That's the beauty of it though isn't it.. but also why its difficult. Those 'I survived' experiences are part of fell/ultra running/climbing/hill walking. My first race since leaving school was at 22 when I bet a mate a £5 I could run the WHW in 2 days, then found out about the race, and 6 weeks later was falling asleep on my feet after 80 miles....with a resultant DNF... but it got me in the sport...Originally Posted by Wheeze
Not sure I agree with this. I well remember the floods of non-apprenticed novice runners flooding into the sport in the mid 80's running boom. In particular, I remember one young idiot who thought that you could get away with running in cotton fleece training pants or that a M&S 'rain suit' and a pair of puma trainers with a studded resole were suitable equipment for competing in the Welsh 1000 metres!!!
I remember one guy, a hitch hiker, doing one of Yiannis's races, Arenig Fawr, after he was picked up by a runner, talked into racing and given the gear to run...
There is a really hard balance to maintain between accessibility and safety...
In North Wales we simply do not have enough runners, 13 runners in a recent race... so for me the promotion of the sport is a no brainer issue in certain areas.
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