Irish Multimarathon 2010 & Kids Mobile Marathon

Oisin11178

1 star (terrible)

Great post lipi.
On a side note the voting side of things is it open to spectators, marshalls ect..
I was under the impression it was for people that ran the race. If not fair enough.

bpollard

3 stars (average)

Registration was shambles - we all know that and now know why. Lets hope it is a lesson learned. My opinion (though i was one) is that those who want to register on day should be required to do so 75 minutes prior to race at latest.

Though I was hoping to use race in attempt for PB what can you do - weather cannot be helped. I still really enjoyed and at least we cannot say it was a typical half marathon - wind and rain were added challenges at best. Lets be honest if you cannot adapt to the conditions no matter how bad you should go back to the couch. No matter the weather I still do my training runs.

Think some people need to grow up and require less hand holding. I do think there should of been at least one car patrolling up\down beach in case someone struggled - I stumbled on ankle which recovered fairly quickly but could have been worse. This was a health\safety issue in all honesty.

Lets put down to lessons learned I hope. At the end of the day if improvements are not made as each race progresses only Eoin will lose out through attendance due to bad publicity.

Bren

bpollard

3 stars (average)

One other point - either drop the T-shirt or medal and bring in a few photographers. I would prefer to have couple of pics of myself running (struggling) in races than a medal or t-shirt. a couple of pics of how crazy the beach was would be fun to look back on.
Bren

big mce

1 star (terrible)

Hi all,

I did this yesterday and was disappointed. A group of us did it together and arrived at registration at 10:20 am which I thought was allowing loads of time. We ended up missing the start of the race even though one of the volunteers stated that the race wouldn't start until every one was ready.(This really miffed me as I enjoy the start!) The volunteer also stated that any one who hadn't pre-registered (We had pre-registered) could just skip the queue to sign on. Where is the sense in that?

The course route was excellent however I felt a marker to show you where to go just after the 1k where the route leaves the sea front and goes around some trees would have been helpful.(Bear in mind we had no-one to follow). The weather was unhelpful but no-one can help that. Its the toughest run I've done. At one stage I felt I was like an Arab fighting through a sand storm.

I felt all the marshalls were brilliant and have no complaints towards them. In defense of the marshalls to the previous poster who hurt his groin I'd imagine it was very difficult for a marshalls to know who was in the race and who wasn't as very few were wearing numbers and there was alot of people out running who weren't in the race.

The end of the race was badly organised in that I didn't know which direction to go in to finish. Two women who finished after me were very disappointed that there was no medals left but I realise that the race organisers are sending these out. I understand that some people can't understand why people get annoyed over no medal but to some people the finishers medal is the only reason they do these things.
There was also no food/bananas left at the finish so perhaps more of these at the finish line rather than Clontarf castle which i didn't bother going to.

I went to the leisure centre for a shower afterwards which was great to get rid of the sand in peculiar areas! I also got a technical shirt with nothing printed on it, did I pick up a dud?

tunguska

3 stars (average)

bewleys berry wrote: »

seein as u say tunguska looked strong all the way through christeb, was that u on the bike who was with him most of the way around..........?? personally it made no diff to my race as i was as good as i was on the day but there are plenty of people who would frown on that coaching/supporting sort of thing!

I probably shouldnt get into this but I have to reply.........There was zero coaching/supporting going on. The guy on the bike was a race marshall from Raheny shamrock who was effectively acting as a race lead car. The Gardai were meant to do that job as far as I know but they bailed after 1.5km. So the marshall on the bike took up that job until we got to the wooden bridge. Then I was on my own until I got to the entrance to bull island(at raheny). Im pretty sure that was about the 5.5mile point. At this point I met up with the race marshall on the bike again. So that means at this stage he'd been with me for, Id say, less than 1 mile out of 5.5. Then we got to the turn which was about 6.55miles, made the turn and back to the raheny entrance to bull island. So that means he was with me for about 2 miles to give a total of less than 3 miles out of 8 at that point. The next time I met up with him it was at the end/start of the wooden bridge which meant about 2 miles to go. He stayed with me for 1 of those miles and then headed to the finish line. Which means in total that race marshall had been with me for a total of less than 4 miles out of 13.1. Thats not even 30% of the total distance. So how is 30% "most of the way around"?
Like I said that race marshall was effectively the race lead car. There were no other runners in front of me so I really needed that marshall to direct me along the race route. I wouldve been more than happy to follow the Gardai all the way around but they bailed.

Bewleys berry, you need to get your facts right before you make statements like the above.

donothoponpop

Oisin11178 wrote: »

On a side note the voting side of things is it open to spectators, marshalls ect..
I was under the impression it was for people that ran the race. If not fair enough.

