Quote Originally Posted by Stolly View Post
The running in pairs thing is a bit daft I think. Firstly getting lost or potentially getting lost is part of the fun, secondly being new to a race is no indication of whether you're confident in the hills or not, or indeed know the hills like the back of your hand, thirdly it could lead to more inexperienced runners competing because they might feel reassured by their partner, fourthly if you've run a race countless times in good weather that can mean diddly squat in bad and fifthly it would make a solo event a team event and thats not what its all about.
Not daft, just not ideal. At the moment an RO has to make an impossible decision in the light of the last fatality as to whether conditions are too adverse to run.

It gives a half way house before actually cancelling or amending.

Pairs can get completely lost, but that is not necessarily the only issue - it is whether one can call for assistance in the event of the other having problems either injury or hypothermia. Don't think mountain marathons have had a fatality (may be wrong) and the ability for pairs to aid each other possibly accounts.

On the fell relays I had to deal with a partner who became unable to run on a smashed up ankle, in a very out of the way and certainly invisible place. She would have struggled without me....