The Mountain Marathon in the Lake District....

What do you think?

I think they were idiots for allowing the race to go forward. I also think the race organizers ought to be billed for the cost of the massive rescue effort that had to be launched.

decision behind this...............

and all the people taking part in the marathon were experienced, and would have been able to pull out if they wanted. So I'm not sure that the race should be billed, just because there were several of them.

As far as being 'idiots' goes, I haven't actually seen the wording of the forecasts that were issued. Has anyone else? I think we'd need that before we can judge.

These type of rescues happen at this time every year. I've lost count of how many times the Mountain Rescue has had to go up on Snowden, etc and bring down some fool who thought he'd have a ramble just before a storm.....or fell off a cliff or something....and often these fools bring their children with them.

And btw...........in this instance they were warned by the police and Mountain Rescue explicitly.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/27/original-mountain-marathon-extreme-weather

<snip>

The organisers of an extreme marathon that left hundreds of fell runners stranded overnight in the Lake District in appalling weather conditions were criticised yesterday by mountain rescuers and a senior police officer for allowing the event to go ahead despite warnings of 100mph winds and torrential rain.

<snip>

Mark Hodgson, head of Keswick mountain rescue team said: "The extreme weather was forecast on Thursday and it should have been cancelled in the morning ... I know these runners were supposed to be experienced and equipped but we had 70 mountain rescuers dealing with 11 casualties in absolutely horrendous conditions. I looked from 1,500ft above Seathwaite and it was like a battleground."

Superintendent Gary Slater, of Cumbria police, said they and mountain rescue teams had brought concerns to the attention of the organisers. "Common sense has got to dictate what we do in these circumstances and as I've said it's disappointing that the race did go ahead, despite concerns we and others had raised."

and

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article5019756.ece

<snip>

Last night it was being asked whether the Original Mountain Marathon should have gone ahead at the weekend despite the severe weather warnings. There were also concerns about who would pay for the rescue effort – the bill is expected to be tens of thousands of pounds.

______________________________________________________________________________________

It's fine if people want to risk their own lives to go out and prove themselves.......but more and more often they are getting in trouble and when they do, the lives of the rescuers, the police and in this case the RAF were risked as well.

Russell Brand

Turn the radio off and put down the remote control. :P

I expect him and 'Woss' could make a living as official scapegoats for 'Everything That Is Wrong With Modern Britain' over the next few years.

Interesting/depressing that the only sensible comment I've heard about all of this came from Paul O'Grady "george Osborne is breathing a sigh of relief".

IMO, Brand and Ross are idiots and deserve whatever they get - but the complete media preoccupation with the case is bizarre.

Two idiots spouting drivel really. Not what I would describe as "edgy", not very funny, and I certainly don't get what the problem is. Perhaps I'm younger than I thought?

but hardly worthy of the acres of press space devoted to it.

I must be a hopeless old fogey but I have always found Brand predictable and boring.

As for Ross, the idea that the BBC need him to appeal to a young audience is laughable since he is nearly as old as me. I suppose the BBC feel they need to protect the huge investment they have made in him but I cant help feeling the money would be better spent elsewhere.

I have recently been watching the DVD of the BBC magisterial series on the Great War made back in the early 1960s and been comparing it with their latest series on the 1914-1918 War. While the recent programs on this topic are very good by the current standards of domestic broadcasting they are simply not in the same class as the programs made over 40 years ago. Interestingly, both made use of famous actors to voice some of the historical speaking parts but it was noticeable that the modern program made virtually no use of the surviving film of former Great War veterans describing their experiences at the front. In fact it came over as a rather worthy history workshop that ticked all the right boxes(ie the changing role of women, the use of colonial soldiers in the trenches etc) rather than an account of one of the most horrific wars in history. It was also light on detail coming in at less than 10 episodes whereas the 1960s documentary was made up of nearly 30 one hour programs. This change has got nothing to do with the age of the producers since I suspect the average age of BBC staff in the 1960s was probably a good deal younger than today and a lot to do with the fact that broadcasters seem just concerned with ratings and are unwilling to risk long periods of air time on documentaries that they do not think will grab a big audience. It is a huge shame in my opinion because I am sure that there is still plenty of talent at the BBC which is probably just being neglected.

You are not the only one. Brand is totally over-rated.

Maybe if he was actually funny people might have been more inclined to stand up for him. As it is it's hard to find anyone who's sad to see him leave the BBC.