2012 British Fell Champs
A warm looking Coledale Horseshoe in 2009
The 2012 calendar for this great championship is now on the FRA site, and looks very interesting. No doubt 2011 champions Morgan Donnelly and Pippa Maddams will be rubbing their hands too, as there are some proper technical races in there.
Things get underway at Coledale on the 14th of April on a course which although only 8 or so miles long is deceptively tough. The Northern Irish leg returns to Slieve Bearnagh this year, after Rob Hope won the British opener there in 2009.
The beauty of Slieve Bearnagh
Then it’s on to Scotland for the ‘long’, where things can often be decided. The Arrochar Alps race is a 3 hour plus race, on some of the harshest Scottish hill terrain. Those in any doubt should read this excerpt from the Westerlands site:
The race was created in 1987 and was run annually until 1992, before being abandoned due to repeated bad weather. 15 years later, Jason Kaushal and Westerlands resurrected this race for 2007, and the race has now been run several times in the modern era, each time in awful weather!
It’s Wales’ turn to round things off in 2012, as the final race in this four-race series goes to Moel Wnion. Again the short but deceptive nature of this relatively low-level race will catch out many, especially as the September weather can be unpredictable coming off the north Wales coast.
Moel Wnion 2011
So, it looks set to be another great year for championship fell running and we hope to be there covering stuff and keeping you informed in what must be one of the most challenging race series in running, anywhere in the world!
