"Don't think you can follow the leader. Get your compasses out, you will need them. Runners go everywhere in clag on this race, for example from the end of the crinkles where they just seem to go everywhere instead of turning for Pike of Blisco - You have been warned".
Nobody should need to be told this at Langdale! And in clag you can get lost well before the crinkles, especially if you're mindlessly following the crowd!
I actually think we need to go further back than the rules to make the sport safer - maybe go back to something published by Graham Breeze in a past magazine and elswhere - "Fellrunning and the media"! We need to stop selling it as something to 'tick off' or bragg about and the less the sport is falsely glamourised in the media, the better...
Too many don't seem too have any experience (and common sense) BEFORE entering a fell race. Many of us, myself included, have bitten off more than we can chew in a race, but a navigational error for example should result in a red face and an attempt to improve ones navigation skills rather than a safety note to future competitors!
I don't claim to have any answers and am quite grateful that I am no longer on the committe, but maybe rather than quibbling about the exact wording of rules, we need to go back to the roots and develop a culture of self-reliance. In our clubs, amongst our mates, with our juniors, etc...
I doubt ANY rules alone will change peoples perception of what fellrunning is all about, but every fellrunner out there could lead by example!
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