Author Topic: Too many races and events?  (Read 6967 times)

NeilC

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Too many races and events?
« on: 09:25:48, 21/01/18 »
Just come back from a jaunt in the Brecon Beacons and yet again ran into a endurance race. This one was a Special Forces Experience with guys doing an SAS style Fan Dance thing with heavy packs and weighted pipes for guns. Looked bloody hard.


In my last 8 trips I've run into these events on the Ridgeway (twice in a  row) the Lake District and the Beacons. Either I'm unlucky or there are flipping loads of them.


I'm all for encouraging people to get out but is it possible there are just too many of these things. Seems its getting like Park Run where local parks are flooded with 100s of wheezing runners every weekend.


And yes I am a miserable old sod.

gunwharfman

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #1 on: 09:00:42, 22/01/18 »
Is it just capitalism in action, people just trying to earning some money, or raising money for a charity? I've walked through a few, I much prefer walking into them that them pounding up behind me. I was able to do a good deed for two ladies on Offas Dyke, they were terrified to walk (it was uphill) through a herd of cows so I escorted them. Whayt a nice man!

Owen

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #2 on: 10:31:53, 22/01/18 »
Just come back from a jaunt in the Brecon Beacons and yet again ran into a endurance race. This one was a Special Forces Experience with guys doing an SAS style Fan Dance thing with heavy packs and weighted pipes for guns. Looked bloody hard.


Having done the real thing (over thirty years ago I should add) all I can say is "the mind boggles".

tonyk

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #3 on: 11:09:56, 22/01/18 »
Just come back from a jaunt in the Brecon Beacons and yet again ran into a endurance race. This one was a Special Forces Experience with guys doing an SAS style Fan Dance thing with heavy packs and weighted pipes for guns. Looked bloody hard.



 If you see them again can you make sure they know about an event I am organising in June.

SAS 100 Brecon Beacons.

 
Full combat fatigues and webbing to be worn at all times,including army issue  boots.

 Pack weight:150lb,including half a dead sheep and bricks.A plastic rifle must be carried at all times,(available from Toys r Us).

 If its not raining contestants will have a bucket of cold water emptied over them at the halfway point to make it even dafter.

 All contestants must wear face masks at all times.This is to avoid being identified by employers and friends who may pour ridicule on them.

 All finishers will receive a finishers plastic SAS badge and a T-shirt bearing the slogan "SAS-are you dumb enough?".

 Entry fee:£500 if paid before 1 st March or £650 after.Sorry,but due to the demand we are no longer able to take entries on the day.No refunds as the facilities are expensive to hire and we need to make a good profit as the race director has put down a deposit on a new Porsche. ;)

 

 

jimbob

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #4 on: 11:24:37, 22/01/18 »
You know something the skepticism on this topic is mind-blowing.

 As a country we are suffering from an epidemic of obesity and other lack of exercise related illnesses. We are being urged to take more exercise. Not everyone is up to lone walking, Long Distance walks, etcetera.

If these folks are getting out there and exercising in a way that suits them then they should be applauded. Yes they cost a bit, but don't kid yourselves. Look at the money you spend on the latest breathable yet waterproof jacket for winter as well as your summer weight one, not to mention the boots etc. All profits from which help buy the CEO his Porsche, whilst paying staff minimum wages and robbing their pension pots.
Too little, too late, too bad......

Sloth

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #5 on: 12:15:39, 22/01/18 »
All it will take is a couple of the dropping from dehydration and hyperthermia in the summer and they will all be banned! If the SAS can lose people on exercise in the Beacons the mind boggles at weekend warriors doing this.


NeilC

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #6 on: 12:27:20, 22/01/18 »

Not everyone is up to lone walking, Long Distance walks, etcetera.



But they are capable of tabbing 24KM up and down Pen Y Fan, twice, carrying a 45lb pack? Or running 86 miles along the Ridgeway? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.


We've got an obesity epidemic because people eat too much calorific food and don't move around much in their daily lives. It's not for lack of endurance marathons.


I don't have a problem with these challenges per se, even the ones where bond traders feel the need wear camo gear and pretend they're in the SAS. It's the sheer number of them in certain areas I'm moaning about.


I did 5 mins googling for endurance, challenge etc events in the Brecons and got this:



5 Jan
6 Jan
1th feb
20th Jan
2lst Jan
5th may
18th may
20th may
2nd june
3rd June
4th june
23 june
7 july
8 july
14 july
5th august
6th oct
7 oct
17 nov


There will be quite a few more but I got bored. Some days have multiple events from different organisers by the looks of it.


I think the numbers are getting a bit out of the control myself.

jimbob

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #7 on: 12:55:41, 22/01/18 »
And every single day of the year many people are out walking in the same or similar areas. Ban one lot and don't be surprised when LDW is also banned.

To go out with a load of mates for a marathon or endurance run is understandable.  Just look at the entrance fee for the Spine race. Then look at the interest in that on this forum.

They cause the same amount of harm as walkers.( Which is zero) They may pay entry fees, that is up to them. So why the prejudice?

Too little, too late, too bad......

