Just to let you know that the 2012 results are now available. Thank you for your patience whilst the Committee tackled some of the thorny issues that this year's event raised. A mail shot containing the formal results leaflet will be sent out in the next day or so, and we will be posting your certificates and tallies out shortly. If you require a hard copy of the results leaflet please can you let us know via email as soon as possible.

We know that many of our entrants are also taking part in the 2012 Ultra-running Championships (UC). Having asked for comment from registered runners, the team at the UC have advised us as follows:

“Those who fully completed the course will be awarded championship points in the usual way. Unfortunately, we cannot award points to those who had to be pulled from the course; this was a difficult decision for the event organisers but absolutely the right one to ensure the safety of competitors.
The good news is that anyone who completes their 3 other events and was still running/hiking at the time the event was suspended will be eligible to win their runfurther/inov-8 cap.
Additionally, we will be picking several entrants from the event as random spot prize winners including one luck winner of a Silva X-Trail lighting system. Names will be published on www.runfurther.com in the next few days.”

We have also contacted the organisers of the UTMB regarding their position but have not yet received a response. As soon as we hear anything we will post a notification on the blog.

As some of you may be aware, I lost both my parents to Cancer. Both in their 50's.

Far too young.

I decided in September to loose a bit of weight and get a bit fitter and decided to try running. At first I couldn't manage half a KM but gradually I got more into it and oddly even started to enjoy it!

6 months later I am 4 stone lighter and as fit as I've ever been. I decided early on that if I was going to keep running I needed a goal, you need one when running through Keighley town centre on a Saturday night! I set my sights on a 10K run and have signed up for the Bupa Great Manchester Run on the 20th May 2012. My aim is to raise at much money for Sue Ryder as possible and finish the race in around 60 mins (hopefully).

They provided a lot of support for my Mum when Dad was ill and they do fantastic work for all those affected by Cancer.

Please sponsor me on my Virgin Money Giving Funraising page for what ever you can and help us beat this horrible thing that is Cancer.

Thank you

Andy (Checkpoint Organiser, Fellsman Committee)

The 50th Fellsman will certainly be an event etched in the memories of all involved, hopefully for more positive reasons than negative.

Keep reading… there's a lot to say

→ Read more...

ONE PERSON REQUIRED TO HELP ON GREAT COUM CHECKPOINT PLEASE! One of our regulars has sadly injured himself and can no longer make up half the team of 2 we need up there. It's a late afternoon finish on Saturday so it is a good one to do. If you are free, willing and able, get in touch!!

We can always use a spare pair of hands in several departments at Threshfield on the weekend, so if you are free and fancy lending a hand, get in touch through this website. The catering department is particularly short of staff this year due to illness, so any offers of help will be gratefully received.

And finally, our waiting list is now empty, and we have a few spare places due to various injuries. Please get in touch with a contact number if you, or anyone you know, wants a place.

That's it for now, see you at the weekend :)

A few final points from the committee….

Thank you to everyone who has let us know that they are unable to attend the event; our waiting list is almost cleared. You can continue to let us know by email until Thursday night, however the email account will not be accessed again after midnight on Thursday so please don't send in any emails after then. We may be able to access it later than that but it is unlikely as we will be busy setting everything up at Threshfield.

Another thank you, this time to everyone who has let us know they don't need bus space on Saturday morning from Threshfield to Ingleton. Please note - anyone who has not requested Ingleton check-in, or has not let us know that they are wanting to collect their tally at Ingleton on Saturday morning after checking in at Threshfield on Friday night, must check in at Threshfield by 7am on Saturday. Buses will be leaving Threshfield before 7:30am to make the hour's journey to the start. Anyone who does not present themselves to the check in team by 7am will be considered a non-starter and their places may be re-allocated. The tallies will be handed out at Threshfield, so anyone turning up at Ingleton without prior arrangement will not be able to start. If you have not let us know yet, please contact us by email as soon as possible.

The facility for checking in at Ingleton will be very busy and will now open at 7.30am. Those of you just collecting your tally need to be there at 8.30am.