The whole idea of the polls is to give a runners view on the races. If race directors, marshals, or friends start giving their rating, its just going to skew the results, and is pretty much against the spirit of the polls. Not a hanging offence, though:)

bewleys berry

Hey Tunguska....apologies if ya took offence from my comments....... i was reckoning we musta run about 3to4 miles on the beach (a section where a bike obviously couldn't go) so that was where i was gettin my ''whole way round'' thing - ie the other 9to10 miles on the road... anyway this thread and race are really getting peoples opinions goin eh:D

there were a couple of guys around me early who were fairly incensed with the ''coaching'' thing, but as i said it didn't make any difference to me....

an aside, how is everyone today after the race?? i had unbelievable pains in my legs all last night.... something i never had before...musta been the tough conditions and wind etc... but sure what doesn't kill ya only makes ya stronger eh:p

misty floyd

Congratulations Tunguska. Very strong running on what sounded like a very tough race.

Well done dude.

sarsfieldsrock

1 star (terrible)

bewleys berry wrote: »

an aside, how is everyone today after the race?? i had unbelievable pains in my legs all last night.... something i never had before...musta been the tough conditions and wind etc... but sure what doesn't kill ya only makes ya stronger eh:p

My calves are killing me all day. Not sure if it is just the sand and running into the wind or the Vibram shoes that I wore. Probably just the sand and wind.
I also decided to wear my board singlet for the first time. As I usually wear a GAA jersey I had a lot more pale flesh exposed and, of course, forgot to apply the sunblock. Sure it was supposed to rain wasn't it?
Anyway the resultant burning is not pretty!

PVincent

3 stars (average)

I have always sad that the conditions for this race last year were the worst I ever ran in ( heat) but yesterday surpassed everything ...I have never run in a wind that completly unbalanced you or a literal sandstorm on the beach...am ready for Marathon De Sables now !
as runners we have rightly become very choosy about where we spend our money on races. We have become less tolerant as well when things dont quite go to plan ...As someone who has been involved in putting on races, I am fully aware that planning for every eventuality is what we try to do , but it is not always possible for everything to go to plan ( ie helpers crying off at last minute... someone lets you down, inexperience , huge late enteries ) Eoin Ryan is one of the best guys you could meet ...his honesty and openness is unique and refreshing ...I chatted with him at his van yesterday for a good while and I encourage him to go ahead with his plan to describe in detail the amount of work he put into the day in the preceding days ...my involvement in races is chicken feed (Aviva Charity Mile event -BHAA) compared to his but I do know the stresses and strains of getting things done is shattering at times ...and for little or no reward ...I can assure you Eoin is not making any money out of organising races ...Eoin has made half marathon races the most popular of all distances now...everyone wants to run them ...they are cropping up everywhere ...
for €30...what did we get ...yes ok admittedly registration ( in a great setting ) was not brill ,but he has admitted that and noted and explained the issue...I thought the Lord Mayor thing was funny as did the runners around me who all laughed and joked as we passed him ...he didnt look too put out by it ...the course was well marked , marshalled and kilo markers clear ...water stations good and plentiful, great teeshirt, finish line area welcoming and encouraging ...(ok a little hard to pick the line but we were all suffering so not as if the time mattered) , bananas and water and good banter , bag drop and reclaim very easy, showers after if you wanted ,muffins & tea in the castle if you wanted ...medal (what do u do with yours ! put it in a drawer for a few years and then throw it out ) ..easy parking and use of westwood for a week possibly if it suited you .....what other races give you all of the above...not many !
good value for 1hr 42 mins that I had ...we all will be talking about it guys because it was so tough ...I say well done Eoin and 3rd time lucky next year [/SIZE]

jailhouse_dave

hi all, just a quick one and not directly related to yesterday. In 2007 there were very few early/mid year half marathons around in the republic, I had to travel overseas to get something decent. The lad has put on some half marathons at times when there was none and others seem to have followed suit. For this i think he deserves a well done.

Ath36

4 stars (good)

Going against the general consensus, I thought yesterdays race was excellent. Admitedly, I collected my number approx 9.35am and hence did not run into the registration problems a lot of people did.
I thought other than the obvious problems with registration, the organisation & marshalling was fine, the course was inspiring, the sandstorms and wind were surreal and challenging and the experience overall great value for 30euro. I thought that the weather conditions actually added to the occasion rather than detracted from it.
A perfect race at this time of year to build the fitness for the autumn marathon.
I will definitely be back next year.
Well done Eoin.

eoin ryan

Thanks Fella's
I'll get the medals sorted then i'll write that bit.

Incidently - I have the medals here with me in a bag. When the rain lashed down a few mins after the start i put all the volunteers into the Jeep for shelter. I threw in one of the bags of medals and asked them to seperate them and put them back at the finish line. They didn't put them back.... Bummer

MisterDrak

3 stars (average)

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

My calves are killing me all day. Not sure if it is just the sand and running into the wind or the Vibram shoes that I wore. Probably just the sand and wind.
I also decided to wear my board singlet for the first time. As I usually wear a GAA jersey I had a lot more pale flesh exposed and, of course, forgot to apply the sunblock. Sure it was supposed to rain wasn't it?
Anyway the resultant burning is not pretty!

Sarsfield,

How did you get on with the shoes (seen you at the start line, but race started before I could strike up)? How did you find the running without decent cushioning?

DublinDilbert

3 stars (average)

Now that I've finally got all the sand cleaned off just wanted to write a quick post!

The conditions were challenging, but I guess that's why we were all there for a challenge. Would do the race again, no major complaints. Will run the route again over the summer, although will check the wind in advance

Well done to all the Volunteers who helped out and everyone who completed the course on Sunday.

sarsfieldsrock

1 star (terrible)

MisterDrak wrote: »

Sarsfield,
How did you get on with the shoes (seen you at the start line, but race started before I could strike up)? How did you find the running without decent cushioning?

Its hard to say. My calf muscles are still very tight after it. But the sand wouldn't help there and I did the 50K in Port the week before so both of those could have a lot to do with it.
The feet themselves are fine. Seemed to get a bit chafed on the right sole of foot but that could be just the socks I had. I had a stress fracture in my left foot last Jan so I was a bit worried about that but no problems.

I ran on the grass and sand where I could and that probably helped. I will be using them again for a half but I might see if I can get a light insole for them.

elvis jones

3 stars (average)

Hi all,

wondering did everyone else measure 13.1 miles on the day ?????

I measured 13.6 miles and i thought mine was reading wrong so i did a measured mile this evening and it was spot on

eoin ryan

I measured it with a Polar and a much used measuring wheel thats marked a lot of races (i borrowed it). I'd be interested if someone agrees with you...

expato

13.1 with my Garmin.

Oisin11178

1 star (terrible)

13.10 on the dot.

foleyalan

2 star (poor)

I measured it at 13.1 on the dot too with the Garmin. Still haven't recovered from the race. It was probably the hardest run i had done since Dublin marathon last year. It will be deffo one to remember. Ill be back next year.

Donny5

1 star (terrible)

elvis jones wrote: »

Hi all,

wondering did everyone else measure 13.1 miles on the day ?????

I measured 13.6 miles and i thought mine was reading wrong so i did a measured mile this evening and it was spot on

Maybe you ended up running in circles for a while in the sandstorm. I nearly ran into a lifegaurd on a quad since my head was down.

foleyalan

2 star (poor)

+1

--amadeus--

elvis jones wrote: »

Hi all,

wondering did everyone else measure 13.1 miles on the day ?????

I measured 13.6 miles and i thought mine was reading wrong so i did a measured mile this evening and it was spot on

It's pretty rare for a GPS to measure exactly the right distance as races are measured along the shortest possible route (the racing line) and unless you stick rigidly to it you will normally run slightly further. And of course normally you'll weave around a bit, passing other runners or going to water stations, etc.

Eoin - was the course not measured with a Jones Counter?

Oisin11178

1 star (terrible)

Yeah i normally come in about 26.4 for marathons. Funny this one came in at 13.10 for me and portumna came in at 26.2 last week.

eoin ryan

--amadeus-- wrote: »

It's pretty rare for a GPS to measure exactly the right distance as races are measured along the shortest possible route (the racing line) and unless you stick rigidly to it you will normally run slightly further. And of course normally you'll weave around a bit, passing other runners or going to water stations, etc.

Eoin - was the course not measured with a Jones Counter?

Your above point is correct. I've accompanied a guy on 3 course mesurements and have a eye now for the racing line (still hasn't improved my running times tho)

no we didn't use a Jones. I took advise from several experienced ppl and they said it wouldn't be 100% accurate. Basically the Jones is attached to a bike wheel and rolling over sand it gives a higher margin for error than say the smaller wider measuring wheel. This wheel has done a lot of course measuring (as mentioned) but i did do a calibration test on it to keep it honest. Its bang on. This wheel has the same number of digit as a Jones so taking the above into account it is the better option. It measures to the 10cm upwards

elvis jones

3 stars (average)

Thanks everyone,

I hope the jones method isn't the elvis jones or it would be slightly off !!

I recalibrated the unit so I hope this was a once off.....

Never doubted you Eoin, just needed to know was mine out of sync !

