Swiss Toni,

I think your comments are very useful and informative, and come from the perspective of an experienced competitor.

I am sure that, whilst I am fully supportive of the organisers and all that they have done to stage this event, and equally full of praise and thanks for the great efforts they have made to deal with the consequences once the event had to be cancelled, there will be lessons to be learned. The time for this debate is some time in the future and it will be the responsibility of the organisers themselves, not of this forum.

But, are you really suggesting that one of the changes that needs to be made is that the organisers communicate with the media more effectively?? I think this would and should come a long way down their priority list. They are fell race organisers, for heaven's sake, not spin doctors.

I think you'll find that some people, such as Rob Howard, did their best to get the right message across to the media in very difficult circumstances and should be applauded for it. Others, seeing a good chance for self-publicity perhaps - mentioning no names - sought to get their own, rather different message across, and have (rightly in my view), as events have unfolded, been drowned out by the voices of competitors and other experienced commentators.

I fully agree that we should treat the media coverage, and any expert criticism that results, seriously - or more accurately we should trust the organisers to do this. But lets not get carried away.