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Thread: Funniest thing you've seen...

  1. #1
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Funniest thing you've seen...

    when fellrunning/racing?

    A post I contributed to on the facebook page inspired me to start this up.

    I've only been racing 4 years so obviously most of my experiences have consisted of toil and pain, but there's been a couple of funny interludes. But in the massed ranks of experience on here, surely a few people have some good anecdotes...

    One from me...

    Final mile of Peris Horseshoe in the fields before the railway line. I was having a savage mid-pack battle to gain a place. As we crossed the field there was a stile in the middle of nowhere with nothing connected to it on either side. Just sat in the middle of a desolate field.

    My rival was rather confused at this stage and climbed the stile for some reason, but they got stuck on it with what appeared to be severe cramp, and I ended up beating them by about two minutes.

    I have done something vaguely similar at the end of a very cold Marsden Edale Trigger. Although I didn't find it quite so amusing...

  2. #2
    Senior Member DangerMouse's Avatar
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    Hehe, I've seen a few of those stiles in the middle of nowhere!!

    No funny race stories from me, yet... mostly because I've never done a race, but I'm pretty sure the first time you see me trying to run a race will be one for your list

  3. #3
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Probably Long Mynd Valleys. I can't remember what year but it was the old route and frozen solid. The descent from Barristers into Callow Hollow was basically a sheet of snow and ice. Lots of people at the top wondering how and if they were going to make it to the bottom and some hilarious attempts at getting down. I don't think anyone broke anything thankfully but there were some very unorthodox methods employed.

  4. #4
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    That stile anecdote reminds me of when I got stuck on the style coming out of the quarries at the end of borrowdale race. Becramped and in pain!
    One of our long lost south wales racers, fred parry used to regale us with a story about descending over a rock and taking his next step onto what he thought was another stone....only for it to be the posterior of one half of an amorous couple.

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    While running through the Quiraing as part of the Trotternish Ridge race- shortened bad weather route- the faster runners came across a film crew filming an 'adult movie' in amongst the rock formations. Sadly, I was too far back to witness this. Apparently the actor/actress quickly pulled some clothes on as the runners hurtled by. If only I'd known I would have put on a burst of energy.

  6. #6
    Master
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    While recce'ing Jura in a group of about 4, we were coming down from Corra Bheinn towards the road when one of the group disappeared up to his hips in a bog. But we stopped laughing when he pointed out that he was going to need help to get out of it.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  7. #7
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Them bogs is deep Anthony! There used to be similar man-traps on waun fach....got nut-deep in one myself. Toffer was too busy p!ssing himself to help!
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

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    On an orienteering event I once watched the runner in front of me go waist deep in what was clearly shown on the map as an "uncrossable marsh". Needless to say, I had limited sympathy.

  9. #9
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by gej View Post
    On an orienteering event I once watched the runner in front of me go waist deep in what was clearly shown on the map as an "uncrossable marsh". Needless to say, I had limited sympathy.
    I have a story about getting bogged down in an orienteering event; but in my case it wasn't marked as an uncrossable marsh, or indeed any marsh at all.

    In 1975 they were building Kielder reservoir, and they were also building a new road to go round the edge of it. At the time of the orienteering event in Kielder Forest, the road-building had got as far as felling the trees in a swathe of forest, but no actual construction yet. This felled strip of land was marked on the map with the yellow colouring used for open land on orienteering maps.

    I had to cross this felled area towards the end of my course. When I arrived at the edge of it, I was confronted with a churned-up mess of gloopy mud. But I looked to the left and the right, and noticed other orienteers crossing it with no apparent difficulty, so I concluded that it wasn't as bad as it looked. I put one foot in. Then I put the other foot in. Then I started to understand why orienteering rules insist that all competitors must carry a whistle.

    I had only been whistling for a minute or two before someone arrived. He asked, "Are you lost?". "No, I'm stuck!" He was unable to pull me out by himself, so more help was summoned. Eventually the combined effort of two orienteers managed to extract me from the mire.

    This was only my 6th orienteering event (and in fact my first in England; I was a student at St. Andrews at the time), but somehow it didn't put me off the sport.
    In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
    Jorge Luis Borges

  10. #10
    Senior Member DangerMouse's Avatar
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    I've done this too, nothing to tell really, stood on a bright green tussock and ploop down I went up to my waist, took two other guys to pull me out, squishy, squashy, cold, damp, wet - blergh!

    It's probably a rite of passage

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