Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 13 of 13

Thread: Stud Marks On The Summit

  1. #11
    Member RobCVFR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Western Cumbria
    Posts
    19
    I'd like to update this thread after leaving it so long.

    For the last year, Tom and I have been keeping this project warm. We have nearly got a copy ready, written up word-for-word and in time, hopefully picture-for-picture. It is more of a reality now, and if it sells we plan to donate profits to Mountain Rescue, who found Bill nearly five years ago and need all the money they can get.

    We set out on this project because Stud Marks on the Summits is the centrepiece of fell running lore. No book before ever put our sport's history to text in such a way, and the books written since all trace their pre-'83 backbone to it. The modern authors themselves will agree with that, I'm sure. It's an act of faith and tribute to Bill Smith's thousands of hours of contribution to our sport, and if it's to be released it will only serve to keep his legacy going. Replication will be as sensitive as we can make it. Its new readers will be aware of its value as an "of-its-time" book that is no less important for being so.

    It is available on this website for desktop reading, which is brilliant, but most people haven't and won't read a book on a computer screen very easily. The ultimate aim is to help shed light on fell running for as many fell runners as possible, in a way that thoroughly respects someone as committed and self-effacing as Bill Smith.

    What about those 33/35 years since? Well, Chilton did a great deed with It's a Hill... Get Over It (as well as The Round), the likes of Askwith and Whalley have captured fell running's incorruptible appeal elsewhere, and numerous smaller publications such as booklets or articles act as further sources. Whoever makes a clean break in writing an SMOTS2 will find it'll overtake their life as it did Bill's. If anyone ever does it it'll be absolutely commendable. The articles, race results, people and stories are easier to access than ever, but as I am otherwise busy and no critical historian whatsoever, it's not for me.

    Stud Marks, available for everyone to read as accessibly and affordably as possible, is one worth keeping in the family and that's what we hope to enable soon.

  2. #12
    Master that_fjell_guy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    High Bentham
    Posts
    2,022
    Really looking forward to this coming out! Worthwhile project for a worthwhile cause. Will it be out for Christmas!!?
    I M Povey New Marske Harriers
    http://manwithoutashed.blogspot.com

  3. #13
    Member RobCVFR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Western Cumbria
    Posts
    19
    Well... sorry about that. After a few quiet years due to personal circumstances, I'll be taking up the mantle of reprinting SMOTS once again. Little has changed with the project itself, the key change being that I now live beside the Lakes and have overcome long-term injuries and prohibitive personal circumstances. I want to offer my apologies to those whose messages I hadn't replied to at the time. As for getting SMOTS out by Christmas... which Christmas? Sorry once again to all those waiting and spending their life without this fantastic book.

    I'll use this thread to provide updates in how the book's going, and will let you know once I've finally bent down a few more branches.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •