thats a good point he deserves a race round there not to many hills though but thats not that bad he puts up with some races in the lakes so why complain its like marc scott would love all fell running courses to be like xc races abit like at helmhill but he still does the steep rtaces and does really well
I ran and ran until my Muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid, ....And then i ran some more.
Lads - I understand your enthusiasm for expanding the number of races in the FRA Champs and perhaps a British Champs, but there are some pitfalls.
For many athletes 4 from 6 is enough - they have other athletic disciplines and sometimes other sports.
If we made the series 6 from 8 or 8 from 10, some of the athletes would drop away as they wouldn't be able to get enough counters in to progress in the series.
Also, how would you fit the BOFRAs in? Quite a few athletes do both series. These are particularly the athletes that do not get involved in Track -so they have the time - and although the BOFRAs may be generally on the short side compared to FRA, they are perhaps more technical. This helps the development of the young fell runners and you can see then at an FRA race such as Ambleside that those with more experience of the BOFRAs come in to their own.
Who would organise them - it hasn't always been easy for the junior co-ordinator to find the 6 hosts required. There is more to putting on a FRA race than just a regular race.
Travel - particularly for a British Champs this would be a problem. It is in the seniors!
It is right to be inclusive, but take the Viking Chase - it is a great venue and the Junior Do afterwards is also super - but the journey does have an effect on the attendance.
Most FRA athletes come from Pennine Lancashire & Yorkshire and Cumbria. How many athletes from the North East will turn up for the Viking Chase - not many based on last year.
I think it is right we try to reach out though and encourage athletes from non fell backgrounds to take part and see how great it can be - but we have to be careful not to drag the regulars all over the place in the process.
I think at the moment the balance of the FRA Champs is just about right. The BOFRAs is super and runs along side the FRA very nicely and there are plenty of 4 - 6 mile senior fell races about for the U16 / U18 athletes to start getting involved with for the experience.
Trying to plod up hills every day slightly faster than the day before