almost unbeatable at a National level, but in the World Cross never really performed.
Did these fell runners do it on the international stage?
Criteria are everything. I discussed all this in my little opus Il Campionissimo in the June 2001 The Fellrunner.Quote:
Originally Posted by IainR
For example Carol Greenwood at the time held over 50 women's records and still holds eg Snowdon. She won the Ben, 3 PPP; but not Wasdale or Ennerdale.
Ian Holmes has won 8 English Gold Medals but admits he is not good on long tough lakeland race which some would argue are the real test for fell runners.
In my article I concluded that based on eight Classic Fell Races, every day things like The Ben, Jura, Peris, PPP, 1000M, Borrowdale, Ennerdale, Wasdale: that over the previous 15 years the outstanding runners were Colin Donnelly and Angela Brand-Barker but Angela Mudge would become even better.
Clearly I was right about Angela but importantly I excluded Billy Bland from consideration because of the criteria for the article. In effect I was saying "clearly BB is the best" but I need to write 2500 words about other runners so who else is there? The answer to that was Colin D.
Are you sure you aren't confusing Ricky Wilde with John Wild? Kenny Stuart and John Wild had some epic contests about 1983/1984.Quote:
Originally Posted by dylan
Is it possible to be "world class" at fell-running? - which, by definition, is only run in Britain?Quote:
Originally Posted by Witton Park
Colin Donnelly had (and still has) the speed and endurance to set many more records. Hes has more or less soloed every long distance challenge there is without support or route advice. If he was better organised, he could have achieved more than anyone else.
Perhaps that is the way the great man likes things to be: out there on his own, doing things his own way.
Yiannis
...martin jones?!Quote:
Originally Posted by Witton Park
I actually have DVD of the WMRT from 2005 in New Zealand- the course was an absolute dream for road runners like Wyatt and yon lady that won...forget her name ....it wasnt Melissa Moon- it was the other NZ cross country champion lady, Kate somebody. There's a great shot of Lloyd in the leading pack for the 1st half mile...Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadrunner
Anyways, interesting course- bloody dvd cost me £19! Every other word on the DVD is WYATT
Kate McIlroyQuote:
Originally Posted by FellMonster
Lloyd was a star. He was second English counter 2 places just behind Billy Burns but as some may recall he had "lost" his passport and failed to turn up at Heathrow for the New Zealand flight and arrived in NZ several days late. However it did all secure him a Profile (with Jackie) in The Fellrunner so hey!
Hmm....sounds suspect if you ask me- "lost" passport.
Buying duty free and pro plus no doubt the sneaky devil......yeah, he'd a great run that day. Went off much too fast he'll admit though
Best at what? The question really should be who, if all the stars lined up over various distances and courses at their peak, would win.
From what I've read of the history of the sport, at the short events it would be a close race between R.S.Wilde and John Wild. The same again at medium events with Kenny Stuart closing in. Then Stuart for the long.
In my opinion the greatest fellrunners of all time are Joss Naylor and Helene Diamentides.
I personally have always preferred long solitary runs through the hills rather than races (although I've done my fair share) so I suppose my opinion is slightly swayed this way.
However if race performances are taken as the main criteria then I would say Billy Bland and Angela Mudge.
Incidentally Angela is one Briton who has performed at top level in many different parts of the world
then again Eric Beard held an impressive tally of records back in the mists of time. I remember reading about him when I was a young lad and being totally inspired.Quote:
Originally Posted by fellgazelle
I seem to remember reading that at one point in the 1960's he held something like 20 odd long distance fell records including:
Bob Graham round
Lakes 24 hour fell record
Welsh 3000'ers
Cuillin ridge
The Mourne wall
etc.
Perhaps someone could shed more light on this?
Love em all, all inspirational including Amex;):cool:
So it's not me then? :(
I know he'll kick my arse for suggesting it, but I wish Andi Jones would have a summer season over the fells and have a crack at some champs races.
Angela Mudge...
Don't know about the Ladies
but the best ever has to be
Dominic Inion
Quote:
Originally Posted by dominion
So it is you then:DQuote:
Originally Posted by magoo
If only you knew the truth..... :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by merrylegs
The truth is out there, but can i handle it:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by dominion
Would that be the legendary Ricky Wilde? He joined us for a meal in the Andrews Arms in Compstall tonight after our headtorch run in Etherow Country Park. His good friend Jeff Norman was quite useful as well!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by christopher leigh