Wasdale

[IainR]

By the way Tom, you should try and get to Siabod Race on Saturday if you like racing this side, lovely little up and downer, classic race, clashes with Snowdon so may suffer numbers wise this year which is a pity as it deserves to be a popular race. Great atmosphere with a great river crossing to finish.

[studmarks]

Come off it!

Records:

Peris: 3.02 Gavin Bland 1994

Wasdale: 3.25 Billy Bland 1982 which is around 20 minutes faster than Rob Jebb managed yesterday in an English Championship counter, "loads of streams", or not.

It' doesn't really matter to me which is the hardest race, but they certainly don't get much better than Wasdale, and a big thanks to the organizers and marshals and helpers. But a more serious point to me was the litter louts were back on the fells, I picked 3 gel packs up on my way round one on the traverse below Scout Fell and two on the descent from Pillar all freshly dropped and all off the main tracks and on trods only runners would take, I was in about 80th place at the Pillar CP which narrows the perpetrators down a bit. Why’s it always seem to be Championship races which attract this behavior, if these people cannot respect the Fells, go and do the London Marathon or something someone will sweep up after you there. I don’t know what the answer is but it always seems to be gels that people throw away, but after having spent most of Sunday morning clean the gooey mess out of my bum bag I may know the reason why, one answer would be to ban them, the likes of Billy Bland didn't need them and has Graham B states the record still stand.

[Baggins]

But a more serious point to me was the litter louts were back on the fells, I picked 3 gel packs up on my way round one on the traverse below Scout Fell and two on the descent from Pillar all freshly dropped and all off the main tracks and on trods only runners would take,

I picked up two between Blacksail and Beckhead and I wasn't even in the bloody race

[IanDarkpeak]

good result for the raiding Dark Peak teams, first in the senior and vets cats.

[Graham Breeze]

I picked up two between Blacksail and Beckhead and I wasn't even in the bloody race

I think organisers should forget kit checks on things like cags but do a gel wrapper count before and after the race and any mis-match should mean disq.

[IanDarkpeak]

I think organisers should forget kit checks on things like cags but do a gel wrapper count before and after the race and any mis-match should mean disq.

A marker pen to write the competitors number on the Gels would be easier.

[Al Fowler]

but after having spent most of Sunday morning clean the gooey mess out of my bum bag I may know the reason why, one answer would be to ban them, the likes of Billy Bland didn't need them and has Graham B states the record still stand.

Im sorry but i disagree!

Just because a certain few drop them, doesnt mean the entire field who obide by general decenty and stuff them back in their bumbags and carry on their way should be penalized!



But, away from the disagreements - anyone who even finishes Wasdale deserves credit!

[Arnica]

Looks like you'll all have to wait patiently for the full results!!

http://www.richardeastman.co.uk/cfra/Wasdale2009.pdf

2 weeks! Surely a joke? 2 days is far too long. If it really does take that long to publish them its a disgrace, feel like I wasted my time (whatever it was). Is there any other sport where an English Championship event and its participants would be given so little respect as to not announce results for two weeks?

[Tin Ribs]

Sorry, Graham, certaintly wasn't my intention to diss Billy's Wasdale record (as if !).

It was really just my personal view - Peris 2006 was harder for me than Wasdale 2009. Both me and Jebby were 35/40 minutes slower on Saturday than Peris that day, and IIRC Lloyd pushed him much harder then (all to play for with the British after Sedbergh) than Simon Bailey was able to on Saturday.

And, again a personal view as in the heat I run like Pudgy , weather makes a massive difference:

Saturday - 18/19 degrees, breeze (no pun intended!) on the tops, water all the way from Greendale and cloud cover late on.

Peris 2006 - 30 degrees at the start, meaning the climb through the quarries was a living hell. No water en route that I could find apart from the table at the YHA, and there was no wind nor cloud. Passed two lads dry wretching with chronic dehydration on the climb up Snowdon, which I didn't see much of on Saturday coming up from the Little Narrowcove col.

TR

[Graham Breeze]

Sorry, Graham, certaintly wasn't my intention to diss Billy's Wasdale record (as if !).

It was really just my personal view - Peris 2006 was harder for me than Wasdale 2009. Both me and Jebby were 35/40 minutes slower on Saturday than Peris that day, and IIRC Lloyd pushed him much harder then (all to play for with the British after Sedbergh) than Simon Bailey was able to on Saturday.

And, again a personal view as in the heat I run like Pudgy , weather makes a massive difference:

Saturday - 18/19 degrees, breeze (no pun intended!) on the tops, water all the way from Greendale and cloud cover late on.

Peris 2006 - 30 degrees at the start, meaning the climb through the quarries was a living hell. No water en route that I could find apart from the table at the YHA, and there was no wind nor cloud. Passed two lads dry wretching with chronic dehydration on the climb up Snowdon, which I didn't see much of on Saturday coming up from the Little Narrowcove col.

TR

TR,

No worries.

Your original posting made a general comparison betwen Peris and Wasdale: not your personal experience of two specific races. And if you remember the furore after the last time Wasdale was a Champ race-it had one of the highest DNFs ever recorded in a fell race- when conditions were horrendous, I suggest Wasdale remains supremely tough. Not just the length/height/terrain but the cut-off times.

It was because of the outcry that the cut offs were increased by up to 15 minutes (which is a lot) from 4 years ago.

Some of the giants of fellrunning just cannot hack Wasdale and in my opinion of the regular races it is the toughest.

But I recognise that someone starting, say, the Welsh 1000 metres this year from a personal point of view may have a different view which is why I like to look at record times because I think this a valid criterion.

Graham