Hello Ian...

Hopefully someone with more experience/knowledge than me will be along to correct me. But I would be looking at pure fell shoes as opposed to trail shoes, if you are looking to race, especially over the coming winter months. If you hit a really boggy, slippy race, trail shoes won't be of great use.

Fell shoes certainly don't offer any foot support, they are generally quite flat to the ground in order to maximise grip and prevent the ankle from twisting. Trail shoes would I'm sure offer the same kind of support if you picked the right ones. But I did a race over very tough terrain 6 weeks ago in aggressive trail/mountain shoes, and they just didn't do the job. I slipped all over the place, and they just don't fit the feet securely enough and will lead to all sorts of issues when you hit steep ground. Whereas fell shoes generally fit like a glove if you have the correct size.