I would be very upset if the Chatsworth Challenge organisers were accepting entries on the day. I phoned up 2 weeks before the event and was told that their limit had been reached and they were not accepting any more entries. This was important because it was the only 'short' distance that we could take part in. Maybe it would have been worth just turning up on the day??
However, all was not lost because we had a lovely day on the Hills and Dales the day before.

We were lucky enough to be approached by Montrail, who included our Elan mountain trail in the series. I seem to recall that about 20 - 25 runners entered our event.
This was considerably more than the ldwa members who bothered to turn up for the full distance, in fact without Montrail it would have been a lot of effort - for very little reward, and probably the end of another event on the calendar.
I can only say what a wonderfull day it was, and what great guys they all were. They clearly enjoyed the run, the severity of which took a few by surprise and the countryside they loved, many being new to the area. We had excellent e-mail feedback from them and a very complimentary write up on the runfurther site. I don't recall any feedback from ldwa participents. All in all, they made us feel that the whole effort of putting on this event was worthwhile and appreciated.
I had hoped to compete in the series, but injury and other circumstances have prevented it this year, and now is a little late to start. I believe that their participation is good for the sport in general and to be encouraged, walk, jog, run - what does it matter, we are all out there for the same reasons.
I sincerely hope we are chosen again next year, especially as I have a whole raft of different courses over all distances up my sleeve and available !! I certainly wouldn't bother any more with the turn out we have from ldwa members. Matt.

Sounds good. I'm interested. But there'd be a problem with having LDWA events involved bearing in mind the increase in entries - the LDWA only promotes events with under 500 entrants. (Not much danger of exceeding that at the moment.)

Hi there, I?m not involved in the organisation of the Montrail series but know a few of the people who are.

The series has generated a lot of interest this year and will be run again in 2007. All of the 12 events have shown an increase in entrants ? sometimes a big increase ? but none have been full (the nearest was yesterday?s ? Chatsworth Challenge ? which always gets a big entry, and had nearly 400 this year, but entries were still available on the day).

The concept is to have 12 events over the year spread over :-

Different distances (split into 3 groups, short / medium / long)
Different terrain / nature of event (flat / hilly, marked route / navigation required, good tracks / open fell / moorland, etc)
All areas of the UK (as much as possible)
Throughout the year

Of the 12 events this year, I think
4 were organised by running clubs,
4 by scout organisations
and the other 4 by LDWA groups or independently.

Next year most of the events will be the same, but some will change ? partly out of necessity, as some won?t be run next year.

Entry to the series is free and only takes a couple of minutes online ? after that you just enter the events in the normal way. It?s not intended to be an ?elite only? series, there are men?s and women?s prizes, as well as spot prizes, at each event, as well as for overall scores and over each distance over the series.

Feel free to drop a note on the runfurther.com forum (or this one) with any thoughts or comments ? and hope to see you on some of the events in the future !

Cheers Julian

Is it likely to be the same events next year?

There needs to be more events in the series. We have been scuppered by this years series because events have filled up very quickly - hence we have no 'short' distance event to count. Most of them are organised by running clubs or scouts. It would be good to have some LDWA events in there too. I will try to get A Coventry Way included (40 miles). The problem with the longer scout events is that they are keen on enforced grouping after dark and one is forced into the dark because of the start times (this topic is being discussed on another thread). I am therefore not a fan of them.

Yes the involvement of the likes of Montrail can only be for the good of our chosen past- time, but i must confess i have a penchant for running the longer event`s, and am anticipating takeing part in the Montrail ultra series next year.

John

Does anyone else share my excitement at the involvement of Montrail in some of our premier events? I first encountered their presence - albeit very low key - at last years Calderdale Hike, then at the Bullock Smithy and I also note the Fellsman counts as part of the series.

http://www.runfurther.com/

It adds good fuel to the debate that runners bring extra revenue to walks. It also is interesting that the three events above are not LDWA events, but Scouting.

I am quite determined to get back to ultra-jogging fitness so I can grace the lower reaches of the table in 2007 !!

Garfield