Important letter from the Committee re: the Levy Trophy

Every year, the Levy Trophy is awarded to the fastest scout completing the route. This year, due to an error in entry form completion, the trophy was incorrectly awarded to a non-scout entrant. As soon as the committee realised that this was the case, we contacted the person we believed to be the rightful winner of the aforementioned trophy. However, the resulting conversation both shocked and worried us….

Upon contacting the ‘winning’ entrant, it was brought to our attention that, although the contact details, name and medical history we had been supplied with were correct for the name of the entered person, the actual person who completed the event was not the same one. The original entrant had decided not to enter the event and, in a total breach of rules, had given their place to a friend. The committee is horrified at this behaviour for the following reasons:

• The new entrant was forced to lie and use the original entrant’s name and signature for the duration of the event.
  
• Had there been a medical incident, all of the medical details were incorrect and could have resulted in potentially life-threatening treatment errors being made through no fault of the medical staff involved. The Emergency department staff would have accessed patient records for the given name, as was registered on the entry form, which is what the committee would send with the patient as proof of identity. Therefore, his medical history, allergies and any pre-existing conditions would have been wrong. As it was, the new entrant received first aid and registered himself there under the original entrant’s name!
  
• Had there been a need to contact the new entrant’s emergency contact, we would have been unable to, as the details we had were for the original entrant. This would have caused obvious unnecessary distress to both the original entrant’s family and the new one’s.
  
• In the event that there is a major incident involving outside agencies (medical staff, fell rescue etc…) the committee is responsible for the entrant’s well being and could, worst case scenario, have to stand in court and give evidence if necessary about the incident. If this were to have happened, the information the committee would have take to court would have been incorrect. Also, the ‘entrants’ would potentially both have had to give evidence as well and explain their actions.
  

Whilst we appreciate that many of the above points are based on ‘what if’ scenarios, we are incredibly grateful that they did not occur for everyone’s safety. Unfortunately, because of the time taken to ascertain what happened, the results list had already gone to print stating an incorrect winner of the Levy trophy. The committee would like to apologise to the actual winner David Bell who is, as a result of these 2 people’s extremely disappointing actions, not recognised in print for his achievement.

Above all what we find most worrying is that the original entrant did not appreciate the above points and seemed to find the whole scenario slightly amusing. We, the committee, do not. Therefore, may we take this opportunity to stress that the transferring of places / substitution of entrants / is not, never has been, and never will be, acceptable for the safety of everyone involved in the event. Please let it also be noted that the committee has decided to disqualify the number corresponding to the original entrant and thus the replacement entrant. The 2011 committee will consider how to prevent this happening in the future, which may result in entrants having to provide identification on registration at the start which will be most frustrating for all concerned, especially entrants who would never consider transferring their place…

We trust that anyone reading this will realise the potential seriousness of their actions and support us in dealing with it.

May we take this opportunity to thank all other entrants for abiding by the rules and for helping make the 48th event a successful one. We look forward to seeing you (and any friends/family you can convince to come along!) for the 49th event on 14th/15th May 2011…

The Fellsman Committee.