Doors at Threshfield will open at 6.30pm on Friday and not before - please stay in your cars until then if it is raining (if!!) as we will not be in a position to look after you (we can only access the school after 4pm, it takes at least 2 hours to set up and many staff members do not arrive until after work themselves). Alternatively, there are a few ale houses in the vicinity who we're sure will be only too glad to accommodate you for an hour or two!!

Please note - The layout of the rooms we use in the school at Threshfield has changed, so those veterans amongst you please do not set your bed up in the hall as usual. Additional signage will be around to direct you so please follow the signs or ask members of event staff who will be wearing ID lanyards or committee who will be wearing bright blue North Face clothing and lanyards.

You will be pleased to know (hopefully!) that the Harveys Maps have arrived!! Every starter will receive one as a ‘birthday present’ to celebrate our 50th. We must again stress, though, that the existing rules concerning maps still stand – the new map will not be accepted as the only map carried this year and is initially being considered a ‘keepsake’ of taking part in the 50th event. See posts below for further details of this decision.

For your information, we have been made aware that there may be some groundwork taking place in the area around the Middle Tongue and Hells Gap checkpoints which will likely involve some fencing and drainage ditches for peat management so please be extra careful and bear this in mind when navigating around these sections.

Tickets for the 50th Celebration Ceilidh are still available and can be requested by email or bought on the weekend. The Ceilidh will be held at 7.30pm on Saturday 12th May at Central Hall in Keighley and tickets are £7.50. This includes supper and entertainment from Northern Comfort Ceilidh band; there will also be a bar. We are hoping that representatives from all aspects of the Fellsman past and present will be able to attend and are looking forward to celebrating the long-running of this special event in style. Please come and join us :)

That's pretty much it, everyone cross their fingers for some decent weather and we look forward to seeing you at the weekend

Where has the time gone?!? We hope that the recent peculiar weather hasn't hampered your training too much and that you are at the stage where you feel ready (if that's the right word!!!) to tackle the challenges ahead….

Now, more than ever, the committee is working hard to ensure that we have an event to remember. As you can imagine it’s very hectic here in Fellsman Land, so if you have a query and it isn’t answered immediately please bear with us as we all have full time jobs and families as well as our roles on the committee. If you are on the waiting list you will be contacted as soon as a place becomes available, by email or telephone.

We still have a healthy waiting list, so if you realise you are not going to be able to make it, or have picked up an injury which will prevent you starting, please let us know as soon as possible so that your place can be re-allocated. This can be done right up to the last week.

By now you should have all received your handbooks and entrant numbers. For the first-timers among you, you will receive your tally and race number at the start. Please read the rules carefully and make sure you have all the correct kit.

You may be wondering about the map mentioned in Suzanne’s article. It is our intention to give a map to every starter as a ‘birthday present’ to celebrate our 50th (as long as they have arrived by then!). We must stress, though, that the existing rules concerning maps still stand – the new map will not be accepted as the only map carried this year and is initially being considered a ‘keepsake’ of taking part in the 50th event. As the Fellsman is a point to point self navigation event, we feel it is safer to use maps you are already familiar with, ours may may not be to everyone’s taste and it may not provide sufficient detail for navigation purposes, particularly for novices. The committee will study the map carefully, consult with entrants on the weekend and consider its appropriateness for the map rule for next years event. We thank you in advance for your understanding about this matter, as you will all be aware, entrant safety is our prime concern and, until we have been able to study the map in detail first hand, we feel the above decision is in everyone's best interests.

Many of you have contacted us to request the check-in at Ingleton facility. Whilst we will endeavour to accommodate all that ask, it should be noted that a third option is to check-in and have your kit checked at Threshfield on Friday night, and then arrive at Ingleton on Saturday morning at 8.30am to collect your tally in time for the start. Indeed, we are actively encouraging this option, as it lessens the cost for the buses (in excess of £1000…) and makes the Ingleton check in easier to manage. We ask that anyone intending on doing this lets us know as soon as possible, so that we can mark you down as ‘not requiring a bus space’.

Tickets for the 50th Celebration Ceilidh are now available and can be requested by email or bought on the weekend. The Ceilidh will be held at 7.30pm on Saturday 12th May at Central Hall in Keighley and tickets are £7.50. This includes supper and entertainment from Northern Comfort Ceilidh band; there will also be a bar. We are hoping that representatives from all aspects of the Fellsman past and present will be able to attend and are looking forward to celebrating the long-running of this special event in style. Come and join us :)

That’s it for now, fingers crossed the weather is not too bizarre over the next few weeks… We all look forward to seeing you in 18 or 19 days time!

Please bear with us and take the time to read it all, as it contains important information about many aspects of this years’ event.

Entries

The committee is pleased to announce that, as of today, the event is now full! We will be operating a waiting list; it is worth noting that previous years' waiting lists have been completely cleared, with places to spare. Should you wish to be considered for a place, please send in your completed entry form without payment and we will contact you should a place become available, at which point we will ask for payment. We would like to remind all potential entrants that there are sometimes places available on the morning of the event; anyone wanting to secure one of these places should arrive at the check in location (see below) before 7am, with a completed entry form and a cheque for payment, and get their kit checked, so that spare places can be allocated at 7.15am, payments collected and numbers issued.

Start Arrangements

Due to circumstances beyond our control (partly as a result of the enforced date change), we have had to alter the arrangements for the start. We will be starting the event off from the field to the rear of the community centre as usual however, we will not be able to access the community centre facilities or parking. As a result, CHECK IN FOR ALL ENTRANTS will be held at UPPER WHARFEDALE SCHOOL, THRESHFIELD (THE FINISH LOCATION). Check in will open at 6:00am and ALL ENTRANTS WILL BE ‘BUSSED’ TO THE START. (Please note, if you have paid for transport already, you will be able to claim a refund at the finish). Anyone not checked in by 7am will be considered a non-starter and their places may be re-allocated (see above). As usual, entrants will be able to check in on the Friday night and have their kit checked; indeed the committee strongly recommends that entrants do this to save time on the Saturday morning. Kit check will be available on the Saturday morning at Threshfield as would usually be the case at Ingleton, however with the need to have everyone on a bus by 7:30am, the more we can have done on the Friday night, the better. Breakfasts will be available from 5:30 – 7:00am; tea, coffee and snacks (flapjack etc…) will be available for a small charge if you do not require/have not booked a full breakfast. If you haven’t booked a breakfast (porridge/cereal/fruit salad and bacon butties, bread and drinks) and would like to, please get in touch as soon as possible. If you have already booked accommodation in Ingleton for the Friday night, this is not a problem. Please arrive at the Ingleton community centre field for 8am and report to the arrival area (which will be signposted) where you will be able to check in and have your kit checked. Please note that this facility will be extremely limited and can only be booked in advance. The committee will keep a list of those requesting this facility; all other entrants must report to Threshfield School. Please email / write to the usual addresses should you require this service. Thank you.

The Route

Those of you who have participated in the event previously will know that there have, over the years, been a number of requests from landowners and trusts/organizations to specifically avoid particular areas of land which entrants may cross whilst navigating their route from checkpoint to checkpoint. Last year, we were forced to add another area of land to the Notifications section of the handbook rules surrounding the Fleet Moss/ Middle Tongue area. The alterations made last year still stand and will do for the foreseeable future. We will make every effort to ensure that this checkpoint is as visible as possible as we are aware it is in a tricky spot to find. We're therefore planning on running the same route as last year, as we have had confirmation from the landowners we've spoken to to-date that they're happy. If anything changes, we'll post it on the web ASAP & get an email out to entrants… One request from many of the landowners concerns the fact that the new date coincides with lambing season. They have asked us to enforce that entrants walk through potential lambing fields as quietly as possible and also ensure that ALL gates are closed securely behind them, even if other entrants can be seen within the vicinity. We have assured our landowners that this will not be a problem and ask that you adhere to this request as well as other ones we make such as not to walk the route/parts of the route prior to the event. Permission is only sought for the weekend and anyone crossing Fellsman land (even open-access land) is jeopardizing the future of the event we have fought long and hard to protect. Thank you.

