I'm not against split pricing, but a £7 'fee' for a £3 race doesn't make a good impression
I'm not against split pricing, but a £7 'fee' for a £3 race doesn't make a good impression
I believe the RO deliberately set the "fee" at this outrageous level to persuade people to join the WFRA.Originally Posted by Marco
Anyway, I paid the full £10 for the Four Fans in 2019, when I dropped out at the first checkpoint due to injury. I joined the WFRA the following year, but since then I have only done one race in Wales, and two Shropshire races which were on the WFRA calendar but not the FRA calendar. And I don't think any of those offered a discount for WFRA membership. But I'm not complaining.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
The LDWA Roundhay 50 mile walk sets the extra fee for non LDWA members at £15 which is the annual fee to be in the LDWA.
Makes sense to me to i) encourage serious walkers to join the LDWA and 2) punish those who aren't.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
As a founder member of the current incarnation of the WFRA I have a vested interest in seeing it survive and thrive. That being said, I do tend to lean more Marco's way in this discussion in that I think the big discrepancy in fees looks a little coercive and, as he says, does not make a good impression. But I'm sure the RO has every good reason for doing this. As Trav says, its good value from one viewpoint and it may also underline that this is a tricky race where experience counts.
Its a cracking day out whether you pay £3 or £10.
Simon Blease
Monmouth
Punishing those who are not a member just brings the events into disrepute, whether it's £7 or £15.
I'd have more respect for the organisers if they said WFRA and LDWA members (respectively) only, as at least they were being honest about their intentions.
And before anyone asks, up to my retirement from racing I was a member of the WFRA - in the era before split pricing
I am the Four Fans RO. Firstly, thanks to Travs for supporting this race for many years and publicising it on this forum - it is much appreciated. A few comments.
I was previously very much against differential pricing but I did want to reward WFRA members by giving a small discount to them as a token of my appreciation for their support to the WFRA. As you are all aware the WFRA pays for and offers all ROs public liability insurance free of charge. This is paid for out of WFRA’s subscriptions. In essence WFRA members are subsidising non- members. In recent years I have granted a bigger discount to WFRA members… I note that not all agree with this but I view it as reasonable as the £10 charge is used to pay for the services of Fabian4 and allows me to buy a few beers for the marshals. Like everyone else I know, the event usually fails to break even.
You are all welcome to come and take part as Travs is still the only entrant!
Always happy to take a podium place!
Pete Shakespeare - U/A
Going downhill fast
After years of sterling service to the WFRA, Andy, I'm certain you are best placed to judge what will wash in this situation.
Cracking racing today at the Four Fans.... the first time i've done it in anything but hot and sunny weather.
Today we had a real mix... heavy wind, rainstorms, hailstorms, even a bit of sunshine, and some limited visibility thrown in for entertainment as well. Although given the forecast i think we still got fairly lucky with the weather.
A hardy bunch of 11 set off from the start line... no doubt the usual influx of on-the-day entries were put off by the forecast of gusts 60-70mph, zero visiblity, etc.
My pre-race plan was to be ahead at the first summit, Fan Fawr, and preferably with enough of a gap that nobody behind could see me in the murk.... this was just about achieved as i had a 30sec lead over a local under-23 guy.... the next couple were almost 3mins back at this point.
At this point things started to diverge quite dramatically from my plan of extending my lead over the next steep down-and-up.... in the poor visibility i made the age-old error of getting pulled too far north onto easier ground.... by the time i'd worked out what was wrong i found myself well off my preferred course and eventually re-joined the "pack".
Reached summit no. 2 with no idea where in the field i was.... and was mightily relieved to discover that i was still actually in 3rd place and the leader was still in view.... the next down/up to summit no. 3 i ran the quickest leg and by summit 3 at Fan Nedd the front three of us were all together.
Never mind i was hoping to be a few minutes clear by this point, it was now race on with over an hour left and plenty of work to be done... at the next crucial route point, the u-23 lad took the safer route down Sarn Helen Roman Road, and myself and the other chap contoured up to the ridge and eventually the Beacons Way footpath.... i was aware i could likely have this guy going up, but unfortunately we were rapidly running out of any lengthy climbs in which to go on the attack.... and he was significantly stronger than me on the tussocky, undulating ground we found ourselves on.... by the out-and-back to the final summit Fan Ffrynych i could see he was around 2mins in front of me, with the u-23 guy a minute or so behind, coming from the other direction.
Pretty much knew 1st was out of the question now, and i was rather worried about slipping back to 3rd.... in the event, the u-23 was struggling worse than me and dropped 5 mins over the final couple of miles.... with myself dropping another 3 mins or so over the winner.
Great racing, route choices all over the place, tough terrain.... both the guys i was in close contention with were absolute gents.
2hrs24 which is way off my pb, although time was largely incomparable in the conditions.
Thanks to Andrew the RO for sticking with it and holding the race, despite the low pre-entries and the awful forecast.... i see that a combination of these two factors has resulted in Arenig Fawr being cancelled tomorrow with only 4 pre-entries.
This race would make an absolutely cracking British Champs medium counter... although i suspect they'd have to run it in today's clockwise direction rather than the traditional anti-clockwise, to avoid congestion on the Beacons Way at the start.
In conditions like today a British Champs race would be absolute carnage!
Pete
Last edited by Travs; 15-07-2023 at 06:54 PM.
A great report Travs - well done.
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