Pennine Bridleway Relay

[multi coloured]

As of Monday pm the route is unsafe for the race to go ahead, lots of hard water ice despite the afternoon sun. Going to go out for a run on part of the route this afternoon to check it out again. Snow is mostly ok it's the ice which is frightening !
I emailed out all of the club contacts last night to advise them that we will make an inspection on sections of the route early on Saturday morning and will email them all our findings at 10.00 am. I will also post details on the event website and here on this forum. Whatever the outcome I hope that everyone understands our obligations as organisers with regard to safety. We have already had 2 broken legs on this race in the past which has been personally upsetting. If anyone has up to date reports on the route condition please contact me at [email protected]

Graham,

Couple of us have just done Leg 5 and it is a shocker on the top of the moor and even the path from the golf club down to the gate isn't good but that has a chance of clearing, not so sure about the top though it was pretty thick and not at all runnable.

Fingers crossed though, if you need any help checking sections on saturday i am happy to jog out on the course. just pm me.

[Lefty]

Attachment 5597
Leg 5 Weds 1st Feb 3.00pm 3.5 miles of uninterupted hard water ice

[Howgill Tarrier]

Just had a look at the photo now... eeesh.

You are obviously keeping an eye on things though and it is good to know when the final check will be made. Thanks in advance and I am sure you will recieve support in whatever decision is made.

[Daleside]

here's a look forward to the event - here's hoping the ice will clear and it'll go ahead.............

http://fellrunningbriefs.blogspot.co...with-that.html

[Sherpa]

Blimey. OK, maybe I won't be going mountain biking on the moors at the weekend. Not in a club that does this event, but it looks great and keeping fingers crossed for everyone that the warmer air comes in a bit quicker.

[Witton Park]

Blimey. OK, maybe I won't be going mountain biking on the moors at the weekend. Not in a club that does this event, but it looks great and keeping fingers crossed for everyone that the warmer air comes in a bit quicker.

You can't cancel, I've got Torville and Dean in leg 5

[fishbulb]

So, just like Bingley have in the Fell running briefs article above then, WP?

[Trig]

Good news BBC weather shows rising temperatures this weekend - above freezing Saturday and 4-5' on Sunday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/hx7
.

[Lefty]

As you might expect I have been keeping an eye on the weather forecast, the forecasts which I have seen which are usually pretty accurate for this area differ from the one posted by Trig above. For Rawtenstall for Friday overnight into Saturday morning a low of -5 warming up to -1 by noon on Saturday with snow from 15.00 for a few hours. I have just got back from inspecting parts of the route again and as you might expect there is no change from yesterday with lots of hard water ice still covering some sections.
I have already advised everyone that we will let them know whether the event is to go ahead or not by 10.00 am on Saturday morning although for some people ( caterers, Sportident, The Mountain Rescue Team etc) this will be too late and so I am seriously considering making the decision after another route inspection tomorrow afternoon. I cannot see that there is going to be any change in the state of the route between Friday night and Saturday morning and it will give everyone a bit more time to sort everthing out. Photo taken today at 3.00pm.
Attachment 5632

[alfa_scud]

Cheers for the further update Lefty - you've got a bugger of a job to sort out there, & I cant help feeling that whatever decision you make, you're going to get moaned at; it's either "decision made too late, I could have organised something else this weekend", or "why decide Friday? it's two days before the race" or "why not just run it anyhow & let people take responsibility"....... and I'm sure there's more.

The bottom line is, the first two are subjective arguments that you won't win, the third unfortunately is something that's beyond race organisers nowadays, you can't just just "let people take responsibility" anymore (much as I personally am happy to); should anything happen (& in the pics shown in race conditions, it could well do!), then you're in the poo, big time.

For the first time ever we have enough members to field a ladies team in addition to two others which we were looking forward to, but I'd much rather we had 30 runners with no race than some broken bones!

Tough Call - Good Luck! :w00t: