Bay Run

KathleenF

Hey guys. Are any of ye running this?

http://www.bayrun.ie

V scenic half marathon, 50e to enter (54.25 if using credit card!!) It's my first time to enter this, has anyone here ever run it?

eliwallach

Thought the registration cut-off had come and gone at the start of April, or have the organisers extended the registration date (for the benefit of athletes, of course :rolleyes:)?

eliwallach

KathleenF wrote: »

V scenic half marathon, 50e to enter (54.25 if using credit card!!) It's my first time to enter this, has anyone here ever run it?

It's a tough course.
First 3 miles head into the woods on the northern side of Glengarriff, and loop back into GG.
Then the climbing starts. And continues for 3 miles - quite steep at times. Once you crest the hill around 6 miles (and admire the "V scenic" Bay) you are in for a running treat with over 2 miles of downhill. Here you should make hay.
Then the course becomes undulating where one hill follows another (for every uphill there is a downhill, of course) until the final descent into Bantry.

Big plus for this race - free massages at the end.

central park

Yes I did this two years ago. Its very tough in my opinion. You have to head away from Bantry at the start and then turn and pass start line again and head in the other direction. Some serious hills too. Worst thing for me was trying to get to Bantry from Galway. Went over the mountains and got stuck in very dense fog behind a car pulling a caravan. Never again for me but the scenery is amazing!

Slogger Jogger

A great race and route alright. Great free physio set up at the end alright and buses back to the start where I was staying. Recommended, but not easy (is it ever?)

runmymidlife

There are so many choices of runs to do in May, particularly that weekend. Which shall I choose - last minute decision!

Cerlan

Just registered for it there. Last minute decision as well but want some sort of yardstick before Cork.

For those of you who have run it before, would you start out at a slower than planned pace because of the hills?

TFBubendorfer

Cerlan wrote: »

For those of you who have run it before, would you start out at a slower than planned pace because of the hills?

Not really, the big hill comes early on (starts at mile 3). Start at your normal half-marathon effort, you'll find out soon enough if it was too fast.

tisnotover

looking forward to this race now, embrace the hills, it'll be a good test 5wks out from Cork !

eliwallach

tisnotover wrote: »

looking forward to this race now, embrace the hills, it'll be a good test 5wks out from Cork !

Indeed and it will.
The winner of the Bay Run last year went on to win the Cork City Marathon.

FiddlersElbowfi

running this at weekend. Looking forward to it now. Hoping to do it in just under the two hours, but as its my first Im not too worried about times really.
Is it as tough as some posters here make it out? I know there's a long hill 3 miles in but it's flat enough after that I imagine is it? Have done some serious hills in training anyways so hopefully Ill be prepared for whatever comes!

tisnotover

FiddlersElbowfi wrote: »

running this at weekend. Looking forward to it now. Hoping to do it in just under the two hours, but as its my first Im not too worried about times really.
Is it as tough as some posters here make it out? I know there's a long hill 3 miles in but it's flat enough after that I imagine is it? Have done some serious hills in training anyways so hopefully Ill be prepared for whatever comes!

I'd say go out at your target pace for first 3miles, then keep effort constant up the 2mile climb out of GlenGarriff and allow yourself to recover before picking up effort back down the next couple of miles after cresting the hill. Best as you can from there then to the finish. Expect some drags as well in last 3 miles.

More importantly, as its your first half, go out and enjoy it !!

trotter_inc

Did this 2 years ago, it's a good hilly run with some lovely views, enjoy it!

I think the entry fee of €70 (I think) is a little steep for a half marathon though.

eliwallach

trotter_inc wrote: »

Did this 2 years ago, it's a good hilly run with some lovely views, enjoy it!

I think the entry fee of €70 (I think) is a little steep for a half marathon though.

In fairness it's "only" €50.
And even less if you register in 2005* or something.

*before Christmas 2009

Condo131

Try this one for €25..... and a far, far wider range of prizes!

KathleenF

Ran this today, I was expecting a lot more from it. I guess having run the Connemarathon I was expecting higher standards. Didn't see where the food was after the race and I felt the traffic situation could have been handled better. Def not worth the money I shelled out, I can't see myself running this again. I will say the goody bag was decent but worth 50e plus? Hardly. I was in two minds about running this (was sick in last few days) and to be honest I felt having run it I made the wrong decision! It was a waste of my time and money. Also got back to my car to find a flyer for that bloody Killarney Maximarathon - no chance!!

