I think that you could moderate your tone a bit too.
The people organising this stuff do so with the best intentions and invest considerable time for little or no financial reward; they don't deserve anonymous beratement on internet forums.
Contact those whom you think are at fault and deal with it properly.
.
And returning to the thread......We in Nottingham cant wait I just hope that one or two others from the Notts area decide to participate. I am sure some of the Mansfield Harriers will be there. here's hoping for some good weather and conditions.
Gazmuz - you raise some relevant points, some of which were raised last year, so let me try to be of help.Originally Posted by Gazmuz
The FRA Jnrs were in a little bit of a predicament. The international committee has wrongly assumed that Coiners would still be available as a trial race and so fairly late in the process they piggy-backed Cowpe and I personally agree with you that Cowpe wasn't an ideal location for the trial as the terrain is typically rugged Pennine and not representative of European Mountain running.
I'm not a selector, but having seen the Cowpe results last year it was clear that they would have a problem.
The ages for last year were born 95 or 96.
Looking at the Boys - I think of the top 8 at Cowpe only 2 were eligible.
Looking at the Girls - the 1st eligible girl more than 6 minutes behind Annabel and they would have had to select someone around 10 minutes off the pace to take 3 that fitted the age rules.
This wasn't the first time as it happened at Coiners years ago when my daughter was too young as was Mel Hyder and Laura Riches, they only took 2 girls.
I went to Cowpe and without wanting to go over old ground, the terrain was actually quite OK, but perhaps the routes needed a little tweaking and the management of the start/finish areas in particular. But I think the ROs accepted the largely constructive comments that were given at the time and I am sure the race will be a great event this year.
Ref the Facebook quote, just remember you are quoting someone off FB that is drumming up interest in the race and so I think you have to cut them a bit of slack. I reckon the terrain down there is fantastic for junior fell - very similar to the Howgills - so I expect lots of happy young athletes coming away afterwards.
Trying to keep it on topic, but I will stress, the FRA Juniors were not in a predicament, and as usual our races had been planned up to a year ahead.
The International team were in a litte bit of a predicament; this committee has now seen some changes, and is looking a lot more organized.
Getting back on topic...could the race organiser please confirm whether what was said on facebook was correct and whether he was told that the races last year were deemed too easy and that he has designed these courses to be maximum distances and tougher than last years courses? The facebook page was surely designed to inform athletes about the race, if these comments were meant to drum up interest in the race and they have actually caused concern over the length and terrain of the race then maybe it would be helpful to clarify this as athletes and parents are basing their decisions on whether to travel long distances to this race on whether or not racing will be beneficial to the athletes and their short-long term development. This quote perhaps gives a further impression of the course " Get your U16s and U18s particularly practising on the steepest climbs you can find..." Thanks
Last edited by Gazmuz; 16-04-2013 at 03:04 PM.
As well as asking on the Facebook page (you cannot assume an RO will check on here every day), I have:
(a) looked at the courses (I was not previously involved with these), which do appear tough for the U16 & U18s but fine for the rest
(b) messaged Duncan with your concerns
Steep grassy hills are what you get at Church Stretton. If the RO is under the impression that anything harder than last year was asked for, then this was a misunderstanding, and the kind of thing that I am trying to prevent for the future with a race selection policy document. Following your enquiry today, I have already changed the wording relating to U16 & U18 distance expectations.
As has been mentioned, emailing Duncan or the RO would have been a lot more useful than complaining on here.
I know the planning involved, as you are aware.
Last year, the Cowpe U16 course was altered (combined with the U18s race) at short notice due to the International team having no other plan for a selection race. This was nothing to do with the Juniors team.
I would have told the International team to find their own selection race, and not interfere with our carefully planned Junor Champs
I would suggest that is a predicament - a difficult situation that you would rather have not had to deal with. Please stop picking nits LJ.
Probably not.
Have you tried to email him lately
At no point in any of my comments did I complain, all I asked for was clarifications on race distances and on comments on FB by the race organiser which gave the perception that these races will be considerably tougher and longer than previous races. I now see that the U18 race winning time is expected to be 45-50 minutes, considerably longer than any race last year so perhaps my concerns were valid and that the junior FRA forum was a valid place to raise them.
Apologies, your tone was however quite aggressive. Please be assured that:
(a) the comments on longer/harder courses are not 'official' policy for all our future races.
(b) Duncan & Jim are now aware of concerns about the U16/U18 courses at Stretton, and will respond when they have had the time to look into it.
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