How come you don't have to be a member of the FRA to run British / English champs, yet if your club isnt affiliated to regional UKA then you cannot compete, even as an individual, in for example the Northern XC xhamps??? Doesn't quite seem right.

Even stranger, how come any Tom, Dick or Harry can earn team points in the Fell Championships (so long as their club has ticked a little box with their regional UKA office, or maybe the box doesn't even need to be ticked?????) yet a bunch of fully paid up FRA MEMBERS running under an auspice (unaffiliated club) cannot earn team points in Fell Championship races, because they have not affiliated to UKA. That surely seems harsh to say the least. Its been bugging me over the weekend.

Whatever happened to the principle of OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS? Im glad the FRA don't pursue the same line as NIMRA (N.I mountain runners) ie- that you cannot earn championship points or run for N.I (can they afford to be choosy) unless you are a fully paid up NIMRA member. I just think that its awfully unfair, but no doubt someone will put me right that its because UKA are in some way behind FRA, offer them financial support, provide medals or whatever.

Does this seem unkind or unfair to anyone else?

I would like to add my personal thanks to the FRA statisticians who have helped me to make some sort of sense of the rules and have given of their own time to answer my enquiries