And Now The News......

Just 10 weeks to go…I hope the training is going well. The weather is certainly suitable for preparing you for everything the Fellsman can, and has, thown at previous entrants in the past.

Just a quick note to let you know that we have now passed the 300 mark and are well on our way to 350 entries. Also a reminder that we can only accept 450 entries in total. If you haven't yet entered now is the time to do it to ensure a place. We are accepting both postal and onlines entries at present and the discounted entry fee of £23 (£24 online to cover Paypal admin charges) applies until the end of March. After that time the full fee of £32 will apply and only postal entries will be accepted.

An update on online entries. We are now all verified with Paypal so we have been able to raise the limit of online entries by a further 50 for now. Once those 50 places are awarded we will assess whether to make more online entries available but at the present time there is still plenty of space.

No news yet on the camping situation but I hope to have some news in the next week or so.

More news coming soon…

Last year on the 9th February we had 110 entries which was well up on previous years. This year we currently stand at 225, double what we had last year and half way to our maximum entry of 450 competitors . There are still online places available so now is the time to get your entry in (we've had fifty entries in the last ten days) as at the current rate we may be full by mid-March…

We are negotiating with the school at Threshfield about camping pitches but it looks like they want to limit tents to those few pitched by Fellsman staff. Do not despair however as we have other irons in the fire. As soon as we have definite news I'll let you know. Watch this space!

A historic moment has been reached. The Fellsman has caught up with the rest of the world and is now offering online entries for the first time. As Suzanne mentioned in her previous blog entry, until Paypal verify our account as a non-profit making organisation we will be limited to just 50 online entries. With luck we should be able to extend that number in the next couple of weeks. Once the initial limit has been reached I will post a message here.

In order to enter online go the Online Entries page which you can find under the Event tab, or in the menu down the left hand side of this page, and follow the instructions. Please submit your online entry form before making payment. This is to ensure we can tie together entries and payments efficiently.

I look forward to receiving your entry and payment notifications.

…All this excitement is getting to me I think I need a lie down…

Greetings all, just wanted to share an update about the online entries situation….
As promised, we plan to be putting an online entries page onto our website early this month, in fact within the next 7-10 days, providing all things go well. We have been experiencing some issues with setting up the Paypal account in that we have a ceiling on our trading account until they authorise our registered charity status. This means that we will be limited to less than 50 online entries which is less than we wanted to permit. We have sent the necessary documentation off to them which will mean that our online trading will have no limit. Even so, as this is a trial this year, we intend to place a limit of 100-150 entry places online as we are still receiving large numbers of paper entries. At the moment, we have enough places for everyone who is keen to enter at this time so there should be no need to worry. However, if you are desperate to guarantee your place, please print and post the entry form on the website as we have advised in previous blog posts. Online entries is a new venture for us and is part of our ongoing plan to develop the Fellsman, please bear with us!

As always, thank you for your support of the event.
If you have any comments, queries or suggestions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Happy training!

Suzanne Carter.

PS - Jez Bragg (last year's Fellsman winner) has an article in this month's Runner's World magazine which covers the events he's won (including the Fellsman) as well as his training and general thoughts about ultra running. We are currently trying to get a link to it through the Runner's World website but, in the meantime, why not have a look, it makes interesting reading!

Following our January meeting, we are pleased to announce that we now have 127 entries, so they're coming in thick and fast! As Juliette said in her last posting, we are anticipating having online entries up and running in early February and are, as we speak, busy putting the necessary technical bits and pieces in place to make this happen. However, if you are definitely wanting to enter, download the form from the site and post it to us as soon as possible just in case.

Event planning is going well and we are, as always, very grateful to the huge team of people who have already committed themselves to work in one capacity or another on this year's event. Please accept our thanks in advance.

I hope that the snowy and icy weather isn't hindering your training too much as time is ticking away fast. All I can say is that we have put in our advance weather order and snow and ice are definitely off the menu!

Once again, if you are contemplating whether to enter this year or not, please don't think too long as places are limited to 450 and we look set to be full to capacity very soon…

Enjoy whatever walking/running you may be up to in the coming weeks,

Suzanne Carter

Event Organiser.

Greetings all. The wrist is slowly on the mend so I just thought I'd let you know that in the first week since the opening date for the 2010 event we have recieved 80 entries. So for all those people in two minds about whether to enter or not, now is the time to do it. We are still going to run a limited period of online entry this year starting the first week in Feb as a trial but the number of entries available will depend on the number of entries we get between now and then, so if you want to be absolutely sure of an entry get your entry forms posted now!

