That also did occur to me. Should someone choose to set off up Scafell so foolishly attired, it would not be under the auspices of an FRA sanctioned race.Originally Posted by Derby Tup
That also did occur to me. Should someone choose to set off up Scafell so foolishly attired, it would not be under the auspices of an FRA sanctioned race.
I would agree DT - I wasn't a newcomer that arrived from the background described. I came from mainstream athletics - so am I an unwelcome arrival (don't answer :wink: ), but it is a draft and I'm sure Graham will take this on board and perhaps implement a tweak or two
Yes OK.I would agree DT - I wasn't a newcomer that arrived from the background described. I came from mainstream athletics - so am I an unwelcome arrival (don't answer :wink: ), but it is a draft and I'm sure Graham will take this on board and perhaps implement a tweak or two
I'll yield a point about road marathons but a background of running round a lozenge shaped track might be a pace or two too far for now!
Graham
Just a couple of things I'd like to add on these.
The accusations of damage to the environment - I am sure some of the longer in the tooth folks on here will be able to identify some evidence of this linked to fell running, but generally I think this would be a bit of a red herring and perhaps that is testament to the way the sport is run and the members within that sport who almost exclusively have a great love for countryside.
I went up to the PPP one year and walked/run it with Mrs WP who had never done it. We were around 7.5 hours. That day there must have been a few thousand charity walkers alone on the route - MacMillan I think it was. In addition there were the regular walkers. So the 1 race a year and few recces are the tip of the iceberg - although Stolly probably has his own personal trods
Although PPP is a high profile route and attracts much of this, we have to acknowledge that Wainwright, the Julie Bradbury TV programme, The Dales etc.. do a "great" job of promoting these areas and drawing in the masses.
In terms of Championships - there's been some debate about cut offs and standards for races. Whilst we have VETs embedded in the Open Championship races I think it will be difficult to restrict these races and I think it would be wrong to do so.
Maybe it just has to be accepted that these races have to be restricted to venues that can manage them, or we have to have separate Open Champs and VET champs.
Well perhaps you should talk to the FRA Coaching Guru Mr Woodward as I think the junior fell runners are (certainly should be) actively encouraged to excel in the art of track racing / training.
Look at recent FRA Junior Champs and you'll see plenty of evidence to support that.
I'm sure that also applies to the Seniors.
There do seem to be some "honey pot" races - the Three Peaks is one, the Auld Lang Syne is another. I've just had a look through the Woodentops' site and in the mid 1980s there were around 130 entrants, this rose to around 300 during the 1990s and peaked in 2008 with 562 since when the field has been capped to 400 (393 finishers this year). No doubt the entries would have continued to rise if the cap wasn't in place.
On the other hand you get a race like Weasdale which apart from the year it was a championship race probably doesn't get more than fifty entries yet it's a good runnable course.
I think Graham's piece is well judged - it's a hard thing to balance the needs to keep the sport going and not annoying those landowners or guardians on whom we depend. I think that the "guardian organisations" see fell races as organised and therefore something that they feel they must control - there's someone responsible for them; someone to charge; someone to exercise power over. As WP says, quite often the actual courses of many races are used throughout the year in far greater numbers by others who have just as much right to enjoy the countryside.
Out of the 7000 current FRA members, just how many are active? I wouldn't describe myself as a fell-racer any more, but I still have an interest and a passion for the sport.
I think that's a great article. Sock it to 'em. All seems to make perfect sense.
Reassuring to know someone with this attitude is at the helm.
I dont think many newcomers are an unwelcome arrival - but neither do I think many are likely to have 'arrived' with either of the attitudes or ideas that Graham has indicated because I think it helps if any article like this makes it clear that we have primary responsibility for our own safety regardless of what repsonsibilities organisers have or what rules the FRA sets. I can understand Grahams tone here, I used to share some of the frustration! I'm sure there are plenty of newcomers who have little idea about some aspects of our sport and who have some unrealistic expectations of what can or should be provided at events - thats fine, I dont think anybody should criticise them for that, we all started somewhere and if they like the sport then thats great, outside this forum and surprisingly often on it we seem to be a helpful and welcoming bunch. But for those who want a more organised approach, marked courses, no navigation, less personal responsibility, there are other running sports that are close but not fell running - trails, cross country etc and I think a lot of the perceived wariness we have of newcomers is because we fear that they will seek to make fell running more like some of these other sports because thats what they expect. I wouldn't enter a darts match and complain that the board was smaller and further away than I expected, and I'm sure the people who play darts wouldn't think much of me if I asked for it to be made bigger so it was easier to hit - I hope I would go off and learn to play darts. I think we are just a bit worried that an influx of people with false impressions of the sport would lead to demands for lower hills and better weather!I would agree DT - I wasn't a newcomer that arrived from the background described. I came from mainstream athletics - so am I an unwelcome arrival (don't answer :wink: ), but it is a draft and I'm sure Graham will take this on board and perhaps implement a tweak or two
Last edited by Mark G; 08-01-2012 at 02:49 PM.
Agreed.
I think he should change the bits in black to fit the acerbic tone of the red
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