OMM in Borrowdale!

[Splinter]

While I agree that a better explanation than bad weather was needed ( I don't think bad weather on its own is an excuse to cancel any race if your not up to it don't run) I think a competitor who complains about walking back to the start (about five miles) has entered the wrong event.

I don't think they were complaining about the distance per se (they damn near won their class so they were certainly capable of the 5 miles!) so much as they felt that the fact that they were simply told to walk on back to base and nothing else belied a complete lack of logistical preparation or adequate explanation. They just got the sense that there was no planning at all and the organisers were simply winging it.

I have to say that for all the rights and wrongs of the whole thing (and to me no one emerges from this episode totally blameless) the absolute lack of humility of any kind from Mike Parsons greatly mitigates my natural inclination to take the side of OMM in all this.

[Deek]

Not having read all the posts, my overidding feeling is that events like this are too big. In this day and age we should be heading back to local events for local people. Borrowdale and 2,500 people plus cars etc just doesn't add up.

[alias]

Not having read all the posts, my overidding feeling is that events like this are too big. In this day and age we should be heading back to local events for local people. Borrowdale and 2,500 people plus cars etc just doesn't add up.

Oh No! It certainly adds up.

2500 x £42.50/head = £106,250

[Muddy Retriever]

Not having read all the posts, my overidding feeling is that events like this are too big. In this day and age we should be heading back to local events for local people. Borrowdale and 2,500 people plus cars etc just doesn't add up.

So anybody who is not fortunate enough to live near these areas is not allowed to be a fell runner?

[wheezing donkey]

So anybody who is not fortunate enough to live near these areas is not allowed to be a fell runner?

I don't see that Deek is saying that perse. I think that it is more a case of exercising personal discretion. I run on the fells to get away from the crowds, not to join them.

[Splinter]

I don't see that Deek is saying that perse. I think that it is more a case of exercising personal discretion. I run on the fells to get away from the crowds, not to join them.

Indeed. And in the 43 pages of mainly hysteria that has together created this thread, the most sensible moment and contribution was Baggins' rather dry and (unintentionally) dismissive aside noting that while the mountain marathoning world was coming apart at the seams in a very public way, he was calmly trotting solo around the Ennerdale Horseshoe. See, even the OMM thread has thrown up someone we can all respect.

[Stagger]

Indeed. And in the 43 pages of mainly hysteria that has together created this thread, the most sensible moment and contribution was Baggins' rather dry and (unintentionally) dismissive aside noting that while the mountain marathoning world was coming apart at the seams in a very public way, he was calmly trotting solo around the Ennerdale Horseshoe. See, even the OMM thread has thrown up someone we can all respect.

What a daft statment. All who started were there because they wanted to be.
If they had been left alone they would have finished Sunday with a great experience and awaiting their next OMM.

[Penguin]

What a daft statment. All who started were there because they wanted to be.
If they had been left alone they would have finished Sunday with a great experience and awaiting their next OMM.

that's probably the best statement on this thread i have read so far, all 43 pages of it.

[Deek]

So anybody who is not fortunate enough to live near these areas is not allowed to be a fell runner?

If you live on the South Coast there are plenty of ways to test your stamina / endurance without travelling 500 miles for a weekends jaunt. Its just that if fell runners value the environment, value the moment, as well as the chance to leave no stone unturned in testing themselves physically in a beautiful way, it just doesn't tie in with the changes that need to be made to protect the very thing that we cherish. By all means get a temporary job in the Lakes, take a holiday in the Lakes, but we need to stop thinking that we can do any event any amount of times. We need to enjoy our localities wherever they may be and save special trips for special occasions. I say again, who really thinks that 2,500 competitors plus cars, etc etc arriving in the top of Borrowdale for the weekend is the way forward. I brace myself for some stick........

[RichT]

I think you should also consider where that £106k might go. I suspect that the farmers at Seathwaite and Gatesgarth view the OMM and other MMs as far more profitable business than sheep farming. I don't know the figures but from conversations some years ago with farmers whose land was used for event centres / overnights, they saw the income as very useful - directly into the local economy.

If you then start adding in insurance, Wilf's for over 2500, marquees, toilets, printing, website, etc I don't think the organisers are going to make a huge income from it.

I don't think the event is too big. You don't have to enter if you prefer solitude. Should Grasmere Sports be discontinued because thousands of cars turn up? How many people participate in Sports at that event and how much money does it take on the gate?

Some people will just complain about anything. There's room for everyone to do their own thing within reason.