Ballycotton 10

PaudieMac

Mick Rice wrote: »

Nice pics Paudie Mac - even if there is a godawful one of me, but then again I tend not to be very photogenic at the end of races :-) Had a great time today and ran as hard as I could but never really got going. Not sure if it was the wind or the heat of the hills, or the fact that I'm slower than I'd like, but I'll blame one or a combination of the above. As others have said the event is a credit to John Walshe and his team in Ballycotton. It's a pleassure to have to race to aspire to each year. I missed it last year and I felt like I'd missed an important part of the year. A lot of people seem to have been a bit over their target times, with some honourable exceptions and MRAK of this parish is one. All in all a great day out.

Thanks for the comment Mike. Was a minute slower myself then I planned. Not sure why but at 5 miles I was on target but felt crap. Wasn’t expecting the heat but that’s no excuse.
Any word on a date for the streets of Galway yet Mike. Did it last year and really enjoyed it.

eliwallach

Gringo78 wrote: »

Some more stats:

All of the Top 10 were club runners or 100%
46 of the Top 50 were club runners or 92%
88 of the Top 100 were club runners or 88%

Overall, 40% of finishers were Club Members

What does that say? Probably nothing.

It tells me that good runners are more likely to join a club .
Stats can be twisted any which way to suit your purpose.

Krusty_Clown

eliwallach wrote: »

It tells me that good runners are more likely to join a club .
Stats can be twisted any which way to suit your purpose.

Athletics Clubs remind their members to sign up for Ballycotton before the closing date.
Athletics clubs attach more significance to the Ballycotton race than other events.

Probably a combination of the above, plus the other explanations further up!

Condo131

eliwallach wrote: »

It tells me that good runners are more likely to join a club .
Stats can be twisted any which way to suit your purpose.

I agree with both comments.

.....but as a non-club runner one is obviously going to improve up to a point. As a coach, I find runners make progress, soimetimes very rapidly, on their own, but there comes a point where they plateau.

With a proper schedule, and good coaching, a runner taking part in regular club sessions will make progress much more rapidly and more pronounced than one working away on their own. As one of my group said recently "I was running away for years and making little progress until I joined". The same athlete has cut nearly 2 minutes off their 4 mile time in 18 months, while only taking seconds off in the previous two years. This would be a typical example of someone 'coming over' to 'clubland'.

I *know* there are going to be loads of people saying "I've been training on my own for yonks and I'm doing brilliant". They probably are - but how much more brilliant might they do in a club environment.

I find that the two biggest things people have against joining clubs are:

A) I wouldn't be good enough. Not so! (most) clubs have a wide range of abilities and there will be plenty in your range of ability. If you find that a particular club is elitist, just try another - most clubs let you try it out for a few weeks before having to pay membership, so you can shop around.

I can't commit the time to a club. Athletic clubs aren't like football clubs, where you *MUST* turn up for training. If you can't make training, you can't make it. You don't need doctor's certs, notes from your mammy, etc. By and large running is an individual sport. The club will probably try to cajole you into running team events also, but there's no armtwisting. YOU decide YOUR own running.

AMS2010

radar0976 wrote: »

In fairness if you are going to leave it until the morning of the race to travel down from Dublin what do you expect ? That leaves no margin for error. If you want to avoid any potential problems come down the night before !! You cannot blame the Ballycotton organisers for everything. They are race organisers not a bus company. For €15 (which is very good value) what do you expect ??! As an alternative why not drive. It takes less than three hourse to drive Dublin to Cork now. If you left Dublin at 8 you'd easily be in Ballycotton for 11:30. Once again the Dublin brigade have a jibe at anything beyond the Red Cow!!

The trouble with making assumptions is that you're bound to offend someone...
As another one of the 'Kent Station 12' travelling by train on the day was my only option...
And I am not from Dublin.
For the record... I really enjoyed the race.

mrak

eliwallach wrote: »

It tells me that good runners are more likely to join a club .
Stats can be twisted any which way to suit your purpose.

It tells me that each time a runner does a good time in any road race athletes from any athletic club in the area will keep pestering them over the post-race tea and sambos until they join up.

Bold Abdu

I was on the famous bus at one stage. I stayed in Cork on Saturday night and dropped down to Kent station at 11:15 as per programme. The bus duly turned up but told us he was not leaving until 12:00 as the train was running late (re-scheduled).

Jumping the gun a bit I was not prepared to hang around and risk missing the start of the race so I jumped off the bus with 6 others and caught 2 taxis to Ballycotton. Taxi drivers charged €40 per car. Obviously once the bus had left the taxi drivers had you by the proverbials and the price went up – it’s actually listed as a €68 journey in the taxi price guide.

Perhaps having seen us jump ship the bus driver was under pressure from the 10-15 others left on the bus and departed early. He certainly arrived in Ballycotton in good time because he got there before the second of our 2 taxis arrived (admittedly he would have been allowed through the roadblocks unlike the taxis).

Anyway, next year I’m driving down to Ballycotton to save €71 train fare, €40 taxi fare and other funds lost playing roulette in Cork City.

