Cross Country 2022-23

[gazb]

I'll be at the National. Nice to do a new course and it's only an hour from Leek. No race for 50 year olds to be doing though!

[gazb]

I've done Pipe Dream a couple of times years ago. You're right, it's an odd one with that course. Challenging though, at least!

[Travs]

To be fair i thought Anthony had a point on facebook...

A national champs shouldn't really be going round the side of sports pitches... fair enough some local league.

There was a decent Welsh course up at Corwen on the A5 a few years ago used for the British Masters or something.

[anthonykay]

I see that you have given the Welsh XC wasps nest a poke AK �.

Be careful or you might be refused entry at the border on your next visit!

So you do sometimes look at Facebook, Llani! For a start, I was rather surprised that the Welsh XC champs were being advertised on the WFRA Facebook page; then I noticed how NOT of interest to fell runners the XC champs would be. It does seem that, like with the World Mountain Running Association, facilities and spectating are taking priority over what the sport is supposed to be about.

[Graham Breeze]

So you do sometimes look at Facebook, Llani! For a start, I was rather surprised that the Welsh XC champs were being advertised on the WFRA Facebook page; then I noticed how NOT of interest to fell runners the XC champs would be. It does seem that, like with the World Mountain Running Association, facilities and spectating are taking priority over what the sport is supposed to be about.

I have run in over 300 different events. Just as you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince you have to do a lot of fell races to find one that truly justifies the name. The one where I most vividly remember asking myself "what am I doing here?" was Chorley Great Hill Fell Hill which Swoop critiqued on this Forum viz " The first and last miles were tarmac. The middle mile was mostly grass (with a few paving slabs) and the remainder was shale tracks".

I agreed and never returned.

As for cross-country, my view has always been that if it doesn't require running at an angle across a deep ploughed field you are on a golf course.

WMRA events? When I was FRA International Chairman I ran round the World Trophy course when New Zealand hosted the WMRT (travelling at my own expense I should add). The course went up and around and down a park in the centre of Wellington and finished on a promenade by the sea.

Sometims I worry I might be a bit old school?

[Travs]

So you do sometimes look at Facebook, Llani! For a start, I was rather surprised that the Welsh XC champs were being advertised on the WFRA Facebook page; then I noticed how NOT of interest to fell runners the XC champs would be. It does seem that, like with the World Mountain Running Association, facilities and spectating are taking priority over what the sport is supposed to be about.

Anthony, i completely agree with your point that the course in question was not fitting for a national cross country championship.

But i can't necessarily agree with the bit in BOLD above.... i'll be watching the English National XC Champs today online with great excitement, regardless that the course has been described as "a bit flat"

I can think of at least one relatively active member on here who i believe has always prioritised a different discipline to fellrunning.

Are fellrunners not interested in the Olympic 5000mtr final because its a bit flat....

(which does remind me of a track runner in my club who complains that our track has a slope up the back straight )

And i do totally agree with your comment that availability of facilities often takes highest priority.... but in the case of the English National, a race attracting i think about 8000 runners in total, it simply has to be a major consideration.

[Travs]

Anyway, back to the racing....

Just finished.... a lead group of about 15 got away quite quickly. Dan Haworth was in there, although he dropped off after about 10mins.... apologies if i'm wrong but i watched the first 100 or so cross the line and i didn't see him.

Lead group got whittled down to just Jack Gray (Cambridge & Coleridge, Midlands Champ) and James Kingston (Tonbridge, Southern Champ)..... they stayed together until about 400 to go when James Kingston got away to win by 7 or 8 seconds.

I know they're limited by what they can do, but the live coverage was pretty poor... 75% of it was from a drone, but it was so high up it was just watching dots running round.

[Travs]

Philippa Williams, who won the Long Mynd Valleys a couple of weeks ago, finished 7th.

[Witton Park]

Shout out to Sarah Astin of Manx winning the Ladies National for the first time.

I first saw her at Witton in 2016 when she won the U13 Girls County Championships. She's a smashing young lady and myself and Mrs WP are chuffed for her and her family.

Cross Country venues are an issue. I don't know what the specific problem was with the welsh national, but both the Northern and English National had to be moved this year due to the original venues pulling out and we seem to have lost several Northern Venues for major XC Championships.

I'm sure we are all environmentalists in our own way.

But we have to start looking at what we are endorsing as environmentalism, because it is being use to stop us running a cross country race around the grounds of some stately homes/municipal parks and at the same time a <100 runner fell race around Winter Hill, despite all the other activities that take place in some of these venues.

[Travs]

Inter Counties tomorrow at Loughborough.

I usually go across to watch this, as got a number of clubmates competing... but no plans to go over tomorrow as of yet.

If Warwickshire's team is as published, with Jack Gray, Omar Ahmed and Elis Cross, they've got a genuine chance of winning.... alas i'd be amazed if all three of them turn up.

Hampshire will be strong as usual, especially if the Mahammed brothers are racing.

North-East could also be strong.

Plenty of fellrunning names on the start list of both men's and women's races.