Dealing with the Unexpected

Last night up to 1,000 fell runners were unaccounted for up in the Lake District.  Torrential rains meant that for the first time in 41 years the race was abandoned but not before around 2,500 had already started it.

Now fell runners are a hardy breed and many of them would have been properly equipped

to survive a night out in poor conditions, but there is a limit to what one can prepare for.  Both the runners and the organisers would have invested a great deal in getting ready for an event of this scale and it is not something to be lightly abandoned.  However, you only have to check out this video to get an idea of how nasty it was and I suspect it, in reality,  was much worse than this!  At the very best they will have spent a very cold night out in some bleak conditions.

There are two thoughts that interest me about this.  Firstly the very ‘can do’ attitude that allows these people to cope with the pain and suffering inevitable in this kind of sport is the very thing that would put them at risk in this kind of situation.  I suspect that mere mortals would have taken one look at the conditions and said “No way!”

The second thought is that being well prepared can be both essential and also make it harder to come up with new, unprepared responses.  In other words they had prepared for all manner of contingencies but not for saying “Let’s not do this..”

I’m in awe of these people and what they can do, but there are lessons for all of us about listening to our inner voices, scanning all options and being cautious of over relying on our strengths.  I hope they all find their way safely home to a warm meal, a roaring fire  and and pint or two!!

Resources:

• The full story  

Tags: Change, Innovation, the unexpected

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 12:35 and is filed under Hints, Tips & Techniques, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.