There will be no entries taken on the day for the Borrowdale Fell Race in 2008.

Potential competitors must apply to enter the race by means of the official Borrowdale Fell Race entry form. That form will not be made available nor will any entries be accepted before 31st May 2008.

Please do not try to enter without the official form and please do not ask the Race Organiser for an entry form before 31st May.

After 31st May, entry forms will be available to download from www.borrowdalefellrunners.co.uk . Forms will also be available after 31st May by post (please send a stamped self addressed envelope) from the Race Organiser – Andrew Schofield, End Yan, Jenkin Hill, Thornthwaite, Keswick, CA12 5SG.

The Race will be limited to 500 competitors. The first 500 entries received, from appropriately experienced runners, after 31st May will be accepted. No entries received after 7th July will be accepted.

More infor on the FRA website

Well it's one of the first long(er) races of the year this weekend. Mickledon Straddle is on Sunday, 3 February, starting at 10.30am from Langsett Barn. The race is over 13.8 miles with 1980ft of climb (BL) and from Langsett Barn crosses open moorland to the Derwent Valley. Navigation skills are required and runners must carry full body cover, plus emergency food and map.  For details please follow the link below:

Mickleden Straddle 2008

Looks like Andy Wilkins was the only Harrier this weekend at Tigger Tor. Here's a brief report

A huge field as usual for this one, but I didn't see anyone else from the club in the crowd. I've done this race 16 times now, and the course seem to be a bit different each year! This time the route from Sheffield Tigers rugby club was out via Oxstones, then crossing high moorland (running into a ferocious west wind) before dropping over Burbage Edge and dipping across the valley to ascend Higger Tor. Then some good running followed to Owler Tor, before another wild moorland crossing to Toads Mouth, then back via Carl Wark and Houndkirk Hill. Probably the best route yet, with a lot of it on Moorland trods. The high winds had dried these out a bit and fortunately it was nice and sunny on the day.

Pushed back on the return leg by the high winds I had a bit of a duel with Richard Scottney from Pennine, and eventually finished 75th overall. Results can be found via here

Andy Wilkins in the 2005 Tigger Tor Race

Great morning organized by Julien. Here's a brief report

"Thanks to all those who turned out today, it was fun setting it up. There were some interesting route choices and a few ‘dodgy’ controls !!!

A big well done to Andrew Anastasi who was the overall winner ( even without the handicap), with the fastest run time of 2hr 12, 1 minute ahead of Andy Trigg of Pennine.  Mark Vogan also had a cracking run, finishing in second place just 6 minutes behind. John Collins’ 3rd place looks like he’s rapidly getting back in form.

Using features that are out there and virtually permanent, we could set up any number of courses like this – why not have a go and create your own ?   As a rule of thumb they should be around  8-10 miles with 2000 feet or more of climb and descent." Julien

Results can be found here in the results section. Photos will put up soon.

Looks like Dark Peak are producing some maps of the Edale Skyline route to sell thorugh their website. Check out here for more details

A very very wet, windy, muddy and fantastically fun kinder trial on Sunday. Lots of Harriers following Andy Howie's navigation course around Kinder, with some controls proving a little more elusive than others. Which wood is it Matt? Congratulations to Andy Fox who won the M50 cat. Club results can be found on the results page with full results on the Hayfield Fell Race website

It was the last of the SE Lancs X-Country series yesterday at the aptly nammed Boggart Hole Clough (mud a foot deep in places). 

4 club members were there; Bill doing his usual sterling job in the finish funnel, Neil M taking photographs, Lindsay in the ladies race and Nev in the senior mens. 

Huge congratulations to Nev who not only came 2nd V60 yesterday but won the overall cross country series. Full results of yesterdays race can be here and the overall series can be found here

"A good turn out last night with 19 runners.  20 started but aspiring marine Matt disappeared en route.  Gareth was last nights winner with a time of 38:49  (due to a slow time at the last handicap), John Doyle closely followed (with a time of 40:08), with Becky third, once again in the top three.

Only a couple of PBs last night: Becky with a new time of 49:15, and John Hewitt with a new time of 40:55
Several PWs (Personal Worsts) - but I won't name and shame you.  Was this due to colds or Christmas excesses?

The next handicap race on Tuesday February 5th will be a reverse route (anti clockwise)."

Results can be found in the results section

Thanks Matt for the report and results

A great turn out from the club for the first local race of the year. Well done all looks like thre were a few close battles and a lot mud thorwn in for fun!! Results are now out. Club results can be found here and the full results can be found on the Hayfield Fell Races site or the Calder Valley website.

And lots of photos by Andy Howie on the Hayfield website

The Kinder Trial is NOW FULL. An up to date entry list (Updated as of 15/01/08) and start times for the Kinder Trial as of the 8th Jan can be found here

The next Handicap 10k organized by Matt will be on Tuesday 15th January from the Liesure Center. Start times begin at 7pm!

So very early this morning, during one of Ben's slightly longer sleeps! I managed to add a forum feature to the website which was one of the main things I wanted to try. Forums or Bulletin Boardshave really become one of the main ways do comunicate now - we all know how extremely popular the fellrunners forum is.

I know the this yahoo group does a great job of communicating between the club already, but it is sometimes difficult to either find past info or attachments etc as they are not saved. The yahoo group has been wonderful for the club, but one of the things many new members
have found is that they didn't know about it and have missed out or it's not easy to find things. Also one of the pros of the yahoo group is the extras like saving files, photos etc. But most people just read the emails and never actually log into the group site.

Having a forum as part of the website keeps the info and club business all together in one place and makes everything more visible. Also it organizes the things better and adds a lot more possibilities for exchanging news / info and linking into the website.

The direct link to the forum is

http://www.glossopdale.org.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

there is also a new link from the website homepage

At the moment access to the forum is limited to club members which I think is right, but again this is open to change if we wanted to show potential members more about what happens in the club.

So you just have to register and follow the simple instructions. There is a box that asks for a reason for registering. You need to put a word or something in this, just add member for example. You can't login straight way. You need to reply to the activation email and wait for me to authorise it. This is how we keep access just to club members.

Just for a month or so I'll make sure everything all the info put out through the yahoo group gets put on the forum so people don't miss anything.

Also I hope I've got all the bugs out of it (!!!!!) but if there are any problems let me know - and please post something to see how it goes! Also please make any suggestions or changes. I'm currently trying to add in the option of receiving the posts as emails so you don't have to always log in.

So ultimately what do people think? If the general consensus is that the yahoo group is good enough already, then I wouldn't have any problems with taking the forum off - but I think that the added benefits to easy of communication and being able to access the information falls in favour trying a change to the forum.

Cheers

Nick

Julien will be organizing a club navigation event. Details from Julien below

Hi all

I’ll be arranging a (fun !) club navigation event  for SATURDAY 26th JAN.

The Start/finish will be from Crowden, in front of the phone box from 10.00 am and the course should take around 2 hours. There is no set time limit, but I’ll be using a handicap based on the 10k times (or my estimate if you’ve not done these).

Please let me know if you can attend, as I can make up maps and handicap times based on this.

Regards

Julien

An up to date entry list and start times for the Kinder Trial as of the 3rd Jan can be found here