The FRA and the Media

[Wheeze]

Oh, I have experienced it. 3 peaks race is not a race, its a full on one week experience.

[IainR]

Oh, I have experienced it. 3 peaks race is not a race, its a full on one week experience.

And its what? Hundreds now..

But you leave feeling you get your monies worth..

really feel I'm missing out this year..

[Rudolph Hooker]

Orienteering races are not a time trials! They are races! Obviously you've never done one. You just can't follow a marked course/the person in front.

True, you don't tend to run as flat out as you do in a fell race, but the extra mental discipline required to navigate and run as fast as you can mitigates this fact.

And you've obviously never done an Orienteering event on the fells. One of my recent races was on the fells above Kilnsey. Events like this could quite easily claim to be more closely allied to the "original fell running" than most fell races these days, since the vast majority of races now follow paths/known routes - orienteering races cover the whole fell...

I have done orienteering events and in the fells too, and enjoyed them - but we were always started at intervals, so they weren't races as such. Racing does add a dimension which simply running against the clock doesn't.

And it is possible to prefer fell racing to orienteering while still enjoying both to a certain extent ... obviously!!

[Wheeze]

Why should runners who enjoy the challenge of navigating quickly in a race and being out in less than perfect weather because the RO is worried about runners who can't navigate.. I don't buy the marshalls excuse.. even the FRA recommend tents.. I've marshalled in bad weather, people do it all night in the HPM..

Answer is simple old chap. Organise your own races so you can make it how you want it.....and take ALL the consequences!

[Witton Park]

WP, have been an RO? I have and still help out at a couple. You don't need a big income if you pare everything to a minimum. You adjust your cloth to suit the event. Raising money for a cause is a side issue that should not determine whether a race has sustainability or not.

Yes I am an RO and costs depend on the race ofcourse and also whether you add an element of reward to the race, if it requires a permit, if you have to pay something to a landowner, do you require medical cover, toilet facilities....

The RV10K Road Race has relatively high costs, because we do it right. We have costs in the 1000s just for road closures. Total costs are something around £5000 before we get an entry.

The Witton World Trials last year had minimal cost in comparison but we still had to pay for the use of the park and I think it was £200 to Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue.
Total costs I think were around £400 before we got an entry.

However, the RV10K gets 1000 + entries and the World Trials was around 10% of that, so the cost per athlete isn't that different.

[Wheeze]

WP, great to hear of your efforts...Not familiar with Witton World Trials. Would you say that was a typical fell race? The racing I am familiar with has pretty much zero cost, with the main consideration being how much the RO wants to spend on prizes.

[IainR]

Answer is simple old chap. Organise your own races so you can make it how you want it.....and take ALL the consequences!

No its not.. the answer is race at the races you want to do.. like in the Lakes and Yorkshire.. then when I stop racing, or being competitive, and stop spending 4-5 months year in the US.. organise a few races...

[Witton Park]

WP, great to hear of your efforts...Not familiar with Witton World Trials. Would you say that was a typical fell race? The racing I am familiar with has pretty much zero cost, with the main consideration being how much the RO wants to spend on prizes.

Every race needs to do a risk assessment. The FRA have guidelines for ROs that come under their jurisdiction.

I would not organise a race without medical cover being on standby.

We tend to use St Johns or Red Cross for Track or Road and Mountain Rescue for Cross Country and Fell.

Then there is a cost.

[Fellhound]

Not familiar with Witton World Trials. Would you say that was a typical fell race? ...

:w00t:

If only you knew....

[Witton Park]

:w00t:

If only you knew....

No one has ever said it was a fell race - it was a trial for the World Mountain Running Champs. The race profile was very similar to the race profile of the actual Champs race and that is the same for the Euro and World Trials at Sedbergh and Glenridding this year.

We've had the debate before on this forum many times, is there a typical fell race? I think not. All you can really say about our races that we frequent, is that they tend to be mainly off road and include an element of ascent & descent.

Witton was a well organised trial, with fantastic racing and who would have thought you could get A category race stats at Witton Park?

To quote one top GB and England Runner who came to the trial as closely as I can(he has won races on all types of fell terrain and long and short)
Richard, you've broken me in to little pieces
which at least satisfied me that it was tough