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Comment - OUTDOORS
It's that time of year when only the hardy and the well-prepared should be heading outdoor for big walks and off-track adventuring, as the weather's well and truly turned. As I write this we seem to be having some April-esque showers, though they're tempered by blue skies and seasonable temperatures.
Recently, news coverage turned its somewhat hysterical eyes to the Original Mountain Marathon, and the breaking stories screamed about how 2,000 entrants were in trouble. Then it became 1700, still enough to make national headlines, obviously. As the news came in, I explained to my wife Zöe how if a group of people were to be stranded, those 1700 were the perfect people for it to happen to. Every one of them would be carrying shelter, waterproof clothes and outer shells, plenty of high-calorie food and would be wearing the right footwear. Not least they would all know what they were doing, and at the first sign of unmanageable weather they'd probably head for low ground and get off the course.
Which is exactly what they did, as the organisers knew. The only problem that this event has caused is for the media - not one competitor, to my knowledge, has complained; responses to the BBC web site, which requested news from people that were there, all said what a great event it is, how well organised and how well prepared they all were for the weather. After all, how can you be stranded on a mountain when you've gone out to partake in an event which involves exactly that?
The organisers insist on a suitable level of competence before you're allowed to enter, and outdoors folk understand entirely that there is risk involved in such an adventure. If there wasn't, it wouldn't be so much fun, surely? The event is purposely held at the end of October so the weather's unpredictability can be a factor. This year, the weather perhaps went a step too far with some flooding, but I sincerely hope that next year, the event returns as planned for its 42nd outing, and the British mass media either grow up or shut up.
Jon Bruford,
Editor SGB - Sports and Outdoor
01584 877177
