Levels of support

Ellie and Jack, from Pennine, went round the BG at the weekend (it was a repeat for Jack) carrying all their own gear. They were met by a friend with a cup of tea at Dunmail and again at Honister. Then me and my wife, Sue, met them at Scafell. Sue ran the rest of the route with them, as far as Little Town, and that was their support team.

It was quite interesting watching the other teams coming into Honister, including one lad who had 4 support runners with him! Maybe a bit more than necessary...

I guess from the Honister point of view, you'll have people who pop up to Windy Gap or Beck Head and run in too.

I was up this weekend and it's amazing how many teams were going through Wasdale though - it was rammed in the carpark and a good proportion were BG'ers

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Originally Posted by TurboTom

I was up this weekend and it's amazing how many teams were going through Wasdale though - it was rammed in the carpark and a good proportion were BG'ers

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Yeah, we stayed well clear of Wasdale, expecting it to be rammed. They just ran straight through there.

Each to their own, but i'd sooner do it solo/unsupported, and not join "the club".

I understand many people won't feel that they have the tools to do that, but 4 supporters on a leg does seem a little excessive!

The Club's recommendation has always been to minimise the number of supporters on the fells but this year we've tried to be a bit more explicit about it and have asked contenders to agree to no more than two pacers per leg.

There were thirteen registered attempts over the weekend, among those there were a couple of reciprocally witnessing attempts.

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Originally Posted by GeoffB

Ellie and Jack, from Pennine, went round the BG at the weekend (it was a repeat for Jack) carrying all their own gear. They were met by a friend with a cup of tea at Dunmail and again at Honister. Then me and my wife, Sue, met them at Scafell. Sue ran the rest of the route with them, as far as Little Town, and that was their support team.

It was quite interesting watching the other teams coming into Honister, including one lad who had 4 support runners with him! Maybe a bit more than necessary...

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‘That’s the way (I’d like) to do it!’ No fuss, no bother. Having multiple supports and road crossing parties is getting ridiculous. I’ll be with Travs (metaphorically not physically!)

With you and Sue it’s a case of ‘quality not quantity’

I am suprised there is not yet a dedicated website that exclusively logs the GPS traces for the BGR and any other Long distance challenges that folk undertake solo and therefore the purest most envirometally sound and satisfying way to acheive ones goals.

The site could even offer public or private records and tracking if required

Each to there own of course, but using todays lightweight kit has gone a long way toward making a posse of sherpas etc uneccessary I am aware of the safety arguments surrounding going solo in the hills but the use of todays technology/tracking helps to minimise the risk and tbh anyone with the nouse to go out solo will take steps to ensure there own safety, without having to worry about the safety of supporters.

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Originally Posted by JohnK

tbh anyone with the nous to go out solo will take steps to ensure their own safety,

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You vastly overestimate the common sense of the population ;)

To put forward the opposite point of view...
Part of the joy of doing the BG (for me anyway) is the memory of the friends who shared the day. Despite it being 20 years ago I distinctly remember the moments with each of the friends who ran alongside me when I did it (despite having an appalling memory for almost everything else in my life!!)
And conversely I have always always enjoyed running alongside others when I've supported other rounds - new or old friends.
Going solo, OK you have your own memories but you don't have those shared-experience memories.

Like almost everything in the world today it would be so much better if there weren't so many of us and it wasn't so popular.

Good call. I'm happy to take one for the team and not do a BG. ;)

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Originally Posted by Bob

You vastly overestimate the common sense of the population ;)

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No I don`t, I show deserved respect to the very small percentage of the population that have made the effort to achieve sufficient skills in mountain craft to enable them to go safely into the hills solo.

As to the rest of the population I reserve judgement:confused:

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Originally Posted by bigfella

Like almost everything in the world today it would be so much better if there weren't so many of us and it wasn't so popular.

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There's a wonderful quote which I think was said to have been written on a road info poster by TomTom in Holland in 2010 that proclaimed:

“You are not stuck in traffic. You are traffic.”

Applies to sooooo many of our life circumstances :D