Am i the only one who is confused with the abbreviations in the handbook thingy? I am fairly new to fellrunning but have done races of the following categories - BS CM CL BM but i'm not sure what they mean.
Also i am not the best navigator in the world so for now i am looking for races where none is required, what abbreviations should i be looking for?
Thanks in advance
BS = Category B shortOriginally Posted by gibbon
CM = Category C medium
CL = Category C long
BM = Category B medium
A, B or C is to do with ascent I believe - A have a shed load and C not nearly so much. Either way cat A races can be hard bastards. Short, medium and long are about the race length surprisingly enough.
The definitions are all in the book, but as a quick guide:
There are 2 letters describing each race.
The first is A, B or C and shows the average height gain per mile.
A = bloody steep
B = quite steep
C = not really that steep
The second is S, M or L and shows the length of the race:
S = Short
M = Medium
L = Loooooong
Other abbreviations are:
'ER' = experience required.
'LK' = local knowledge an advantage.
'NS' = navigational skills required.
'PM' = course partially marked.
Enjoy!
Last edited by marty mcfly; 09-01-2008 at 03:53 PM. Reason: Damn - beat me to it
Pages 23 and 99 give you a full rundown of what the abreviations mean.
At the risk of sounding elitist/snobbish, only Cat A races are true fell races, and then really only the ER, LK, NS ones.
I wouldn't get too hung up about navigation though, most fell runners couldn't find their way out of the pub if they weren't following someone (though they are quite good at finding their way to the pub for some reason). The thing you need to be worried about is whether you can find your way back to the start if you get properly lost. Most fell runners don't race with a map in their hand, only orienteers do that. A fell runner with a map in their hand is lost, except on mountain marathons, where they may still be lost.
All that said, most fell races are completely unmarked, so you need to look at a map before you start to get the lie of the land.
Black Combe would be a safe bet as it is a championship, so will just be a long crocodile, but get an entry in asap, as it will fill up in the next week or so.
Have fun.
Arguably, it's only the Cat C ones, as they are the only ones that have to have some genuine fell terrain.
Cats A and B qualify as fell races simply by virtue of the climb involved, leading to the silliness where races like Exe to Axe are classed as fell races (nice though they are).
Fantastic, can we have the "Proper Fell Runner / Proper Fell Race" argument again, please?
Only if you are carrying a mobile phone!
lol
Made me spit my tea out!
In Dom-speak, Cat C = trail race. Cat B = mostly runnable. Cat A = don't bother turning up!
thanks everybody that was very informative and i apologise for starting any arguments!
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