Fatbloke,

I think the biggest issue is not knowing what UKA are going to swipe us with next. The insurance debarcle when they refused the FRA the right to insure celtic races is one example, the issue of graded officials another. At present these issues are resolved, albeit with celtic races not insured by the FRA. As a track / road / cross country / fellrunner for close to 30 years I'd prefer to see fellrunning as part of the wider 'athletics family'. At the present time I'm happy to support that. Will it still be my view in 12 months? Well that's down to how UKA treat us, and whether they have any more nasty surprises in store for us. With the head honcho's at UKA being replaced with a bloke from rugby (The sport, not the town) and a wheeler dealer from somewhere or another, neither of which have a running background (ok Ed Warner has done a couple of road races), I have a horrible suspicion that we'll be having this debate again in the not to distant future.

There are a lot of disenchanted folk in athletics, hence the formation of ARC, although at present it does look like the FRA are doing a far better job of negotiating with UKA than other 'waring factions'.