Now that the new year is upon us everyone will be planning their race calendars, so we thought it would be a good time to get some dates out there for people to put into their calendars. Also entries for some of these races are opening so better to get organised. The preliminary calendar for scottish races is not out yet, but should appear in the near future on http://www.scottishhillrunners.uk/ http://www.scottishhillrunners.uk/Info/SHR_Calendar_2016.pdf while the english races can be found at http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/races.php.
But before we get to any further dates, a general comment to those who think this doesn’t concern them. Fellrunning is a wonderful sport in that absolutely everyone can participate in the national championships and relays, everyone can enter the races and has an equal chance at winning (if you don’t believe anyone could win have a look at the 2014 Irish counter results and consider that the same race is a counter this year…). In fact we want everyone who would like to, to run for Carnethy. Don’t think you shouldn’t run because you feel you are not good enough. The main point is to get a team together and have fun, and if we happen to win something then even better. And champs races and relays are actually quite good fun and a different experience to other races you may run.
Below you will find dates for the main championships and relays with a short description and dates for races where these are already known plus links and information about race series.
British Championships:
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Four races, one in each home nation. You need to run any 3 to complete the champs. Teams required are quite large (mens – 5, ladies – 3, mens vet40 – 4, mens vet50 – 3) so it’s good to get large numbers for these. We usually book somewhere (Carnethy subsidised) to stay as a group for the Welsh and Irish race.
8 Apr Irish – Donard Challenge, in the Mournes (Short) [!!! entries for this one have opened http://www.nimra.org.uk/index.php/british-championship-rnd-donard-challenge-entries-now-open/ !!!]
6 May Scotland – Stuc a Chroin (Long)
17 Jun England – Tebay (Medium)
12 Aug Wales – Measgwm Muddle (Medium)
SHR Champs:
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Six races, 2xLong, 2xMedium, 2xShort, you need to do four, one in each of the three categories + any fourth one, to complete the championship. Just by completing you guarantee yourself a mug.
19 Mar – Criffel (Medium)
6 May – Stuc a’Chroin (Long) [also a British Champs counter]
20 May – Goatfell (Medium)
3 Jun (tbc) – Trotternish Ridge (Long)
12 Aug – Strathpeffer Games (Short)
9 Sep – Devil’s Beeftub (Short)
SA Champs:
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A one off race for the Scottish Athletics crown. It usually is one of the SHR counters as well (so most people don’t seem to realise it’s the SA champs until the prizegiving takes forever). The SHR website doesn’t seem to have been updated for 2 years for this one (tells you how popular it is) and SA doesn’t have any information I can find either. It’s usually one of the mediums or shorts though…
Relays:
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Carnethy generally enters teams in the following relays:
– Devil’s Burdens (Jan 21)
Local relays over in Fife in late January. Always a lovely atmosphere and caters for all standards with an early and late start. All of scottish fellrunning is usually in attendance and a great time to catch up with everyone. Soup at the end tends to be very good. Also tends to be a logistic nightmare…
– Comrie (Sep 10)
The other scottish relays. Probably more low key than the Devil’s burdens. Carnethy won these ones rather comprehensively last year by having the fastest time on each leg. Also very friendly and very good food at the end, although last year you were restricted to just one burger per person.
– Ian Hodgson’s (Oct 1)
In my opinion the best of the relays. In the Lake District (Patterdale) they cover the most mountainous terrain. The english clubs treat them as the testing ground for the FRAs a couple of weeks later. Borrowdale lost them for the first time ever last year. Unfortunately the field is restricted and Carnethy is only allowed one team.
– FRA relays (Oct 15)
After being rather local last year they are all the way in Wales (Snowdonia) this year. Hopefully the quality of last years event is still fresh in your minds and you are all keen to make the journey. Usually these are good fun and tend to have a deep field rather than being restricted to elite teams, making them quite good fun. Unlike the other relays the changeovers for all legs are in the same place so you can follow the race, making spectating when you are not running your leg exciting.
For each of these we will send out emails closer to the specific date to solicit for people who would like to run. I think all relays are four legs with two paired legs and two solo legs. All but the FRA relays are run over the same course every year, while the FRA are hosted by a different club each year and also include one nav leg which Iain and I tend to screw up.
Other Series:
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There are also several other ‘series’ of races, each with it’s own rules and history. Rather then just running random races these series give you something bigger to aim for, helping with motivation to go out and doing races and make races more interesting by adding another layer to the results. You generally don’t need to enter these specifically, just run enough of the races which make up the series. I’m aware of the following series:
– Scottish Long Classics (http://www.scottishhillrunners.uk/Championship.aspx?ChampionshipID=C-006): This is a series usually containing all the AL class races in scotland (n.b. the SHR website has not been updated yet for this year). You usually need to run half the races to qualify (usually around 5 out of 10), your best results count so worth to run more than the minimum (plus the scottish AL races are lovely).
– Lakeland Classics Trophy (http://www.lakelandclassicstrophy.org.uk/): If you think the scottish AL races are good – which they are – you haven’t been down to the lakes yet. This is a series of 6 AL races in the lake district of which you need to run 3. To make it more interesting 4 of the races are so long as to count as super long and to complete the series 2 of your 3 counters need to be super longs. If I’m honest this series is probably better than the scottish one as they are all proper fell races with no push overs like Ochills or Two Breweries 😉
– Bog & Burn (http://www.scottishhillrunners.uk/Championship.aspx?ChampionshipID=C-003): a series of summer Wednesday evening races (hence short ones) around central Scotland. Good motivation to get you out in the evening for a run after work. 6 of 12 races to count.
– Scottish Borders Series (http://bordershillraces.blogspot.co.uk/): Started last year and not sure whether it will run again. A series consisting of the races in the Scottish Borders.
That’s it. Put the dates in your calendar and hopefully Carnethy will have a good year and everyone has fun.
Konrad & Jasmin
Race maps for Carnethy races and the SHR champs are here