Coronavirus

[Travs]

The facebook page is a double-edged sword... it has the numbers, so people will post race results etc on there, in preference to here, despite the forum being more "officially" tied to the FRA.

But lets not kid ourselves, 90% of the facebook page is utter drivel. How many times can you discuss the best shoe/sock/watch/etc.

The other pages are a mixed bag. The Shropshire Fell Running page, and the Welsh FRA page are excellent sources of info/photos/results, and a lot of races have pages which are a great method of contact.

But the general trail/ultra running pages, in my opinion, are usually pretty poor in terms of content, and generally mirror the Fell Runners UK page in terms of repetitive discussion about equipment.

[Dave_Mole]

"and especially since 2015"

You joined the forum in 2016!

The same year I came 2nd to Tindersticks in the Forum Champs.
Remember those?

[Stagger]

A lovely speech


Factand fiction


Plenty of it

A few comments from an ‘anonymous’ ‘new’ member ��:

1. The vast majority of user names on here are anonymous (derby tup, muddy retriever, the oracle etc) and it’s only really over time that people have become (sometimes) known

2. An anonymous comment is just as valid as a non-anonymous one if what they’re saying makes sense or at least has a point

3. I can’t talk for anyone else but I am a fell runner through and through and run from home in the fells every single (uninjured) day. The trouble is there’s not much left to say about fell running on here, partly because right now no fell races are actually happening, but mainly it seems because most of the remaining hard core posters here don’t actually run in the fells. Stagger posts about golf ffs!

4. Running in the hills and mountains is very much a visual thing to me and fell running is often best viewed that way. It’s more a thing you do and if you can’t do it you at least look at the mountains and other people doing it. This forum to me isn’t visual in any way and being stupidly fiddly to post pictures on doesn’t help

5. The forum also became over the years an increasingly unfriendly place that absolutely put off many of the old regular contributors. Especially females, like onehillwonder and Emmilou (both of whom I’m still in contact with on Facebook and Instagram), but many others too. And if someone really new posts on one of the many fell running threads here, they very rarely even get acknowledged or replied to anyway

6. The remaining hard core now like to look down on Facebook, judging it perhaps just by the fell running group page, but like travs said that has lots of race pictures and results, neither of which you see here, and even when racing isn’t happening it has pictures of people actually running in the fells and people actually posting enthusiastically about their hobby

7. But it’s not just about the Facebook fell running page anyway. There’s shed loads of specialist fell, ultra, trail and running groups on Facebook, as well as dedicated race pages and obviously local club group pages. A huge portion of my fb friends are fell runners and we keep in touch directly that way. I personally don’t post much on Facebook nowadays to be fair but I do know that I can go there and tap into really positive fell running stuff whenever I want to

8. So what’s left to tap into here?

9. Well, to me, choosing to occasionally drive a coach and horses through some of the right wing and, occasionally, ultra right wing views of the bulk of the remaining membership is quite fun ��

[bigfella]

There actually is an official FRA Facebook group - I think it is called The Fell Runners Association, or something similar. It is very rarely used, and only for official statements.

Ah, I wasn't aware of that, but then I don't use FB, I assumed all references to FB referred Fell Runners UK.

[Muddy Retriever]

I have to admit that although I am still a regular runner, I am not a regular fell runner anymore. I live in east Leeds so the fells are not exactly on my doorstep. When I do venture for runs away from my locality it tends to be the countryside around Harewood/Eccup and sometimes Otley Chevin. The distance I needed to travel to get to proper hills never used to bother me but I was much more motivated then, even joining a fell running club (Calder Valley) quite a long way from where I live. Years ago I went through a period of doing lots of fell races (between 2008 and 2010) and I even did the Fellsman but I haven't done one since Auld Lang Syne at the end of 2016. Maybe when racing is back I should enter one to give me the motivation to get back into it.

[Oracle]

Which post will no doubt be acceptable to many.
Not to the facts

Meanwhile, there is a demographic time bomb on excessive pensions caused by destruction of savings rates, by browns adoption of us monetary policy : creating his bubble that burst, yes it goes back that far. We have suffered ever since. It is part of our financial catastrophe. Callaghan managed to run us out of money too.

And my grandkids have had no education for months because of teachers unions. I am rightly upset about it. That is relevant to covid. We would have starved if factories had done the same. The private sector is being destroyed, having to pay for all of covid, and that will have lasting consequences, Hardly distractions.

Cant you handle an opposing view?
The financial instability is no laughing matter.

But that’s the problem: why do you expect a broadside on my views to go unanswered?

Disappointed to hear people are not posting but it’s probably for the same reason I’ve actually made a few posts, I think there is some good info and ref to sources in the posts, some of which I have sought out and read, whether I agree with it or not is another matter but that doesn’t stop me reading it and increasing my general knowledge which must be a good thing. It also helps me understand if the info has been used in context or where the poster has taken a bit of a liberty.

Plenty of good stuff even from those who denounce our scientific establishments & / or newspapers and refuse to even look at them because they express a different view. Don’t lower yourself to that level, I have found that to be a bad approach, when you sift through the info, even though it uses up precious time you find the odd wee golden nugget that saves the day, and improves your general knowledge.

I notice the posts tend to become long, (?) include statements not fully connected, a bit of new stuff, some info references and some repetitive opinion on demons, possibly the poster thinks this will encourage you to responding or if they keep repeating the same stuff you might actually believe it or think it meaningful.

Recent demons have included Public sector pensions, the variety of Scientific advice given to (poor) Boris, poor Boris, lazy Teachers, demanding Unions, Imperial College, Corbynista (I have a very nice photo of Jeremy with Dalmation ears and nose).

I have to laugh when every financial or systematic trouble is flagged up against the Left, not the poor Tory. When you look back over the last 50 years the Government has been Tory about 70% of the time. Hopefully they improve.

As I said I think there is some good info in there but in regards to Oracle I do like one of dictionary.coms definitions,(#1) “an utterance, often ambiguous or obscure, given by a priest or priestess at a shrine as the response of a god to an inquiry”. He may prefer one of the other definitions.

In the words of a bard; O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us. Happy posting.

[Travs]

"and especially since 2015"

You joined the forum in 2016!

The same year I came 2nd to Tindersticks in the Forum Champs.
Remember those?

They were good!

Some very accomplished racers on here in those days, only a few years back. Think it was based on percentage time compared to winners time (like the Lakeland Classics Trophy).

Didn't you win a race that year... was it Kington...?

[Oracle]

"and especially since 2015"

You joined the forum in 2016!

The same year I came 2nd to Tindersticks in the Forum Champs.
Remember those?

Whatever. 2016 was Brexit and corbyn, I don’t Memorise dates. AndI’ve never denied being a previous member of this forum.

Is that the closest you ever got to Darren in a race?

[Witton Park]

even joining a fell running club (Calder Valley) quite a long way from where I live.

Compared to most at CVFR you're on the doorstep

[Stagger]

Compared to most at CVFR you're on the doorstep

Now now. Just because it has a few distant members.

Always the best social side.