Grouping Times

Due to the event being 2 weeks earlier, dusk will be approximately 30 minutes earlier and therefore grouping times have been brought forward by 30 minutes.

Handbooks

The handbook has now been finalized as we have confirmed the start / checkpoint / notifications sections. As soon as they have been received from the printers, they will be sent out to all entrants with your entrant number. This is your ultimate confirmation that you have secured a place. If you are concerned about your status as an entrant, please email the usual address and we will be able to confirm. If you are on the waiting list, you will be contacted directly.

50th Celebrations

The committee has been working hard to put in place some 50th celebration events / merchandise in addition to planning the Fellsman itself. One of these special events is a Ceilidh Supper to be held on the ‘traditional’ Fellsman weekend, Saturday 12th May 2012 at Central hall in Keighley. We are hoping that representatives from all aspects of the Fellsman past and present will be able to attend and are looking forward to celebrating the long-running of this special event in style. Tickets will be available nearer the time or on the 28th/29th April. If you wish to reserve tickets, please contact the Fellsman email address and we will do the rest. Tickets will include a full buffet supper and entertainment from Northern Comfort Ceilidh band; there will also be a bar. Tickets will be limited and allocated on a first come, first served basis so please get in touch as soon as possible.

Sports Massage

We have, for a number of years, been trying to secure a sports masseur for post-event relief, so this year we are pleased to announce that there will be at least one, hopefully two, fully trained sports masseurs in attendance. In order to ensure that it is worth their while attending, they do need to know how many people are interested in using this service (for a small fee, TBC). Obviously booking a timed appointment is difficult, but if we have an idea of who would like to use this service then we can contact them nearer the time to sort out details. There will likely be spare ‘slots’ available for anyone that is prepared to wait a while should they need it. Please contact us at the usual address…

And Finally…

We hope that the recent weather has not interfered with your training and that you are looking forward to the challenge ahead. The committee is, and has been, working incredibly hard to put together another spectacular event and we thank you for your continued interest and support of it and our work. We look forward to seeing you on the weekend; in the meantime happy training!

To allow for the postal entries still arriving, online entry is now closed.

All entries made online should be considered confirmed once notification from Paypal has been received. Postal entries should be considered confirmed once your cheque has been cashed. If you are in any doubt, please contact us using the form on this website. Ultimate confirmation for all will arrive in the post in the form of a numbered handbook, this mail out will hopefully happen sometime in February.

As you can imagine it's rather hectic here in Fellsman land, so keep checking this page for further updates. We have many things planned for our birthday celebrations, watch this space for details :)

Evening all. Online entries for the 2012 50th Fellsman are now open. The online entry form can be accessed here or via the link in the left hand Menu Bar. In the first instance 100 places will be available online, however this may well be extended depending on demand.

The fee for online entry has been set at £27 rather than the £25 listed in the postal entry form (which can be downloaded from the left hand menu). This £2 administration charge is to cover the administration and transaction charges which are levied on us by Paypal. I do hope you understand why we have needed to take this regrettable action.

Postal entries are still being accepted at an entry fee of £25, however we have had unpreccedented levels of entries already this year and so we strongly advise anyone wishing to enter to get their entry in as soon as possible.

Please can I remind anyone wishing to enter online that we need a completed copy of the online entry form and a notification of payment from Paypal before we can process your entry. If we have not received a Paypal notification within 24 hours of your entry from being submitted from the site we will contact you regarding payment.

If you have any queries regarding your entry or about the online entry system please don't hesitate to contact us using the contact page on the website.

Happy New Year! Due to us having received an unprecedented number of postal entries already, the committee have decided to bring forward the opening of the Online Entry System to TONIGHT (9th January) whilst there are still some left… There will be 100 places available initially, then the situation will be reviewed.

All entries will ultimately be confirmed by the sending of a numbered handbook. This will not happen immediately though, so if you have sent a postal entry please keep any eye on whether your cheque has been cashed - this confirms you have a place. Online entries should be considered confirmed once payment has been made.

If you have any queries, please get in touch.