Krusty_Clown

You're using a pedometer-based watch elvis jones? You really have to take the reading with a pinch of salt (grain of sand?) as anything that changes your stride pattern (e.g. running on a beach) will affect the reliability of the distance recorded.

elvis jones

3 stars (average)

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

You're using a pedometer-based watch elvis jones? You really have to take the reading with a pinch of salt (grain of sand?) as anything that changes your stride pattern (e.g. running on a beach) will affect the reliability of the distance recorded.

So I should have bought a garmin then ?????

eoin ryan

If Teresa Agar is reading this can she PM me pls?

Or if you know her..... will you ask her to contact me pls via the website www.irishmultimarathon.com go to contact Tab

Ta

Krusty_Clown

elvis jones wrote: »

So I should have bought a garmin then ?????

No. A GPS based watch may not be any more accurate. Just saying that Eoin's Trundle-wheel or a Jones counter used properly is far more accurate than any device carried by a runner, even if that runner is running a perfect racing line (very improbable).

--amadeus--

eoin ryan wrote: »

Your above point is correct. I've accompanied a guy on 3 course mesurements and have a eye now for the racing line (still hasn't improved my running times tho)

no we didn't use a Jones. I took advise from several experienced ppl and they said it wouldn't be 100% accurate. Basically the Jones is attached to a bike wheel and rolling over sand it gives a higher margin for error than say the smaller wider measuring wheel. This wheel has done a lot of course measuring (as mentioned) but i did do a calibration test on it to keep it honest. Its bang on. This wheel has the same number of digit as a Jones so taking the above into account it is the better option. It measures to the 10cm upwards

Makes sense, thanks!

ultraman1

eoin ryan wrote: »

I measured it with a Polar and a much used measuring wheel thats marked a lot of races (i borrowed it). I'd be interested if someone agrees with you...

did Athletics Ireland accept the measurement cert and issue a permit?

Jacky08

4 stars (good)

bpollard wrote: »

One other point - either drop the T-shirt or medal and bring in a few photographers. I would prefer to have couple of pics of myself running (struggling) in races than a medal or t-shirt. a couple of pics of how crazy the beach was would be fun to look back on.
Bren

Good call

eoin ryan

I said I’d put this up for insight and interest for anyone who thinks a race just happens On another post a fella put up the Tick list that had to be worked through. Very accurate/ useful and enough there to keep plenty of people in his club busy on the lead up.
Here goes - bear in mind that a mountain of stuff has happened before this....


Friday 2nd:
(during the course of the day I take about 20 calls from ppl about the race. 90% of the info is on the website but I take the calls and help)

Pick up trailer from a friend. He has stuff in it. Unload it
Load jeep with 17 x 15L boxes of water & 2 x bin holders
Drive from ballyfermot to Ballymun to collect cones
Load 70 cones (5.5kg each) into trailer
Drive to Bull Island
Take the cones off the trailer
Drive back to Ballymun
Load 30 cones into Trailer
Drive to Bull Island
Empty trailer.
Phone house to see if t-shirts, medals and numbers have arrived... They hadn’t – its Friday! There is no delivery over the weekend. They were sent on Tuesday. I’m aware they are late. I have been assured by UK supplier they will be there in Friday morning. He has never let me down. He then proceeds to tell me that there has been a 2 x massive feck up’s by the courier company. He sent them on Tue –they arrived back to him on Wed eve. He sends them on Thur for overnight airfreight and they go on the slow boat. He knows the consequences of a non delivery. I know the consequences! Time to take control. I get the tracking numbers and phone the company. They tell me it’s impossible – I won’t get them till Monday. I won’t give up. Finally I am given a slim chance of getting them on Sat provided I go to the airport. Stress levels rising
Drive to Clontarf Castle hotel and off load the 17 boxes of water and bin holders
Return to ballyfermot and make more calls to courier company.
Watch a bit of the football
Run though my check list of materials. Lay them all out on the floor
Make contact with volunteers to see they are ok.
Print off the Kids certificates and sign them. Pack all the kids stuff together
Bed 9pm


Saturday 3rd:
(during the course of the day I take about 20 calls from ppl about the race. 90% of the info is on the website but I take the calls and help)

Up at 7.30am. Bad night’s sleep – stressed over the missing materials.
Drive from Ballyfermot to Capel St to collect pre ordered bananas in Keelings. Can’t find Keelings depot at the fruit market (too many one way streets). I eventually spot it
Fair play he got my message that I wanted a ‘few days old’ bananas. Perfect. I haggle the price for them and take 600 units. That’s one each plus an additional 150 extras
Back to Ballyfermot
Phone Courier. She tells me no chance - its gonna be Monday. I start giving her details and she starts becoming more helpful. Eventually she phones the warehouse and tells me that they are in reception and that I’m a lucky boy. Load trailer with 30 x (2l x4) bottles of water and 17 bags of 50 x 250ml bottles and strap on the bike
Drive to Airport
Get the 4 x boxes. I text supplier cause I know his head is cooked. Happy days!
Drive to West Wood.
Take out the 4 x boxes and the 6 boxes of bananas and put them in a store room.
Open the boxes and put the tops in order of size so they are ready for the morning.
No time to count them or the medals.
Drop the trailer in a secure location nearby.
Collect 2 signs in Clontarf castle.
Go to the Causeway and take out the bike
Finish dbl checking the marking of the course
Go back to ballyfermot.
Do the spreadsheet with the numbers for the wall and the timing. This takes a fair bit of concentration and dbl checking.
My Mum arrives – I give her a few small jobs.
Load the Jeep with stakes and the finish gantry and other materials.
Check. Check. Check everything is there
Bed at 10pm

Sunday 4th
Get up at 2am – got 1hr proper sleep
I’m in Clontarf at 2.45am
Pick up the trailer. Decide to put the big signs and Gantry that are inside the jeep on top of the water and maybe then I can put the cones onto of this and not have to off load the water.
Drive to Bull island – location middle of nowhere.
When taking the gantry off the signs a gust of wind catches the signs (they are 8ft x 4ft) and flips the sign and the last piece of the gantry up in the air and it crashes down on me flattening me to the ground. The base of the Gantry has a 2 inch screw in it that misses my head by as much. As sore as it was – it could have been worse.
Put the sign back flat on trailer above the water – tie it down quickly. Put a few cones on top. The idea won’t work.
Take them all off and unload the 30 x (2l x4) bottles of water and 17 bags of 50 x 250ml bottles
Load the cones onto the trailer 5.5kg x 60. They get heavier as you have to stack them higher.
Drive to the Causeway
Along the way I have my first sandwich. I curse that I forgot Baby wipes. Didn’t make the sambo’s in advance so I have half a sliced pan and a packet of ham. Make them while driving. Yuck! Traffic cone flavoured sandwich. Not at all hygienic. BUT if I don’t eat I will come to a stop. Learned this from Ironman. Eat even when not hungry.
I lay out the 60 cones along the causeway. Have a few funny looks from Taxi drivers who drive up the Causeway to take a leak.
Finish that section at 4.20am Twilight
Back to load the 40 other cones
Drive down to Beach on bull island and begin dropping them.
Finish this and then fill a rucksack with red and white tape and aim to start at the height barrier and tape the whole way back. Quickly realise with the wind it’s hopeless.
Go back to Jeep and drive down to sand to set up Orange mesh and am aware that I can use red and white tape on this section because it’s sheltered.
Start taping get to last cone there is a car in the way. Couple ‘making out’ I knock on the window and tell him to get out of the way. Total passion killer I know but I don’t have time to redo stuff. In fairness he moves.
Back to Jeep and drive onto the sand.
Start driving stakes into the ground for the orange mesh.
Start putting down the Km signs in that area. More stakes.
Reload the trailer with the 30 x (2l x4) bottles of water and 17 bags of 50 x 250ml
Drive to Clontarf castle and have another sandwich
Load the 17 boxes of water and 2 bin stands
Drive to Causeway put up km signs. The ground is so hard it is really difficult to drive the stakes in (I break a few with the force of the sledge trying to get them in).
Gotta have them in the right place for the km markers.
Drive down to beach and offload the water 17 bags of 50 x 250ml bottles and 5 x 15l water bottles for the aid station. This is a killer because I have to carry them 100m across the soft sand.
Drive a few more stakes into the ground and put up orange mesh at this end of beach
Put in the Km signs in this area.
Drive back to road
Put up the furthest km signs. Sandwich
Drive back to bull island
Receive 2 x texts that 2 x helpers aren’t coming.
Start making phone calls to see if I can get help. No joy
Reload the 30 x (2l x4) bottles and finish Gantry and signs into trailer.
Drive to start/finish line put up remaining km signs. Really hard to bang these stakes into ground. I break 3 in one place.
Dump the finish gantry and the signs so timing guy knows where the place is
Time is 7.50am. I’ve finished setting up the course with 10mins to spare. Am happy.
Drive to Westwood.
Volunteers start arriving and timing guys.
They help me get boxes from store room. We set it up. I give them a briefing I tell them we are down helpers.
Load the bananas onto the trailer
Drive to the finish area.
Set up the gantry
Offload the remaining boxes of 12 x 15l water ready for collection
Put up the dry bag drop. Impossible to hammer wooded stakes into the ground so I use metal rods. They just about work.
Man the dry bag as volunteers haven’t arrived yet.
Mayor arrives – I greet him as per the protocol
Volunteers start to arrive I hand over the Dry bag station
Walkers go off at 10.20am
I get a call at 10.30am to say there is a big Q at registration
I send help down immediately
10.37am I ask for a loan of a Garda bike to cycle down and see if I can help
The guys say it’s moving now – the extras hands are working
I cycle back and inform ppl we are going to be delayed
Many ppl are coming up asking me how long – I give the worst case scenario of 11.20 -11.30am
I phone the guys in reception. Last person has gone through
Give a race briefing at 11.18am.
I check the road (no people coming up) I check the bag drop (no one handing in bags)
Start the race
5 mins later – start the kids race
Brief the volunteers on finish area. It’s really hard for them to pour the water in the wind. Credit to them
I know by looking at the ground that I won’t be able to knock a wooden stake into it to mark a line to the gantry (its rock solid) . I pointed to the finish area in the race briefing so I think that’s covered.
Various odd jobs and pick up litter
Fill 5 x bladders with water at the Garda station (can never have enough water)
Drive to the aid stations to make sure they are ok (I know they ok for water - I counted the volume for each station)
Pick up the excess water not needed to bring back to the finish line (in case).
Pick up litter
Told we have run out of medals. I’m finding this hard to believe but I assure ppl I will post them out.
Take everything down at finish area.
No sign of Council to take the rubbish – I load the trailer with rubbish and then the council appear. Give him the rubbish.
Have a proper dinner for 50mins
Pick up the gantry and signs in trailer drive to Bull island. Very carefully take them out thinking about what happened earlier.
Mum drives while I pick up the 40 cones and stack them on the trailer on Bull Island picking up the orange mesh and signs as we go.
Unload the cones at Bull island
Drive to the Causeway and pick up the 60 cones.
Stop at the sand and pick up the water bottles all along the causeway and beach
Drop the trailer in a secure location with cones still on it.
Pick up last remaining signs
Back home 7.30pm. We both read Boards – it makes disappointing reading for both of us after all the effort.
Drive Mum to Busaras – give her a few bob
Home at 8.30pm shower/ bed

