I have absolutely no interest in it as a championship race. I just want to run it, having only been able to do the weather shortened course last year (the first time I ran it). I also want to run (funnily enough) the 3P, Borrowdale and the Ben this year.
There's nowt wrong with wanting to run those races, but if you start a thread reminding people to enter a race which you know is going to be popular then you have to acknowledge that you are contributing to its popularity and the speed that it fills up.Originally Posted by Stolly
I have absolutely no interest in it as a championship race. I just want to run it, having only been able to do the weather shortened course last year (the first time I ran it). I also want to run (funnily enough) the 3P, Borrowdale and the Ben this year
I just hope that Scoffer and co. feel able to go back to EOD next year. Pre-entries are a pain, you go to lots of trouble to make sure your entry is in on time and then twist your ankle or get a cold the day before and end up as a no show.
As for those who are complaining of a lack of instant acceptance into the race, just think of the poor organisers who have to go through 500+ entries and check whether people are lying about the races they have done (there will be some). You are expecting an awfull lot if you expect them to go through all the entries in less than a couple of weeks given that it is nearly two months until the race.
Well hardly think it's whinging just to state an opinion.
and your quote, because it is a championship race. I do plenty of other races to though. But this will be my 'other' counter, with Eilio, Mournes and Blackstone, as I am sea for Durisdeer then UTMB clashes with Dufton.
OK I'm far from a championship contender but I've been in the top 50 in all 3 championship races of the past 12 months, so have picked up points.
I don't see why people who have done B'dale before should get preference over other committed fell runners. ANyway we'll see, hopefully we should hear soon.
Does highlight though why reducing the number of 'counter' races will cause such issues.
A reason why OLE is far better than postal entries for pre-entry races, far less work for the organiser. Again though that's hardly a complaint I'm just stating a fact in response to Mappers point.
How can you using online entries to speed up the process of checking the details of races done though?
You just put a web link and check, it would be far quicker than checking off a handwritten form.
Like on the UTMB and many other races which have such pre-requisites and OLE.
I don't think you get preference if you have just done it once or twice, but there are a lot of people who do Borrowdale and other races year after year and it is these people who keep some races going for the freeloaders who only do the harder races when they are championship races. It is quite right that someone who has done Borrowdale every year for years should get preference over someone who has never done it before when it is over subscribed - you would be pissed off if your local race was a championship one year and you couldn't get an entry even though you had done it each year for the past ten years keeping it going when only a handful of runners turned up.
Anyway this is going off the thread, and we've debated OLE many times on here, and in Fell runner, with fell runners being such a progressive bunch there was the expected dragging of heals, but most other running disciplines have welcomed OLE with open arms. The more races that go OLE the better IMO.
While local runners do keep races going, runners who visit another area for champs races are hardly free loading! I race weekly in Snowdonia, probably monthly in other areas, so hardly think I'm (or anyone else) is a free-loader.
Last week was Duddon, but I did Carneddau instead, the week before I did Jura, when cader was my local race, with so many races in a calendar of course people will do championship races in areas/or races, they haven't done before.
And no, I've not got into the Snowdon race in the past 2 years, and Snowdon is literally outside my back door. I wasn't that bothered, I certainly didn't claim other outsiders to be free loaders. The first time I only moved back to the UK just before the race, and las year didn't try to enter until I'd done the WHW and felt OK, by then it was too late. My fault, not the 'outsiders'.
Last edited by IainR; 06-06-2008 at 01:43 PM.
Re: Borrowdale - don't forget!
I take it you didn't do Angus Munro last year then?
Something like 115 finishers in a British Champs Race.
It was towards the end of the series - most people had done Duddon to count as their long counter.
I'm not complaining as I got the most points I'm ever likely to get in a champs race. Though of course there will be dissenting voices who said that it was thin at the sharp end because no-one could be bothered to go - it clashed with Wasdale too. To be honest I don't care, you have to be in it to win it.
A friend of mine has set out her stall to do all the Lakeland Classics series this year. She was very concerned with getting her entry in for this last Saturday morning when she should have been preparing for Duddon. I hope she gets in as it would be a great achievement to do all 6 and a shame to miss one of them. She asked me whether putting a note on the form might help her cause, but I suppose everyone will have their own sob story. How could you expect Len to prioritise one person's entry over another?
I feel the FRA committee do their best to make the champs a fair and varied series. I think it is important that the top runners should be given every chance to complete the series to find out who really is 'fell runner of the year' and that the races used are on good courses with the necessary facilities. Could some of the races you mentioned cope with 500 runners, their families and spectators descending on them?
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