In many ways fell running has more in common with cycle racing than it does with other athletic events. The sport tests not only the competitor's stamina but also his or her courage and skill as the runners descend at speed across uneven and often slippery surfaces. You might expect that coming down the slope they would pick their way gingerly as if descending stairs. Far from it. The minute they hit any section that is less than perpendicular, they immediately go flat out. At times this is how they end up - flat out. The St John ambulance men are kept busy at fell races.

Harry Pearson in Racing Pigs and Giant Marrows.

Lakeland fell runners are not ordinary men. Remarkable fitness and stamina are required to race up a fellside, and tremendous muscle control and judgement are needed to race down. Lakeland breeds such men, and has been doing since long before the days when records began to be kept at the local sports meetings.

Harry Griffin in Inside the Real Lakeland.

It's a hill. Get over it.
Seen on the back of a runner's t-shirt.

Chapter 1. Early days.

Training can get on a man's nerves.
Alf Shrubb.

Chapter 2. Professional versus amateur.

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
Sir Roger Bannister.

Chapter 3. The early races - the 1800s.