Ok -this screams of ‘delegate you idiot’ – but by keeping the price low and not getting a huge uptake in entries I didn’t have a budget to hire anyone.
In an open area like this you have to be extremely careful that nothing “walks” which accounts for my phased plan for loading and off loading particular items at particular times and I’m taking the tide into account for knocking in signs on the beach. It was planned in advance
That’s it....

I rather not have a Q and A on this. This is what happened – that’s how I planned it. Had the 2 volunteers showed in registration the whole day would have gone like clockwork (i’m sure). There was a 20 min delay at the start. The weather was horrendus. The potential to get a good time was scupperard. We can't control the weather - I wish i could :rolleyes:

Thats 3 days in the life of a race organiser

Oisin11178

1 star (terrible)

eoin ryan wrote: »

I said I’d put this up for insight and interest for anyone who thinks a race just happens On another post a fella put up the Tick list that had to be worked through. Very accurate/ useful and enough there to keep plenty of people in his club busy on the lead up.
Here goes - bear in mind that a mountain of stuff has happened before this....


Friday 2nd:
(during the course of the day I take about 20 calls from ppl about the race. 90% of the info is on the website but I take the calls and help)

Pick up trailer from a friend. He has stuff in it. Unload it
Load jeep with 17 x 15L boxes of water & 2 x bin holders
Drive from ballyfermot to Ballymun to collect cones
Load 70 cones (5.5kg each) into trailer
Drive to Bull Island
Take the cones off the trailer
Drive back to Ballymun
Load 30 cones into Trailer
Drive to Bull Island
Empty trailer.
Phone house to see if t-shirts, medals and numbers have arrived... They hadn’t – its Friday! There is no delivery over the weekend. They were sent on Tuesday. I’m aware they are late. I have been assured by UK supplier they will be there in Friday morning. He has never let me down. He then proceeds to tell me that there has been a 2 x massive feck up’s by the courier company. He sent them on Tue –they arrived back to him on Wed eve. He sends them on Thur for overnight airfreight and they go on the slow boat. He knows the consequences of a non delivery. I know the consequences! Time to take control. I get the tracking numbers and phone the company. They tell me it’s impossible – I won’t get them till Monday. I won’t give up. Finally I am given a slim chance of getting them on Sat provided I go to the airport. Stress levels rising
Drive to Clontarf Castle hotel and off load the 17 boxes of water and bin holders
Return to ballyfermot and make more calls to courier company.
Watch a bit of the football
Run though my check list of materials. Lay them all out on the floor
Make contact with volunteers to see they are ok.
Print off the Kids certificates and sign them. Pack all the kids stuff together
Bed 9pm


