Meet the team - two more Johns

A relatively new recruit to our Saturday morning training squad is John Parker who joined us after a lapse of several years from serious competitive fell running to train for an attempt on this year's Winter Hill fell race.

His performance there showed he had not lost any of his previous ability and he followed up his appearance on Winter Hill with an attempt on the English fell championship where after two races he is in joint first place for the over 70 title.

Adding further experience to the team will be John Coope who with my brother Ed been the has mainstay of our Saturday squad for many years and is much the senior of my helpers. He has supported me on all my Lakeland long distance challenges where his experience and encouragement have been invaluable.

Unfortunately knee trouble has affected his fell running for the past 12 months and he is only now making a cautious return to the fells. In the inaugural years of the Joss Naylor traverse he took on the 48 mile Lakeland challenge and became one of the early winners of the coveted tankard.

His role on Saturday will principally be as a driver for the support team but hopefully he will be encouraged to don his fell shoes and run a few miles with me.