"Speaking for myself I feel there is sufficient reward in the privilege of actually being successful in getting onto the Challenge and then completing it. Anything else is a bonus." ..... John

I guess I'm just greedy. I want to wring every last ounce of pleasure out of the event, and if the Route of the Year Award encouraged and helped me to do that then it was a good thing IMO.



"I'd quite like to be awarded Route of the Year (NEVER going to happen!!) but because it would give me pleasure, not a prize!!" ..... Louise

Me too (particular the "never" bit). Speaking as the most uncompetitive person in the south of England I couldn't care less about prizes and would be highly embarrassed to have to collect one. I too felt that the competitive element of the award was odd, and I think it's possible to encourage people without offering awards.

I say yes, scrap the award (after all the odds of winning are 1:300 which is pretty slim, so who's going to bother?), but come up with a better way to encourage diverse routes. Maybe "stick" is just John's gruff Yorkshire sense of humour, but I dislike this more than competition.

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