Agreed.
As the vulgar phrase has it "everyone has an opinion" and they rarely coincide but only, repeat only, the Selectors have knowledge of the courses, the athletes' aspirations, the performance data, etc and the responsibility to make an informed selection and live with their decisions.
Thanks for that .... thats the point of these forums surely?.
I thought it might make for an interesting debate as Pippa's fellow runners in Keswick are surprised that she has been left out of the team.
Still, we will be there mashalling etc as we did for the Trials.
I understand the difference but the 'up and down' race is more of a fell race. Local knowledge of the route would be very useful. The climbs are steep and the decent if wet, slippy.
As for the men, most of the out and out fell runners didn't bother turning up for the Trials.
Rob Hope present
Danny Hope present
Simon Bailey presesnt
Ian Holmes present
Ricky Lightfoot present
Morgan Donnelly present.....
Lloyd Taggart present
I'm afraid by the time your Pipps hit the summit, not even an airplane would catch the front runners.....local knowledge is a poor substitute for speed over a lapped course on runnable terrain
Last edited by FellMonster; 08-09-2009 at 08:25 PM.
On the right of forumites to question the selection policy, I think we have every right.
The authorities are the custodians of the sport on our behalf.
As a small time custodian in some way, I much prefer to have input and feedback (from my club members and race attendees) rather than nothing.
If the selectors were to get uppity about criticism, I am sure that they would not put themselves up there to be shot at.
Looking at the selection - and this is merely my opinion - I would say that had Pippa Jackson ran in the trial, she would have had a good chance of making the top four - but then again she might not have - I think the first 2 are clearly ahead of the rest at the moment and I would add Sarah Tunstall to that.
Probably the selectors could not pick too many wild cards or the trial would be discredited.
So Pippa was perhaps in the mix with Mary and Olivia, with the 2 trial attendees getting the nod.