Great race.

Condo131

mrak wrote: »

It tells me that each time a runner does a good time in any road race athletes from any athletic club in the area will keep pestering them over the post-race tea and sambos until they join up.

..aw shucks!! My secret strategy is out!!:D:D:D

Stupid_Private

Good news!

My number and chip arrived in the post yesterday...

blind_hurler

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Good news!

My number and chip arrived in the post yesterday...

Ah the postman hiding your mail again!!

Stupid_Private

blind_hurler wrote: »

Ah the postman hiding your mail again!!

No fault of the organisers, that's for sure - the postmark was March 12th.

bart simpson

Stupid_Private wrote: »

No fault of the organisers, that's for sure - the postmark was March 12th.

if the organisers did online entry it would not have happened!
if an post had 99% on time delivery rate with 3000 entrants its still 30 people who would have got there chip too late, also some may have posted there entry fee on time but it would have arrived in ballycotton after the entry deadline

sean_84

bart simpson wrote: »

if the organisers did online entry it would not have happened!
if an post had 99% on time delivery rate with 3000 entrants its still 30 people who would have got there chip too late, also some may have posted there entry fee on time but it would have arrived in ballycotton after the entry deadline

The entry method is irrelevant here. Even if you could enter online, they'd still have to post you out your chip and number.

They could allow collection of the chip the day before, but maybe that would be more hassle than posting them.

Stupid_Private

bart simpson wrote: »

if the organisers did online entry it would not have happened!
if an post had 99% on time delivery rate with 3000 entrants its still 30 people who would have got there chip too late, also some may have posted there entry fee on time but it would have arrived in ballycotton after the entry deadline

Online entry wouldn't have changed anything. Great Ireland/Adidas Race series all post their chips and numbers out. If 30 people don't get their numbers then it's no great shakes as only 30 people have to go to the help desk before the race to pick up replacements, rather than 3,000 going early to pick up numbers.

The race is cheap, cheerful and works. Why change the entry format to give a percentage of the fee to some other company for handling?

bart simpson

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Online entry wouldn't have changed anything. Great Ireland/Adidas Race series all post their chips and numbers out. If 30 people don't get their numbers then it's no great shakes as only 30 people have to go to the help desk before the race to pick up replacements, rather than 3,000 going early to pick up numbers.

The race is cheap, cheerful and works. Why change the entry format to give a percentage of the fee to some other company for handling?

point taken about the helpdesk, you could pick up a replacement there alright, but it doesnt change the fact that people have posted there entrys in time but do not get in because it does not get delivered on time, great ireland/addas races all have online entry, the percentage fee is very small and particpants have piece of mind that they are in straight away.

Gringo78

bart simpson wrote: »

it doesnt change the fact that people have posted there entrys in time but do not get in because it does not get delivered on time, great ireland/addas races all have online entry, the percentage fee is very small and particpants have piece of mind that they are in straight away.

Its a race that only costs €15 to enter, you are pretty much guaranteed entry if you are a member of a running club or also if you support ballycotton running promotions other local races, the 4 x 5 milers summer series. they had to change that this year to those that completed all 4 races cos there was such an uptake. I don't really think anything needs to be changed.

People normally pay by check....you know if its cashed within 2-3 weeks and therefore know you're in! If its not cashed, well you're not in and you've never even been out of pocket waiting to find out!

Condo131

bart simpson wrote: »

....... the percentage fee is very small ........

For Ballycotton (€15 Entry fee), the minimum charge to the organisers (from www.activenetwork.ie ) would be €1.50. In addition, the Great Ireland Run, for example, charges €3 for delivery of the number/chip etc.

Just going on the €1.50 - that's 10% alone. The actual entry for ballycotton was something like 3,400, giving a total of €5,100 to activenetwork. Personally, I'm not keen on paying a third party that sort of money to process my races and, when entering, I avoid paying these fees where possible, preferring to give direct to the organisers.

Ballycotton run their event on a shoestring budget and the race actually costs far more to run than the €51,000 or so the entry fees brought in. They seem to aim to keep entry fees down, while many other race organisers appear to be racing to the top to see what the 'market' will bear. I can't see Ballycotton bringing in online entry anytime soon.

So...."very small"....., imho...No!

tisnotover

bart simpson wrote: »

great ireland/addas races all have online entry, the percentage fee is very small and particpants have piece of mind that they are in straight away.

And both above mentioned races have big sponsors? And remind me of the entry fees for both again?

bart simpson

Condo131 wrote: »

For Ballycotton (€15 Entry fee), the minimum charge to the organisers (from www.activenetwork.ie ) would be €1.50. In addition, the Great Ireland Run, for example, charges €3 for delivery of the number/chip etc.

Just going on the €1.50 - that's 10% alone. The actual entry for ballycotton was something like 3,400, giving a total of €5,100 to activenetwork. Personally, I'm not keen on paying a third party that sort of money to process my races and, when entering, I avoid paying these fees where possible, preferring to give direct to the organisers.

