OMM in Borrowdale!

[TheReverand]

Duh That's why we go there. Stick to the roads Reverand if in fact you are any kind of runner at all.

whatever dude, i'll be up Kings How thursday about 2 if you can make it for a run i'll be happy to swap anecdotes, failing that do you fancy Buttermere round with me friday?

[lawriej]

The latest from 'BBC Look North'...

Quotes; calling for 'new rules to govern adventure activities' 'left Cumbria with a bill of hundreds of thousands of pounds' time to 'indemnify against the costs' 'thousands rescued'.

The BBC seem to have taken a stand on this with an obvious bias.

I saw that... head of Cumbria Health Trust. He was complaining that we all just drove to the Lakes, took part in the event and drove off again without spending any money in the local economy...

[MorganW]

One of the plus points of all this has been the very positive material that has surfaced from the likes of Simon Barnes and Richard Askwith, so thanks to them for putting over our/their point of view in such good style.

I came across some words the other day in a book I was reading and they really struck a chord with me in this and related contexts:


"We are wild but tamed by television, controlled by Captain Clock, hemmed in by routine and obedience to petty convention. The more suffocatingly enclosed we are, the louder our wild genes scream in misery, aggression, anger and despair. In wildness is our self-willed, self-governing freedom, and such wild freedom blossoms within us, bubbles over with an anarchic ivresse of feeling. And we glint when the wild light shines."

Wish I could write like that.

Morgan

[Darth domain]

nice piece of writing, and hits the nail on the head.

[Last Man Home]

Many years ago, 1979 I think, the yachting fraternity had a far worse situation on thier hands when the Fastnet race became a survival epic. There was loss of life and heroics in equal measure. The media frenzy and all the scorn-pouring-pundits didn't change the sport one jot, all the changes came from within the sport. I believe a lot of sailors woke up to the idea that a liferaft is not as good as a semi-swamped yacht, liferaft manufactureres were shocked into better designs having seen liferafts torn apart by the sea conditions, with consequential loss of life.

Many years later and the race organisers and sailors are still here, doing the same race under very similar rules. Best approach seems to not fight back, express gratitude to those services that came when call upon, avoid making political/inflamatory acts (as the T shirts could be interpreted) and just let the media circus have its feed before it moves on. A month from now we'll be as obscure as ever.

So heads down, let the media drift away then back to the fells with a grin.

[Splinter]

Duh That's why we go there. Stick to the roads Reverand if in fact you are any kind of runner at all.

What an utterly feeble response. Earlier in the thread, I got similiar abuse for daring to post a contrary point of view to the majority. It amuses me that for a group of people who like to see themselves as individualists, free-spirits, and iconoclasts, anyone who dares to express an opinion that demands a bit of self-analysis and swimming against the tide is instantly insulted. Pathetic. Turns out the majority on this board -- like Guick -- are just as much a bunch of sheep as everyone else out there; just fell running sheep instead.

Two things struck me further as this episode has unwound. First, the partner with whom I would have run OMM until injury caused me to drop out went ahead with a new partner. Just for the sake of provenance, between them they have BGRs and Mountain Trial's galore. Their view was that a). the OMM should never have been started, and b). once it was started, there was absolutely no reason to call it off. Not saying
they are right or wrong...simply that there is a debate to be had with informed viewpoints on ALL sides.

Secondly, while the likes of Guick Dotto are mouthing off and insulting people who don't agree with them, I note that the viewpoints of people whose opinion I would actually respect, and who are the most qualified to speak here are keeping their own counsel (Yiannis, John Fleetwood, etc.) No surprise there. Go stick your head underwater, Guick.

[Darth domain]

oh dear me, calm down one and all, however, i do think that opinions can/should be expressed without getting "shirty".

[AJF]

Results are now up and so is route gadget all over at the OMM site

[Baggins]

It amuses me that for a group of people who like to see themselves as individualists, free-spirits, and iconoclasts, anyone who dares to express an opinion that demands a bit of self-analysis and swimming against the tide is instantly insulted. Pathetic. Turns out the majority on this board -- like Guick -- are just as much a bunch of sheep as everyone else out there; just fell running sheep instead.

Two things struck me further as this episode has unwound. First, the partner with whom I would have run OMM until injury caused me to drop out went ahead with a new partner. Just for the sake of provenance, between them they have BGRs and Mountain Trial's galore. Their view was that a). the OMM should never have been started, and b). once it was started, there was absolutely no reason to call it off. Not saying
they are right or wrong...simply that there is a debate to be had with informed viewpoints on ALL sides.

I don't think I'm a sheep

The OMM should have started and it should not have been called off.

If people were not up to it they could retire, going on the results a lot chose not to retire.

Its a pity this happened in the Lake District if it had of been some where more remote I don't think it would have the got the media spotlight it did

[Mark Smith]

Know what you're saying but the state of the overnight camp left them withlittle choice but to cancel. I don;t think the fell conditions were sufficient to call it off and i'm not sure they ever could be, but when there's nowhere to put 1000 tents in such a way to organise the day 2 start then logistically the event is screwed.

Noone's fault, just bad luck.