Kiss of life?

[MattPo]

Marco, Do you fell race? Though some of your points are relevant you are becoming a bit dominant in this debate??

[Travs]

Marco it's very generous of you to reference me in your last post...!

However, there is a slight inaccuracy.... i was never a "club runner" before joining the wacky world of fellracing (although i was already sub-40 for 10km on the road, so could be termed as a "vaguely reasonable runner!")

I actually joined Dark Peak around the time i entered my first fell race. But eventually came to realise that i needed to join a local club in order to improve and progress... hence transferring to Cov Godiva and becoming a "club runner" a good 18 months after i started fellracing.

I would say that my entry into fellrunning/racing was through my fellwalking background rather than athletics.

Sorry to pick you up on that minor point...

And i am just about to edit my location to reflect my "dual nationality..."

[anthonykay]

Marco, Do you fell race? Though some of your points are relevant you are becoming a bit dominant in this debate??

I seem to remember Marco explaining that his body would no longer tolerate being abused by fell-racing; and there are others in that situation on this Forum (Wheeze, and now IanDarkpeak, and I'm wondering how long I will last). But the Forum should be for anyone interested in the sport, even if they are unable to participate.

Actually, I am more surprised by Moley's confession that he is no longer a FRA member. I ran no FRA races between 1996 and 2013 inclusive, but still retained my FRA membership as a token of my continued interest in the sport.

[millipede]

It all sounds very serious and unfathomable to me.

I think it's time for a totally new forum.

[Graham Breeze]

It all sounds very serious and unfathomable to me.

I think it's time for a totally new forum.

Well, whoever you are Millipede , I believe you are correct.

I suggest the FRA should develop a forum that its 8000+ members want, rather than perpetuate with a tired formula to which its members are indifferent.

[molehill]

I really enjoy your contributions on here, your knowledge of obscure parts of Wales and your support of the Dragons back. I lurked on here for years before I finally bit the bullit and payed up.
Please don't go (in the words of a song)

I'm not gone yet and won't be until kicked out one day if things change. I'm a member of other forums (not running related) which are all clubs and closed to non members, it is no big deal. I was an FRA member for many, many years but just a few years back decided I was getting nothing much from it, I barely race and found the magazine had little in it for me, so I stopped.
I still consider myself a fell runner, though jogging and walking is more accurate now and I enjoy my time alone on the hills of Wales as much as I ever did; love it, but don't need to be an FRA member anymore to appreciate those things.
When I go, I go, I would miss the forum but plenty of Emperors with new cloths to fill my space.

[Fellbeast]

Well, whoever you are Millipede , I believe you are correct.

I suggest the FRA should develop a forum that its 8000+ members want, rather than perpetuate with a tired formula to which its members are indifferent.

This absolutely nails it Graham. And unfortunately I’m not sure asking the remnants of this forum how best to go about things is a worthwhile starting point

[Travs]

You'll probably find that the vast majority of the 8000 couldn't give a hoot about a forum, new or otherwise. Not sure that means it should just be binned off though.

There also seems to be a bit of a contradiction to me, of asking everybody on the forum to be an FRA member, but yet wanting to encourage potential new fellrunners to visit the forum... if they can't access all the info then what incentive is there for them to even consider looking at the forum?

The "two-tier" option of needing to be an FRA member to access the full forum is an option... but i'm not sure this is going to be much incentive to new runners to either join the FRA or the forum.

Not to mention people like Molehill who are great contributors, yet for a variety of valid reasons (be they personal, political, whatever) chose not to be an FRA member.

[IanDarkpeak]

Times have changed since the first Forum.

I now think:

1. A Forum should be a robust, vibrant and useful aspect of the FRA, given improved functionality. It should not be beyond the wit of fellrunners to make one work, if they so wish.

2. It is unacceptable that the Forum Master (on behalf of the FRA) does not know the identity of every contributor. The FRA is a Governing Body and not some sleazy private laddish club. People who go to great lengths to hide themselves are not pure of heart.

3. Every poster should be readily identifiable to all viewers except where they make a special plea to the Forum Master that is accepted. That bar should be set high.

4. Only FRA members should be allowed to post. Let facebook be the home for uninformed dross.

5. The lauded Forum "valuable historical data" is rather like motherhood and apple pie but if it is truly valued it is not because of like/dislike "buttons, bells and whistles" and they should have no place.

Mostly Agree Graham. except 4, We should be welcoming to any one. I could live with 2 tier system though

Ian, having been out all day I have had time to think of something else which is worthy of discussion


I said I thought it would make the forum friendlier and more useful for some clear reasons, car sharing being the obvious one. But there's more. If a prospective member is living in Oldham, and they converse with someone who is from Rochdale, they could go running and training together.

When I moved into fell I was, like Travs, living to the east of Birmingham in the flatlands. Although, (also like Travs), I was a club runner there was no fell culture, knowledge, or known-to-me runners in the area. Running, alone, on the equivalent of CM or CL courses around Cannock Chase didn't really give me much idea as to whether I'd be any good, (or even get around the course). If I had been able to run with a fell runner, even if they were a different level of talent to me, then I think I might have come to the sport earlier.

This leads onto another point, that I'm not sure I've ever seen here before: mentoring. I am not suggesting any organised scheme or anything like that. I think that where there are cases of a novice/inexperienced runner living close to an experienced one, then if reasonably accurate locations were used then some of this would happen naturally. My fell experience is not as great as most people on here, but the people I have met have been warm and friendly, and helpful.

If we wish to attract new members then we have to think about what information they need. The ability to make 'friends' online is not difficult, but the ability to meet people 'in the flesh' is something that is more difficult. Llani Boy has mentioned where his group meet; I don't think he's actually said 'everyone welcome', but I'm sure that is what he meant. If people mentioned where their club's runs met, and when, on here then it would attract some more people into the sport (it was what I was looking for 12.5 years ago). It's a win-win too, it would attract some more members to clubs, and consequently some of them would join the FRA too. Best thing, though, is that it wouldn't cost anything just a bit of time and thought

Sorry it's turned into a book, thanks for getting this far

We could start (if there isn't already one ) a carshare thread..makes sense to me.
The mentor idea did happen. We used to have forumite meets where you could share knowledge of routes, I remember offering to show some of my line on the Edale Skyline, I think 20+ runners and 2 dogs turned up. We did an epic HPM in winter..there was the Forumite xmas in the fells(thread), Many a BG reccie was organised, DazH,Marvin,Amex,Stanners,Sweep,Manhar,Mrs Stagger,EmmyLou,The navigator,Merrylegs,Big Compass+ a cast of thousands etc all became friends, I've run mountain and hill courses for years. With the FRA and from my own company.

You'll probably find that the vast majority of the 8000 couldn't give a hoot about a forum, new or otherwise. Not sure that means it should just be binned off though.

There also seems to be a bit of a contradiction to me, of asking everybody on the forum to be an FRA member, but yet wanting to encourage potential new fellrunners to visit the forum... if they can't access all the info then what incentive is there for them to even consider looking at the forum?

The "two-tier" option of needing to be an FRA member to access the full forum is an option... but i'm not sure this is going to be much incentive to new runners to either join the FRA or the forum.

Not to mention people like Molehill who are great contributors, yet for a variety of valid reasons (be they personal, political, whatever) chose not to be an FRA member.

Open to all but with restrictions is I think the logical way to go..

[molehill]

I met a few forumites over the years, purely through this forum and have stayed friends with them. Dominion came and stayed at our house once for a mountain biking event - he drank all my best wine in an evening 🍷, god knows how he rode the next day.
Many a friendship was forged on here and I hope many more are with future generations of fell runners.