Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a selection of the more popular questions and their answers (in no particular order of importance). If you have a question that you think will benefit others, email it to the webmaster.

What's fell running about and would I be able to do it?
What if I live outside County Durham?
My current club doesn't compete on the fells - what can I do?
Would an orienteer benefit from joining a club like DFR?
Are you affiliated to the Fell Runners Association?
How should I submit content for the website?
How many mountain marathons are there in the UK?
How DO you pronounce Gerry Hehir's name?

Fell running complements other running disciplines (track, road, cross-country, trail) beautifully. It's demands are no greater than the disciplines previously mentioned - it simply depends on how competitive you are. Like any other sport, you start slowly and work up. Eventually you build the specific physical (and mental) strength that you need to compete safely in the more arduous events. All fell runs are graded in terms of distance and height so you can easily select races that are within your abilities. Equipment is minimal although slightly different to 'normal' running particularly the footwear which is usually heavily studded for increased grip. For longer one-day races and mountain marathons there is an emphasis on more 'technical' clothing. 

We promise that this will never be held against you and it definitely won't be a barrier to joining DFR! It makes absolutely no difference where you live; many of our members meet only at races and keep in touch by phone, email, newsletter and this website. 

If your club is not registered to compete in a specific discipline then you are entitled to join another club in order to compete in that discipline. This then becomes known as your 'second claim' club. Alternatively, if your club IS registered for fell running but you're the only member that actually competes, they may be happy for you to join a dedicated fell-running club like DFR for whom you would compete on the fells only. 

Absolutely. Your skills would be instantly transferable. Many of DFR's members compete in orienteering events and use them to hone their navigational skills for mountain marathon events like the KIMM and LAMM (see the question about mountain marathons below). 

Clubs don't need to be affiliated to the Fell Runners Association to be registered for fell running. Instead they register with the appropriate regional body which in turn is an associate of UK Athletics. The regional body for DFR is the North of England AA with whom we are registered only for the discipline of fell and hill running. 

Durham Fell Runners are happy to publish content from all sources provided that content is relevant to the collective interests of DFR club members. For all submissions including articles, race notifications, requests etc. please ensure that text for publication is provided as attachments in one (or more) of the following formats: .doc; .rtf; .txt; .pdf. Raw email text is also acceptable but please make the content to be published clearly identifiable and complete so that it can be copied easily into the web document.

Images can be submitted in any of the following formats: .jpg; .gif; .tif; .pdf; .psd. The bigger the image the better but for practical purposes individual files should be limited to 1Mb and included as attachments with the total file size attached to the email limited to no more than 2.5Mb. A tip when preparing images is to choose the correct format for the image. Although a camera will almost invariably assign the format to the image it is worth remembering that images of varying tone such as photographs or images that include effects such as drop shadows should be saved using the .jpg format. Images with flat or continuous tone such as simple cartoons etc. should be saved using the .gif format.

The webmaster reserves the right to make editorial changes to the content submitted as and when necessary but - unless you're 100% happy with your journalistic skills - it is never a bad idea to let your carefully composed piece have sight of a spell-checker first!

Karrimor Mountain Marathon The oldest established MM on the calendar, the KIMM is usually the last weekend in October (when the clocks go back), various courses including three score classes (avoid the crowds!). www.kimm.org.uk

Lowe-Alpine Mountain Marathon Arguably the most demanding and rewarding MM, the LAMM is always held in Scotland in June and takes in some big hills and fantastic areas, requires a degree of commitment to get to the event area sometimes, but always worthwhile. www.lamm.co.uk

Surf Mountain Mourne Mountain Marathon Always in the Mourne mountains in Northern Ireland around the middle of September, a small friendly event, perhaps best entered every now and then as you can become quite familiar with the event area otherwise. www.mourne2day.com

Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon Always in the Lakes on the first weekend in July, includes the KLETS class for solo runners, beer, soft drinks and milk available at the mid-way camp so positively civilised. www.robertsaunders.co.uk (little info but contact details for Robert Saunders to get an entry form) or for more detail via Wilf's Cafe.

Phoenix and Vango Long-O Always in Northumberland, organised by NATO (Newcastle and Tyneside Orienteers), usually in August, a two day navigational event with the luxury of returning to base at the end of day one, so the only requirement is to carry gear for a day out on the hills (ie no tent etc), some people have been known to B&B! Open to individuals and pairs (some courses). www.geocities.com/andrew_nicoll/phoenix/html

Capricorn Mountain Orienteering Competition It was a mountain bike event in 2004; in 2005 it returns to it's more traditional running format. Location is Northern England. Open to individuals and pairs. www.pfo.org.uk

Open Country Mountain Marathon A one day event, for pairs again but hasn't run for a couple of years. Website used to be www.ocmm.co.uk but it doesn't appear to exist anymore.

Lake District Mountain Trial Three courses for solos (Mens, Womens and Short Course) involving navigation to check points, venue variable in the Lakes. Held in September. www.hindfam.demon.co.uk/mtrial.htm

New Chew Three courses for solos, held in March. www.saddleworth-runners.co.uk

Peacock Challenge Mountain Marathon A five hour score event in the Derbyshire Peak District for pairs; didn't run in 2004 due to access problems. www.ladymanners.org.uk/parents

Great Lakeland Three Day Mountain Trial Solo mountain marathon event of 75+ miles over three days (Fri/Sat/Sun) from a venue in Cumbria. Camping kit transported from site to site. Entry limited to 40 runners.

Northern Dales Challenge A new event held in Swaledale in June in 2004, with up to 20 checkpoints to visit, if all are visited the route is approximately 26 miles and 5000' of ascent. www.sfro.freeserve.co.uk 

Convention - and Gerry - demands that you pronounce it "Hare".