We now also have a listing page for accommodation in the Grassington and Ingleton areas available under the EVENT tab on the top of the page. You should see an Accommodation Listing link in the left hand side menu. This is by no means a complete listing of all the accommodation available in the area, but represents those businesses who have chosen to support the Fellsman by advertising on the Website and in the Entrant Handbook. Our grateful thanks go to them all.

I have also updated the Catering page, also accessible through the EVENT tab, with the 2010 checkpoint catering menu. Can I remind everyone that arrangements can be made for assisting entrants who have specific medical dietary requirements (e.g. lactose/gluten intolerant etc) via the Catering Officer. Shona can be contacted via the email contact form on the CONTACT tab.

Happy New Year to You All. Postal entries for the 2010 event are now being accepted. As with previous years there will be a limit of 450 entries on the event. Prior to the 1st April the discount entry fee will be as last year - £23. After the 1st April the standard entry fee of £32 will apply. We will be opening online entries on 1st February for a limited period - more details soon.

This year we will also be posting a list of places offering accomodation in the Ingleton and Grassington areas. This will be available from this weekend.

I apologise for the slight delay in posting this information. This is due to my breaking my wrist in all the snow and ice and having to type not only one handed, but left handed at that! Thank you for your patience.

I look forward to receiving your entries.

After a slight technical hiccup where I accidentally reposted up the 2009 entry form instead of the 2010 entry form, the 2010 entry form is now up and available for download. The mailshot of entry forms for previous entrants is being assembled tomorrow night (in a Christmas chinese feast get together for the Fellsman Committee) and will be posted on Tuesday.

The good news is that the email now appears to be up and running and I have managed to recover the majority of the old emails so hopefully I should be able to answer your enquiries a bit more promptly from now on.

The Fellsman Committee would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hello all. If anyone has sent an email in the last month and has had no reply, please let me apologise. UK2 who host our email and domain have had problems with their email server and appear to have lost the last 4 years of stored Fellsman emails. Flippin' marvellous. In addition any email sent in the last month has not been received. I have desperately being trying to get the emails restored but UK2 technical support appears to be non-existent as they don't pick up the phone to their 50p/minute support line and the online system of submitting tickets results in total silence. If I cannot restore the emails in the next two weeks we will endeavour to change our host for the domain and email. As of today we do now appear to be receiving new emails so if you resend your emails I will endeavour to reply as soon as I can.

In the meantime can I just thank you for your patience and assure you that we are trying to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

In answer to the most usual query we get at this time of year, entry forms and event dates…

The 2010 event will be on the 8th and 9th of May as this is the second full weekend of the month. The entry form will be going up on here at the start of December for download.If you entered in 2008 or 2009 you should receive an entry form via mailshot in December or very early Jan (depending on Xmas post issues). Entries will open on the 1st January 2010 and no entries will be processed before that date. If you are sending cheques please can you date them for 2010 not 2009 as they will not be cashed before January.

It is our intention to offer limited online entries this year to 'see how it goes'. Currently the plan is to open postal entries on Jan 1st and online entries on 1st of Feb for 4-6 weeks subject to us reaching the maximum number of entries which is 450. This way people who wish to enter by post will get priority. If the online entries prove successful this year we will extend it for the 2011 event.

I appreciate this is not ideal but we are really just testing the waters this year. We want to try and avoid any major problems by doing it all too fast.

P.S. Finally got through to UK2 tech support via an online chat while writing this blog entry and they have escalated the ticket. Woohoo! Since it was Critical before (top level) and they've had it a fortnight already I'm not holding my breath. Rant over.

Greetings all. I know it's all been a bit quiet on the Fellsman front over the summer. But don't worry things have been going on behind the scenes. We have a new Fellsman Committee and a new female (for the first time ever) Hike Organiser, Sue Carter. Many of you will have seen Sue at Threshfield in her old role as Headquarters Controller; rushing around the school, a bunch of keys dangling round her neck, trying to do the job of five people. After being firmly ensconsed at the school for a number of years she is now going to see the route and meet and greet competitors when they are not half asleep having stumbled in at the Finish.

In 2010 the Fellsman will be on the 8th and 9th May which is the earliest weekend it can be (it's always the second full weekend of May). The entry forms for the 2010 event should be going up at the beginning of October once we have finalised any changes to prices and rules. We are still looking into getting online entries organised but this would not go into operation until the entries open on 1st Jan 2010.

Hopefully over the nest few weeks you should see some new additions to the site - particularly in the form of additions to the gallery. I have been preparing photos for the site in my non-existent spare time over the summer and hope to start putting them up soon. Thanks to everyone who has submitted photos for the site and if anyone has any others they would like to add feel free to send them in either by email (if it is just the odd one) or on a disk to the Fellsman snail mail address on the contact page.