NeilC

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #8 on: 13:13:25, 22/01/18 »
And every single day of the year many people are out walking in the same or similar areas. Ban one lot and don't be surprised when LDW is also banned.

To go out with a load of mates for a marathon or endurance run is understandable.  Just look at the entrance fee for the Spine race. Then look at the interest in that on this forum.

They cause the same amount of harm as walkers.( Which is zero) They may pay entry fees, that is up to them. So why the prejudice?


I've not mentioned banning all of them. I'm suggesting limiting the numbers. You clearly don't find the (incomplete) list of them I posted, just in the Beacons alone, to be too many. I think it's a bit silly myself and is likely to grow.


Actually walkers and runners cause a lot erosion which costs the park authorities millions to sort out - hence the massive stone paths you now get up most well-known peaks. That's fine as that's their job but it's not free. I don't know if scores of events with hundreds of competitors makes much of a difference or not. I suspect it makes some.


The "prejudice" is that it kills some of the reasons to go out there - to get away from the madding crowd, to experience a bit of nature, a bit of quiet etc. One man's meat is another's poison. Meeting some walkers or fell runners on a jaunt and saying hi is not the same as running into 200 people all coming down the same path over a period of hours.
My last walk along the ridgeway was all but spoiled with 2 days worth of people running and walking past, saying excuse me, saying hi (I'm polite and feel the need to say it back but after the first 60 people it really wears thin), people with no intention of altering their path. That's not why I went. So it spoils my own selfish reasons for going. What they want, takes away from what I want. And if what I want takes away from what they want, they are free to moan about it too. The odd race is fine. The numbers we're at and heading to now are too much in my opinion.
« Last Edit: 13:16:36, 22/01/18 by NeilC »

jimbob

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #9 on: 13:29:09, 22/01/18 »
OK I see where you're coming from. And I also note from your last two sentences that my perception of your intolerance stems from your personal reasons for walking, rather than a personal vendetta against the "organisers".   

My personal prejudice is against the guys who could never have been passed an army medical pretending to be SAS /RMC type Bushcraft heroes on YouTube and the like. I have an easy solution to my problem, the switch on the wall. Yours is more difficult to deal with, I think.
Too little, too late, too bad......

NeilC

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #10 on: 13:38:25, 22/01/18 »
OK I see where you're coming from. And I also note from your last two sentences that my perception of your intolerance stems from your personal reasons for walking, rather than a personal vendetta against the "organisers".   

My personal prejudice is against the guys who could never have been passed an army medical pretending to be SAS /RMC type Bushcraft heroes on YouTube and the like. I have an easy solution to my problem, the switch on the wall. Yours is more difficult to deal with, I think.


Don't get me wrong - I do find these SAS type events a bit tedious too with stockbrokers and life coaches in their camo gear playing at soldiers, although I'm secretly impressed that anyone can put themselves through such a thing just for kicks.


My solution is going to have to be to stay off the beaten track and to check the dates online. I was stupid enough to meet the same ultramarathon 2 years running on the Ridgeway lol! Trouble is, this little island of ours has too many people and not enough space. I'm going to California this year and looking at the maps with envy - they have vast areas of wilderness. The whole state could out there full time and you'd be unlikely to find them.

tonyk

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #11 on: 14:38:29, 22/01/18 »
 My comments,said firmly tongue-in-cheek,were aimed at all the hype surrounding special forces rather than people taking exercise.Let's give this special forces experience another description.How about spending a day on a Welsh hill dressed in a secondhand army uniform without insignia and carrying a very heavy pack that will most likely chaff you and run up and down a few hills.To make it even more difficult you will have to carry a piece of piping filled with concrete.When you have finished you will get a cup of tea and can then make your way home.That is a description of what it really is but how many takers would it attract? Add the special forces hype to it and give people a badge and certificate and you get plenty of takers.

 I might add that selection to both 21 and 23 SAS is open to anyone providing they meet the entry requirements.
« Last Edit: 14:45:06, 22/01/18 by tonyk »

phil1960

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #12 on: 15:03:49, 22/01/18 »
I just avoid the central Beacons full stop, great walking but I’d rather avoid the crowds
Touching from a distance, further all the time.

pauldawes

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #13 on: 15:51:50, 22/01/18 »


I don't have a problem with these challenges per se, even the ones where bond traders feel the need wear camo gear and pretend they're in the SAS. It's the sheer number of them in certain areas I'm moaning about.



I don’t have a “problem” at all.


I do sometime have a “tinge of concern” when somebody who doesn’t do a fair bit of walking goes straight in for a challenge such as three peaks, whatever.


I just don’t think it’s a great introduction to a wonderful hobby. I imagine that most of the people that do it, grit their teeth, get it done...and think “never again”. Hope I’m wrong.

Islandplodder

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Re: Too many races and events?
« Reply #14 on: 19:19:41, 22/01/18 »

I keep thinking that when I see the size of the rucksacks people on Duke of Edinburgh expeditions carry.  I was out with my brother and he asked me whether that was part of the challenge.
You do notice that the posh schools manage to come up with much lighter kit, but I think that a couple of nights of no sleep and an enormous pack  would have put me off for life!

 

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