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Thread: Fell races, what are they?

  1. #21
    I think it's been both

    When I did the longer version in 1990 it was a tough fell race (1st Mike Wallis, 2nd Pete Irwin, 3rd Jack Holt) and then it turned into a shorter, softer trail race.

    Bit like the Three Peaks then really.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  2. #22
    Admin brett's Avatar
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    That is the greatest post for a long while!!

    Quote Originally Posted by mr brightside View Post
    The state of some people as they stumble into Mankinholes is always a reminder to me of how gruelling the route is. Some of them can't function properly and leave their dogs behind after having failed to turn the water tap on and eaten a donut off the floor. It's amazing how long it can take someone who is exhausted and incoherent to turn a water butt tap on. They seem to be furiously against the clock too, like someone's given them half an hour to prepare a 4 course christmas dinner for the FRA presentation evening. They're all rattling like smackheads too and arrive demanding Ibuprofen and tablets i've never heard of before. One year a woman chewed 3 Ibuprofens like they were smarties, then washed it down with a shot of whiskey and ran off; she left the shotglass full of bits of chewed up pills.

  3. #23
    Admin brett's Avatar
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    Not at all!

    The 2020 edition was the last one that Sue and I will organise.

    Wayhay no more Mozambique stew to make



    Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post

    (hopefully not upsetting Brett with this question!?!)

  4. #24
    Admin brett's Avatar
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    I think you will find that the PPP is a category A "fell" race and always will be!

    A proper fell race, well, once you are off the tarmac!


    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post

    Bit like the Three Peaks then really.

  5. #25
    Master Travs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fellbeast View Post
    It’s got that bastard ascent too, up the battered old steps from Market Street in Hebden Bridge
    Every year I make the mistake of running all the way up to Heptonstall (gotta do it for the crowd!)

    Then spend the next 2 miles losing all that time and more.

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by brett View Post
    I think you will find that the PPP is a category A "fell" race and always will be!

    A proper fell race, well, once you are off the tarmac!
    And gravel paths, and stone steps, and paving,...but there is that grassy bit up to Whernside.
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 14-12-2020 at 11:46 PM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  7. #27
    Moderator noel's Avatar
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    The Roaches is a bit like that. A definite category A fell race, but with about two extra miles of flat thrown in. Does that make it easier?

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by noel View Post
    The Roaches is a bit like that. A definite category A fell race, but with about two extra miles of flat thrown in. Does that make it easier?
    There are a number of flaws and ironies to the current system and periodically people have tried to devise a "better" system but they would also have flaws and the virtue of the current system is that everyone understands it. And if anyone thinks since Three Shires and Wasdale are both Long A, and so the same, they can look at the record times and who holds them, and ponder.

    It doesn't really matter what the PPP is in technical terms - it is extremely hard and is really hors catégorie but since we aren't in France: it's a Long A.
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 15-12-2020 at 08:57 AM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  9. #29
    Master XRunner's Avatar
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    Fell racing is a unique name for a particular form of our running sport.

    Other parts of the country call it hill running (Scotland), mountain running (Ireland), outdoor running (anywhere in Wales), sky running - somewhere up high around the world... etc.

    Should other locations be used to to define the name of their local sport?

    Here are a few examples:-

    Dale running - Derbyshire (south) and Yorkshire (west)
    Wold running - Yorkshire (east)
    Down running - somewhere down south
    Moor running - south-west England
    Low running - central Scotland
    Weald running - Kent
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  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    When I was Chairman of the FRA I had a phone conversation with the organiser of the annual wife carrying race (held in Dorking) who wanted his event to be included in the FRA Calendar.
    If fell running is defined by its verb "to fall" then you should include wife carrying as a fell race.

    This does suggest that other events such as beer racing which involves running (and often falling over) between each drinks location (e.g. pub crawls) could also be called fell running.
    Last edited by XRunner; 15-12-2020 at 10:14 AM.
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