I know a few teams have accomodation booked around Hebden / Heptonstall and usually make a weekend of it - not sure which teams; I'm sure a social run could be arranged - a long circuit around some local routes / beers; I and others based around Hebden would be happy to discuss - there are quite a few of us free on Sunday!
WTF?
I know it's considered bad form to question the decisions of RO (well it is on the forum anyway), but seriously; is anyone else a bit surprised by this decison, made today?
All the weather forecasts show warmer weather (above 4deg and cloudy) for fri and saturday, there's plenty of time for conditions to improve substantially, what's the rush to cancel it??
Hmmm pretty downbeat because thought it had a good chance of been on due to a 'small' window of milder air over this w/e. Suppose have to respect the decison its a big event to run so had to make an early call. Be difficult to find a suitable date now though
Yes it is bad form so dont do it or organise a race for the best part of 1300+ runners and god knows how many helpers and then realise how much time you need to make decisions in and let everyone know.Originally Posted by AndyA
gutted my 1st time as well
Bugger I was looking forward to that!!
Andy
I'm surprised they've left it this long.
some of those little villages around there had lots of snow, the roads that are open are just open to local traffic. parking is always VERY difficult with clear roads. some areas will have no parking this year as the snow will have been ploughed on to the sides. Then yu've got all the steep roads covered in ice and snow. The race route may be runnable I don't know? but as for getting all the runners to the various CP safely and on time? It was not going to happen this year after all that snow.
There is nothing wrong with questionning the timing of a decision, don't forget there are very few fell runners who don't organise, marshal, or help at races themselves so we do understand the effort that goes in.
As for the race route, it is very runnable and there is only one changeover which might be dubious (wainstalls) all the rest are in towns or on (or near) good roads which have been usable for over a week now and are well gritted and clear with warmer weather forecast for the end of the week.
And don't forget when you've 1300 sandwiches to make or pies to buy, you can't just make a decision on Saturday afternoon. I've been walking with the dog this week and paths and tracks are bottle ice, it may be runnable but not raceable. The Coley Canter at Shelf was cancelled last year due to severe ice, this is the start of leg 6 and it wasn't even this cold last year.
Having been out on the weekend and last night on parts of the route i would suggest it is both runnable and raceable and likely to be more so at the weekend.
However, having asked around the reason for cancelling appears to be parking problems at two or three of the changeovers.
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