Quote Originally Posted by Vince View Post
I agree with GrahamB's sentiments that there are alot of new refugees from other sports (myself included) who do not have the experiance of some top/experianced fell runners and would get hoplessley lost/in trouble.
Without wanting to make any personally directed comment, should people who 'would get hopelessly lost' enter a fell race? An important facet of fell running is to take personal responsibilty for yourself, not pass it off onto someone else. Note, I am not talking about the 'urban orienteering' (to quote Jonathon Gibbon) type courses where a 'crocodile' of 500 runners run a fairly short fairly low level route but the true mountainous high level, exposed and remote routes where navigational skills are a potentially lifesaving attribute.

For new refugees there is always the grading of the race in the Fellrunning calendar which clearly state if navigational skills are required. At least then, anyone who is unsure of their ability to navigate can avoid those races where navigation may be an issue.

Have I ever got lost? Of course I have!! It just made more determined to prepare more thoroughly.