Last updated 11:21, Thursday, 30 October 2008

It’s easy, with the benefit of hindsight, to pillory the organisers of last weekend’s Mountain Marathon, the event which prompted a massive turnout of the emergency services as runners found themselves struggling in the appalling weather on the fells.

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And I agree it was somewhat disingenuous of them to suggest, despite the flood chaos, that there was no real problem.

What they don’t appreciate is that we are living in a health and safety world these days.

Much as you would like to, you just can’t put thousands of runners on the mountains and, when somebody rings alarm bells, not expect the full armoury of ambulances, mountain rescuers and police to turn out.

Once alerted to a possible incident, it would be lunacy for these services not to swing into action. Just imagine the criticism they would suffer if there really were hundreds of people left stranded on the fells and they took organisers at their word that everything was fine and dandy.

But there was a huge amount of misinformation given out. If there really had been thousands of runners stuck on the fells they could have joined hands and formed a human chain from Honister all the way to the summit of Great Gable and back again.

One TV station was still claiming hundreds were unaccounted for long after the entire field had been checked in.

There have been calls for new rules to govern such events. But short of building a wall round the Lake District and installing turnstiles, it’s difficult to see how they would work.

Thirty years ago I took part in the marathon’s predecessor, the Karrimor two-day marathon, in conditions not dissimilar to last weekend. Being a wimp I opted out at the overnight camp and took a Land Rover trip down the valley to the comparative warmth of the village hall. No TV crews turned up to interview me.

I understand why dedicated mountaineers want to test themselves in the worst as well as the best of conditions.

It would be a shame if the outcry over last weekend was to diminish their sense of adventure.

The difference between my experience 30 years ago and now is numbers. There were probably 100 pairs when I took part. Last weekend thousands were involved. Too many in those conditions.

I think the comments of police and rescue officials were balanced and didn’t justify the alarmist headlines that followed. Yes, they didn’t think the event should have gone ahead. But they weren’t ready to criticise competitors who were well prepared and met conditions beyond the worst predictions of forecasters.

Organisers can’t bury their heads and say they have nothing to learn. But at the same time I hope uninformed critics take a step back. I was at a rugby match on Saturday where two players were carted off to hospital. No-one calls for a ban on rugby.

Let’s not destroy what little sense of adventure health and safety fanatics have left us with because of one incident in which, thankfully, no-one died or suffered serious injury.

Call me irresponsible, but a few years ago, when I still had working knee joints, I would have been out there on the fells with them.