Restricting access to information, especially the events calender, can ultimately only reduce the rate of new memberships. I know its only a tenner, thats why I've paid up so I can see the events, but that's only because I already know about the LDWA. Its a shame as I think Ldwa type events have the potential to attract lots more people.

Some feedback from an ex-non-member. When they were free and open I made extensive use of the events listings to plan for future events weeks, sometimes months, in advance. I returned recently to see what was coming up only to find that the events were now closed to non-members. As a result I've joined the LDWA so I can once again have access to the list. The membership fee is very reasonable and hopefully I'll also meet up with a few other people and make some new friends for some of the future events.

Chris

Having found the Sport England web site had a Get Britain Walking page ( http://www.sportengland.org/index/get_active/ae_support/get_britain_walking.htm ) with no mention of the LDWA I decided to e-mail them to suggest an addition. Refering to the events page would have been my method with the old public version of events but waht to do now. I decided the best thing to do was suggest using the local groups section to find out more on the basis that most groups have web site with both social and challenge walk info on them.

The events list is not just restricted in time. Some events are missed off. Why? Blue moon walk is cancelled but thats still on there. Bishops Castle is on but missed off the events list.

The Events List has not even been updated in line with Strider! The April issue has been out for a couple of weeks now, and new walks info is still not available online. Also, the National, Local and Social categories are being used incorrectly; all challenge events are listed as "National", group social walks as "Local", while a search for "Social" events comes up with nothing. This should only take a five-minute conversation with the website manager to sort out.

Does anyone update the Events List on a frequent basis? It seems that the Flower of Suffolk is the last walk on the list and has been for some time now! I did the Wensleydale Wander on Saturday and picked up a few entrey forms for the Preston City Walk and Kettlewell Kanter both which don't appear to be on this list. The point of having an electronic list is to provide information on a regular baisis, not everytime strider comes out.

Having just looked thorugh the resticted list I decided to spend a tener, become a member, and get access to the whole events list. Excellent value I think.

AndyL
DunRockin

I think the problem is that because the list is restricted to two weeks worth of events it doesnt give people the chance to plan ahead. By the time they see that an event is coming up its likely that they've already got something else planned. The end result is that they dont do the event and thats not in anyones interest.

Maybe a better way to encourage people to join would be to have a greater differential in event entry fees for non members?

But the events list is only restricted in time. A non-member gets to see a taster of what is on offer and can enter the walks. It's similar to the entry forms available on the table at any challenge. You can pick up half a dozen of interest there, you can do the same via the website. Join and you get it all. What's wrong with that ?

I hope the Committee take note of the words in the previous posting.

Yes, I thought the same about the events list only being restricted to members. This became apparent to me when I accessed the website in work, and I couldn't remember my password, so I couldn't view the list. If non-LDWA people are browsing the site, and they can't see what events are taking place, then they will simply move on elsewhere, probably never to return. Not exactly a freindly introduction to the LDWA at a time when we should be encouraging new people to join.

The RW discussion is under the Triathlon / Ultra section, you might have to scroll back a page to find it. There have been 33 posts so far. Not all of them are negative, there was also a fair amount of support for the the LDWA's position.

I'm not surprised - though taking a look on the RW forums, I couldn't find anything! Restricting access to the calendar is only going to make the job of organising events much harder. Numbers seem to be declining and this will only make it worse.

The decision to restrict access to the events listing has caused a bit of a stir on the Runners World web forum. Quite a few people seem a bit put out that the full calendar of events is no longer available "for free". Some have commented that the LDWA appear to trying to discourage non members from entering events. I'm sure that this isnt the case but it will be interesting to see if this policy causes more people to join the LDWA or reduces the number of non members entering events.