Ballycotton run their event on a shoestring budget and the race actually costs far more to run than the €51,000 or so the entry fees brought in. They seem to aim to keep entry fees down, while many other race organisers appear to be racing to the top to see what the 'market' will bear. I can't see Ballycotton bringing in online entry anytime soon.

So...."very small"....., imho...No!

run ireland, according to their site charge 7 % which would work out at €1.o5, it cost money to post off your cheque anyway so you are paying a third party An post, €0.55 in a stamp, the other €0.50 i wouldnt mind paying(ya might even use that in petrol going to and from the post office!, not to mention the cost of cheque, envelope,and paper!)
i have nothing against the organisers, its a great race, and well organised the only improvement i see would be an online entry... it just my opinion

bart simpson

tisnotover wrote: »

And both above mentioned races have big sponsors? And remind me of the entry fees for both again?

great ireland is expensive yes, but i hear the addidas series package is reasonable...do you know different?

Condo131

bart simpson wrote: »

run ireland, according to their site charge 7 % which would work out at €1.o5, it cost money to post off your cheque anyway so you are paying a third party An post, €0.55 in a stamp, the other €0.50 i wouldnt mind paying(ya might even use that in petrol going to and from the post office!, not to mention the cost of cheque, envelope,and paper!)
i have nothing against the organisers, its a great race, and well organised the only improvement i see would be an online entry... it just my opinion

Yes RunIreland are cheaper, but it would still cost the organisers nearly €3,600 to use them. Considering that they operate on a shoestring, that would have to be passed on directly, shoving the entry fee up to to nearly €16.15 - probably rounded up to €16.50. But who charges that sort of price? That's going to be rounded up to €20, so the on-line entry fee has cost you a lot more than the original €1.05.

bart simpson wrote: »

great ireland is expensive yes, but i hear the addidas series package is reasonable...do you know different?

The Adidas is going to cost €20 per event. The Ballycotton 5 series this summer will cost €5 per race, with a little extra for the last in the series but 100% of that goes to charity. None of the 10 milers in Cork will cost more than €15 this year.

I don't mean to take issue with your point of view. I really have an issue with those I call 'Carpetbaggers' - people who are, imho, 'screwing' the running punter and, in particular, the masses who pay 'an arm and a leg' for well marketed races. I include these on-line entry mechanisms because I reckon that they get a fair whack of money for very little effort.

This is something that should be taken up in it's own thread - when I get round to it. These people - the carpetbaggers - are making an awful lot of money out of the sport and returning very little if any. A few colleagues and I did a 'back of the envelope' calculation on one of these events last year and reckoned that the orgainisers cleared anywhere between €100,000 and €200,000 after all costs.:eek::eek::eek:

bart simpson

Condo131 wrote: »

Yes RunIreland are cheaper, but it would still cost the organisers nearly €3,600 to use them. Considering that they operate on a shoestring, that would have to be passed on directly, shoving the entry fee up to to nearly €16.15 - probably rounded up to €16.50. But who charges that sort of price? That's going to be rounded up to €20, so the on-line entry fee has cost you a lot more than the original €1.05.

€16.50.. who charges that sort of price? maybe ballycotton running promotions! there is no need to round up at all, most things you would buy online have a processing/handling charge and most do not round up by at all let alone 25% like you are suggesting.

Condo131 wrote: »

The Adidas is going to cost €20 per event. The Ballycotton 5 series this summer will cost €5 per race, with a little extra for the last in the series but 100% of that goes to charity. None of the 10 milers in Cork will cost more than €15 this year.

i take part in a local race series that costs 8 euro a race and it great craic, well organised and cheap, id imagine it is similar to your summer series, but i wouldnt compare it to the adidas which is chip timed with technical tee and goody bag, €20 euro for a half marathon is great value

Condo131 wrote: »

I don't mean to take issue with your point of view. I really have an issue with those I call 'Carpetbaggers' - people who are, imho, 'screwing' the running punter and, in particular, the masses who pay 'an arm and a leg' for well marketed races. I include these on-line entry mechanisms because I reckon that they get a fair whack of money for very little effort.
This is something that should be taken up in it's own thread - when I get round to it. These people - the carpetbaggers - are making an awful lot of money out of the sport and returning very little if any. A few colleagues and I did a 'back of the envelope' calculation on one of these events last year and reckoned that the orgainisers cleared anywhere between €100,000 and €200,000 after all costs.:eek::eek::eek:

i agree with you completely regarding private enterprises trying to take advantage, there are loads of races with online entry that dont take advantage, the likes of the dungarvan 10 miler for example.
im gona leave it now because really it aint a big deal and im coming across as a bit of a moaner, its a great race and il be first down to the post office next year:)

Hard Worker

There's two ways of looking at it. Cost of stamp, envelope and cheque = approx €1. You post off your entry and wait a couple of weeks to see if you have been accepted. Alternatively, you enter online and find out straight away. The online entry saves the club / committee a lot of labour - opening thousands of envelopes, inputting all the data, preparing bank lodgements and the costs of those lodgements.
Ballycotton obviously have a good few hard working volunteers and are happy enough to operate the postal entry system and in the end probably save the runner a euro.