Saturday 3rd:
(during the course of the day I take about 20 calls from ppl about the race. 90% of the info is on the website but I take the calls and help)

Up at 7.30am. Bad night’s sleep – stressed over the missing materials.
Drive from Ballyfermot to Capel St to collect pre ordered bananas in Keelings. Can’t find Keelings depot at the fruit market (too many one way streets). I eventually spot it
Fair play he got my message that I wanted a ‘few days old’ bananas. Perfect. I haggle the price for them and take 600 units. That’s one each plus an additional 150 extras
Back to Ballyfermot
Phone Courier. She tells me no chance - its gonna be Monday. I start giving her details and she starts becoming more helpful. Eventually she phones the warehouse and tells me that they are in reception and that I’m a lucky boy. Load trailer with 30 x (2l x4) bottles of water and 17 bags of 50 x 250ml bottles and strap on the bike
Drive to Airport
Get the 4 x boxes. I text supplier cause I know his head is cooked. Happy days!
Drive to West Wood.
Take out the 4 x boxes and the 6 boxes of bananas and put them in a store room.
Open the boxes and put the tops in order of size so they are ready for the morning.
No time to count them or the medals.
Drop the trailer in a secure location nearby.
Collect 2 signs in Clontarf castle.
Go to the Causeway and take out the bike
Finish dbl checking the marking of the course
Go back to ballyfermot.
Do the spreadsheet with the numbers for the wall and the timing. This takes a fair bit of concentration and dbl checking.
My Mum arrives – I give her a few small jobs.
Load the Jeep with stakes and the finish gantry and other materials.
Check. Check. Check everything is there
Bed at 10pm

