Quote Originally Posted by Stolly View Post
Thats more wrong than right in my opinion.

First off for me fell running is running solo in the hills 90% of the time. How can that not be free spirited? The isolation, the beauty, the slightly bonkersness of it - its not mythical (ie made up) but is very real to me. Mystical? Yes. Spiritual? Yes. Mythical? No.

As for racing. Races are probably better organised and co-ordinated nowadays, surely a lot safer and fell racing seems to be booming. Just compare fell races now to when Richard Askwith was talking about them when he wrote feet in the clouds - fields are growing year on year at the minute and, yes, big races are filling up quicker. Buts that down to success not loss of mythical/mystical spirit.
For you our thoughts maybe more right than wrong. But for my husband who started fell running and racing at 8 and is still competing with much success at 43 the running and racing go hand in hand. For him the spirit of fell running has died a little as things have 'progressed'. Taking a bit of the old spirit away. I started fell running because of the tales told to me by may dad of how the club used to go away in vans and wild camp before races and then all head off to the pub, they never knew where they would end up until the night before a race and sometimes did not know where they had ended up the day after! They were all free spirits, races were not that frequent but the running and racing went hand in hand. They didn't have to think about what races they were doing they just went and did them. Even so we still love our sport and would struggle to live without it.