101 uses for a mobile!

[Chris]

Could be interesting if somebody gets into a pickle at another race now and it ends up in court! So mr race organising tell me again why didn't follow the modern example set at the edale race!!!

Yes Timmo. I agree.

[Richard Head]

Do you care about fell running?
Have you done many long races of this kind?

Honest answers please...
Remember - swearing doesnt make you sound clever Richard

I'm not sure why you think i might be dishonest but the answers are yes and no. I also care about safety, both mine and everyone else's. Whenever i go for a run or walk in the hills i take a mobile with me and if a race organiser insisted i took one in a race i would have no problem with that. If the technology is there why not use it.

I dont see what the objection is. You put the mobile in your bum bag and hopefully wont see it again until after you finished. On the other hand if you get in trouble or find someone else in trouble you have it to hand. Imagine if you came across someone who desperately needed help and you had no way to contact the emergency services. How would you feel if the time wasted going for help cost someone there life.

As for the rubbish about not getting a signal in some areas, you have a better chance than if you left the mobile back in the car.

[Mud]

as race organiser he has made a reasoned decision and is sticking to it.

Well, the extent of the reasoning Andy has shared with us is that:

having a mobile at the scene of an incident before MR or others emergency services can attend makes a massive difference, enabling the incident to be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

A number of other people have questioned the extent that this is relevant or appropriate to a fell-race.

Imagine if you came across someone who desperately needed help and you had no way to contact the emergency services. How would you feel if the time wasted going for help cost someone there life.

I'd be more impressed by that argument if you also carried a full first-aid kit at all times. Arguably that would be more handy than a mobile phone?

[Timo Austino]

I'm not sure why you think i might be dishonest but the answers are yes and no. I also care about safety, both mine and everyone else's. Whenever i go for a run or walk in the hills i take a mobile with me and if a race organiser insisted i took one in a race i would have no problem with that. If the technology is there why not use it.

I dont see what the objection is. You put the mobile in your bum bag and hopefully wont see it again until after you finished. On the other hand if you get in trouble or find someone else in trouble you have it to hand. Imagine if you came across someone who desperately needed help and you had no way to contact the emergency services. How would you feel if the time wasted going for help cost someone there life.

As for the rubbish about not getting a signal in some areas, you have a better chance than if you left the mobile back in the car.

I think the first worm, from a very large can, has just escaped.


Bet Pete bland's are just tying up their first contract with a service provider. The van will look great with an satalite dish strapped to the roof!!

[Swoop]

I believe Timo turned back at Ringing Roger last year because he had forgotten his mobile phone.
I don't know what the excuse was for those who followed him!

[Wheeze]

Mr Head, I think the issue that people have with your reasoning is simple. Today, it is mobile phones. Tomorrow it may be be GPS devices. The next day, a personal survival pack including automatic distress beacon, one man auto-erect survival cocoon, 24 hour ration pack etc etc. It is called drawing a line in the sand between what represents safe completion of a race and too much responsibility being taken from the hands of the competitor and placing it in the lap of the organiser. However well-intentioned the Edale edict may be, it could be the start of a slippery slope that makes it impossible for organisers and competitors in the future.

[Richard Head]

I'd be more impressed by that argument if you also carried a full first-aid kit at all times. Arguably that would be more handy than a mobile phone?

I wasnt out to impress you mate.

I was with a close friend when he passed away a couple of years ago and still get flash backs about the events that night. The one thing that has kept me sane is the knowledge that we did everything we could have done to help him. I hope the people posting flippant comments on here are never in a similiar situation

[molehill]

If you read Andy's post (no.25 to save you trawling through the whole thread), as race organiser he has made a reasoned decision and is sticking to it. So either take your mobile along or move on to another race

I don't have a personal mobile, never have owned one. So I couldn't run the event even if I wanted to.
But be a bugger if it was a championship race and I was in contention, wonder if top fell runners could get sponsorship from mobile phone companies. or perhaps the FRA could supply 'pool phones' to their top athletes .

(I have a mobile provided by my employers, which is not meant for personal use).

[Ady In Accy]

Well put Wheeze.

[Chris]

I wasnt out to impress you mate.

I was with a close friend when he passed away a couple of years ago and still get flash backs about the events that night. The one thing that has kept me sane is the knowledge that we did everything we could have done to help him. I hope the people posting flippant comments on here are never in a similiar situation

Which flippancy would that be?

Other than Swoop's which is funny.