Sunday 4th
Get up at 2am – got 1hr proper sleep
I’m in Clontarf at 2.45am
Pick up the trailer. Decide to put the big signs and Gantry that are inside the jeep on top of the water and maybe then I can put the cones onto of this and not have to off load the water.
Drive to Bull island – location middle of nowhere.
When taking the gantry off the signs a gust of wind catches the signs (they are 8ft x 4ft) and flips the sign and the last piece of the gantry up in the air and it crashes down on me flattening me to the ground. The base of the Gantry has a 2 inch screw in it that misses my head by as much. As sore as it was – it could have been worse.
Put the sign back flat on trailer above the water – tie it down quickly. Put a few cones on top. The idea won’t work.
Take them all off and unload the 30 x (2l x4) bottles of water and 17 bags of 50 x 250ml bottles
Load the cones onto the trailer 5.5kg x 60. They get heavier as you have to stack them higher.
Drive to the Causeway
Along the way I have my first sandwich. I curse that I forgot Baby wipes. Didn’t make the sambo’s in advance so I have half a sliced pan and a packet of ham. Make them while driving. Yuck! Traffic cone flavoured sandwich. Not at all hygienic. BUT if I don’t eat I will come to a stop. Learned this from Ironman. Eat even when not hungry.
I lay out the 60 cones along the causeway. Have a few funny looks from Taxi drivers who drive up the Causeway to take a leak.
Finish that section at 4.20am Twilight
Back to load the 40 other cones
Drive down to Beach on bull island and begin dropping them.
Finish this and then fill a rucksack with red and white tape and aim to start at the height barrier and tape the whole way back. Quickly realise with the wind it’s hopeless.
Go back to Jeep and drive down to sand to set up Orange mesh and am aware that I can use red and white tape on this section because it’s sheltered.
Start taping get to last cone there is a car in the way. Couple ‘making out’ I knock on the window and tell him to get out of the way. Total passion killer I know but I don’t have time to redo stuff. In fairness he moves.
Back to Jeep and drive onto the sand.
Start driving stakes into the ground for the orange mesh.
Start putting down the Km signs in that area. More stakes.
Reload the trailer with the 30 x (2l x4) bottles of water and 17 bags of 50 x 250ml
Drive to Clontarf castle and have another sandwich
Load the 17 boxes of water and 2 bin stands
Drive to Causeway put up km signs. The ground is so hard it is really difficult to drive the stakes in (I break a few with the force of the sledge trying to get them in).
Gotta have them in the right place for the km markers.
Drive down to beach and offload the water 17 bags of 50 x 250ml bottles and 5 x 15l water bottles for the aid station. This is a killer because I have to carry them 100m across the soft sand.
Drive a few more stakes into the ground and put up orange mesh at this end of beach
Put in the Km signs in this area.
Drive back to road
Put up the furthest km signs. Sandwich
Drive back to bull island
Receive 2 x texts that 2 x helpers aren’t coming.
Start making phone calls to see if I can get help. No joy
Reload the 30 x (2l x4) bottles and finish Gantry and signs into trailer.
Drive to start/finish line put up remaining km signs. Really hard to bang these stakes into ground. I break 3 in one place.
Dump the finish gantry and the signs so timing guy knows where the place is
Time is 7.50am. I’ve finished setting up the course with 10mins to spare. Am happy.
Drive to Westwood.
Volunteers start arriving and timing guys.
They help me get boxes from store room. We set it up. I give them a briefing I tell them we are down helpers.
Load the bananas onto the trailer
Drive to the finish area.
Set up the gantry
Offload the remaining boxes of 12 x 15l water ready for collection
Put up the dry bag drop. Impossible to hammer wooded stakes into the ground so I use metal rods. They just about work.
Man the dry bag as volunteers haven’t arrived yet.
Mayor arrives – I greet him as per the protocol
Volunteers start to arrive I hand over the Dry bag station
Walkers go off at 10.20am
I get a call at 10.30am to say there is a big Q at registration
I send help down immediately
10.37am I ask for a loan of a Garda bike to cycle down and see if I can help
The guys say it’s moving now – the extras hands are working
I cycle back and inform ppl we are going to be delayed
Many ppl are coming up asking me how long – I give the worst case scenario of 11.20 -11.30am
I phone the guys in reception. Last person has gone through
Give a race briefing at 11.18am.
I check the road (no people coming up) I check the bag drop (no one handing in bags)
Start the race
5 mins later – start the kids race
Brief the volunteers on finish area. It’s really hard for them to pour the water in the wind. Credit to them
I know by looking at the ground that I won’t be able to knock a wooden stake into it to mark a line to the gantry (its rock solid) . I pointed to the finish area in the race briefing so I think that’s covered.
Various odd jobs and pick up litter
Fill 5 x bladders with water at the Garda station (can never have enough water)
Drive to the aid stations to make sure they are ok (I know they ok for water - I counted the volume for each station)
Pick up the excess water not needed to bring back to the finish line (in case).
Pick up litter
Told we have run out of medals. I’m finding this hard to believe but I assure ppl I will post them out.
Take everything down at finish area.
No sign of Council to take the rubbish – I load the trailer with rubbish and then the council appear. Give him the rubbish.
Have a proper dinner for 50mins
Pick up the gantry and signs in trailer drive to Bull island. Very carefully take them out thinking about what happened earlier.
Mum drives while I pick up the 40 cones and stack them on the trailer on Bull Island picking up the orange mesh and signs as we go.
Unload the cones at Bull island
Drive to the Causeway and pick up the 60 cones.
Stop at the sand and pick up the water bottles all along the causeway and beach
Drop the trailer in a secure location with cones still on it.
Pick up last remaining signs
Back home 7.30pm. We both read Boards – it makes disappointing reading for both of us after all the effort.
Drive Mum to Busaras – give her a few bob
Home at 8.30pm shower/ bed

Ok -this screams of ‘delegate you idiot’ – but by keeping the price low and not getting a huge uptake in entries I didn’t have a budget to hire anyone.
In an open area like this you have to be extremely careful that nothing “walks” which accounts for my phased plan for loading and off loading particular items at particular times and I’m taking the tide into account for knocking in signs on the beach. It was planned in advance
That’s it....

I rather not have a Q and A on this. This is what happened – that’s how I planned it. Had the 2 volunteers showed in registration the whole day would have gone like clockwork (i’m sure). There was a 20 min delay at the start. The weather was horrendus. The potential to get a good time was scupperard. We can't control the weather - I wish i could :rolleyes:

Thats 3 days in the life of a race organiser

Fair play. Alot of work involved. If your looking for volenteers next year, look me up on here. Ill be glad to help you out.

elvis jones

3 stars (average)

Eoin,

Well done for all the effort and there are some problems you just can't fix instantly or at all.

I for one had no problem at registration or during the race.

The weather was out of your hands.

The shower in the gym was great and i liked the medal as well.

Good luck the 25th and no doubt you've learned a lot from last sunday that will help with future events !

MisterDrak

3 stars (average)

Eoin,

Same here, mamoth effort... Really enjoyed the day. Im still bragging to mates about not stopping on the beach section.

I will be back from more of the same next year...

Jacky08

4 stars (good)

Aye - fork the begrudgers

Dilbert75

My OH ran this one - and found it again very tough. But still did it 15 mins faster than last year, so I count that as pretty darn good.

Did spot one Boardie: