The decline of Macclesfield Harriers !!!

[Guest]

Why is the magazine and website being taken over by Road / Fell runners?

[John B]

Because the website is run by a fellrunner, and the magazine is editted by a road runner

[Guest]

Why does having active road and fell sections constitute a decline?

[Tim]

I edit the magazine and it reflects what the members submit to me. There are fell, road, cross country sections and reports on track and field events. If a particular event is missing then it means the members involved have not been as pro-active in giving me a report as other athletes. The Harriers have more members now than ever before including many children training on the track on a Tuseday/Thursday .

[Colin Ardron]

Why is the magazine and website being taken over by Road / Fell runners?

Ahh the decline of Macclefield Harriers!!! I think it started around 1980 - the year I joined.

It's fun to look at the past editors of the magazine - (well quite hysterical actually):
Anton Woolford - fell runner (and magazine founder)
Colin Ardron - sort of fell runner & some road
John Kershaw - predominately road some fell
Geoff Pettengell - fell runner
Vic Crawford - road runner
Tim Stock - road runner
(apologies if I've missed anyone)

Now although most if not all of these luminaries are showing signs of terminal decline I don't think that that is necessarily a reflection of or on the club. On the contrary the club has made huge progress in so many areas. No, the answer is clear - fell runners and to a lesser extent road runners, are intrinsically a more intelligent and literary bunch - this is borne out by the quality and erudition of their contributions to the magazine which would otherwise be nothing more than page after page of statistics detailing numbers of circuits circled, times achieved, hurdles hurdled and hammers thrown. I await the bricks through my windows with interest.

Colin Ardron