UKC

Hello.

I would like to do a couple of fell races this year. Would like to do shorter ones probably, 10 mileish I guess. Ultimately hope to do Borrowdale in a year or two, so anything that could be used to qualify for that in future would be great.

I'm based in the southwest so Peak or Welsh borders would be good, maybe the Lakes? I'm not so bothered about southwest races as I want to actually get out on the hill, although I'll be doing the Five Tors on Bodmin soon, but that'll be the limit of my experience.

Any suggestions for sime entry level races or some that I could so to help me gain experience for future races with entry requirements?

I'm totally new to fell running so go easy!
Cheers,
Tom

In reply to Southern Man: My first race was the Burbage skyline. Think it's about 5 miles. Felt like a good place to start.
The FRA site may shed more light on that and other races.
Mark

In reply to Southern Man: How far south west?

South wales have an active winter league.. I don't know many of their races but winter races tend (not always by a long way) to be short and marked out..

Check the Mercia fell runners site for the borders..

On the fellrunner.org.uk site there is a website.. PM = partially marked.. NS = nav skills required..

ABC refer to ammount of climbing.. S M L = short medium long..

so AL long and lots of climbing.. CL is a much flatter faster race..

for example. BM PM would be a fairly undulating.. marked out route..

In reply to A Mountain Journey:

Hi Mark, thanks for that. Burbage sounds good. I'll look into the website, cheers.

In reply to IainRUK:

Down in Cornwall Iain, so I'll need to travel a bit for any of them. Thanks that's really useful info regarding the acronyms. I'll check out Mercia fell runners. Thanks again.

In reply to IainRUK: e.g.

If you click on each race you'll get info.. if any more questions ask on the FRA forum..

Borders

http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?region=9&p=2&p=1

south wales

http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?region=22

In reply to IainRUK:


Cheers Iain

In reply to IainRUK:

Another quick question Iain, or anyone.

The other abbreviations, ER, NS, LK, PM, presumably they're all advisories apart from ER? Navigational skills being a given, are you actually required to have local knowledge? Presumably not since they'd never have visiting runners and how would they check anyway?

Guess I've answered my own question!

In reply to Southern Man: No..

Also my issue with this is its a cop out for organisers.. so they say ER.. LK.. when its not needed.. but so they can use that as a get out if anything happens.. so many races have NS.. or LK when they just aren't needed.. which makes them redundant..


LK normally just means there are short cuts.. trods that are quick, but not shown on maps.. very common in the peak district.. tigger tor for example is a classic example of this..

So you don't need that info to complete.. it will just help.

In reply to Southern Man: Ooh now if you see any interesting ones I'd be up for travelling up to do some fell racing especially short ones that require some level of navigation.

We're spoilt down here for rugged breathtaking terrain but the 5 Tors really doesn't cut the mustard as a real fell race

Burbage is a great race but unusually popular and can be a bit congested early on. Midweek too. Sticklepath Horseshoe down your way? Might be worth getting the full FRA calendar - it's only 12 quid for membership with calendar and mags.

In reply to steveri:

Thanks a lot Iain and Steveri, good information that.

Wonrek, I'll drop you an email later mate.

Cheers,
Tom

In reply to IainRUK:

A few years ago I did the Ilkley Moor fell race and the Jack Bloor, both are on the same bit of moorland. The Ilkley was down in the calendar as requiring navigational skills but was fully flagged and the Jack Bloor which requires some nav or at least route choice had no indication at all. I see in this year's calendar that they are correctly indicated.

Local knowledge is most use on the long races where knowing which side of knolls, ridges to go can make a big difference. Short races (< 10K or so) it's usually just a case of follow my leader, especially in a big field. However, even in the longer races LK is becoming less of an issue since there are race notes for all the championship races and there are the Pete Bland race cards to help out the visitor. Whilst they won't help with the micro route choices, they will help with a lot of the "over or round" options.

ALC

In reply to Southern Man:
Have a look on the Welsh FRA website for races in South Wales, there are lots to go at.
www.wfra.org.uk