Read Graham Breeze's thoughts in the new fell runner this evening, must have skipped the front pages in my haste to get stuck in. His acknowledgement of the increase in rate of growth of the sport echoes something that's been dawning on me like an atlantic low pressure system since i joined, i fear that the accessibility of fell running might be threatened in the future. It would be a shame if all marshalls had to be specially appointed and all races had to be applied for in advance.

A sentiment from Fred Dibnah of all people gave me positive thoughts though, he never forgot that all the work carried out on restored traction engines was done by volunteers, men up and down the country quietly working away in their own time with very little money; sounds a bit like fell running to me. Steam power fell out of favour in the mid sixties and for 44 years or more it's stayed this way (voluntary that is), if i wanted to help restore a locomotive it would probably be as easy as volunteering as a race marshal. I hope fell running will stay as a sport of madmen quietly sprinting up and down mountains, with very little paid in entry fees assisted by willing volunteers.