Overall poor value.

Cerlan

Ran it today as well. Tough route. I enjoyed it though, mainly because I managed to run it faster than expected. I agree that it could have been better organised. I was attempting to run the last mile as fast as i could but the route was narrowed to the size of the footpath and it was very hard to pass people at the end. Overall, twas a bit of a rip off, which I knew before going into it, but an enjoyable experience all the same.

tisnotover

results are now up on website.

tough but fair course, with a good mixture of up/down hills. not sure where my 50euro's went to though!

did not like hassle with registration yesterday or trying to find my gear-bag after race.

on positive side though, the sports massage after was really good, and the crack around bantry yesterday was good. busses to Glengarriff were also hassle free.

Backmarker

I see the results are still in 'Stone Age' format - no clubs or districts listed. You'd think in 2010 that they'd produce decent results.

eliwallach

Not a huge fan of race medals, but the medal in the goody bag has got to be one of the coolest I've ever gotten!
You could hang it on your keyring if you wanted.

There was a lot of hassle collecting bags after the finish.
Initial problem was that the numbered bags weren't laid out in chronological order - this was compounded with (what seemed like) totally inept bag retrievers.
Eventually I got in around the barrier and finally fished out my own. Alot of people followed so I can only imagine the mayhem that transpired later.

Tough course but at least the hardship was out of the way early on.
Scored a nice PB by 4 min.;)

tisnotover

eliwallach wrote: »

Not a huge fan of race medals, but the medal in the goody bag has got to be one of the coolest I've ever gotten!
You could hang it on your keyring if you wanted.

There was a lot of hassle collecting bags after the finish.
Initial problem was that the numbered bags weren't laid out in chronological order - this was compounded with (what seemed like) totally inept bag retrievers.
Eventually I got in around the barrier and finally fished out my own. Alot of people followed so I can only imagine the mayhem that transpired later.

Tough course but at least the hardship was out of the way early on.
Scored a nice PB by 4 min.;)

+1 eli, I've it on my keyring now as well, nice souvenir like.

great going on the PB !

Condo131

Photos (274) from Bay run are HERE.

bigdaddy2010

50 euro for the run is a rip off. They say on the poster that a donation goes to bantry hospice. The two guys running it made 76,000 euro from it this year. I think that is an absolute disgrace. I would agree with the posts above that you get very little for the money you pay.

Sport101

bigdaddy2010 wrote: »

50 euro for the run is a rip off. They say on the poster that a donation goes to bantry hospice. The two guys running it made 76,000 euro from it this year. I think that is an absolute disgrace. I would agree with the posts above that you get very little for the money you pay.

Pretty impressive from 1,000 entries, there must be some roles in NAMA for them.

Cerlan

There were over 1200 entries this year. 76 000 sounds a bit much but I was told by a friend of one of the organisers that he "cleans up" from it every year. I'd imagine the profit margins are substantial...

eliwallach

Cerlan wrote: »

I'd imagine the profit margins are substantial...

That's just good business. Isn't it?
What am I missing?

Cerlan

That's just good business. Isn't it?
What am I missing?

Of course it's good business. Know idea what you're missing.

Condo131

eliwallach wrote: »

That's just good business. Isn't it?
What am I missing?

Cerlan wrote: »

Of course it's good business. Know idea what you're missing.

Disclaimer:
This post makes no reference whatsoever, one way or another, to the original thread title. It is merely a response to the thrust of posts made during the past few days.

The point that you're both missing is that this is a forum dealing (largely) with *AMATEUR* athletics and other associated sports. The gist of the other recent posters is that some races appear to be making "super-normal" profits. FYI, supernormal profit is profit which exceeds the normal business ROI.

In a nutshell, we have two main classes of race organiser in Ireland:
1. Races, organised largely by amateur organisations, which cater for the regular athlete at relatively minimal cost, and intent on making, one hopes, a small margin.
2. Races, organised largely by limited companies, with well marketed events, aimed at, judging by the race results, newcomers to the sport, and, while charging high entry fees, appear provide less return to customers the normal athletic organised events. Most offer limited prizes and some even go so far as to offer none whatsoever.

There is a place, in Ireland, for 'for profit' races. 'For profit' races do a good job in other countries, for a *FAIR* profit.

The problem with extraordinary profits is the customer loses.

RoyMcC

Maybe a lovely mod could attach a poll to this thread? As I recall this race had very mixed reviews last year as well.

Generally, is there going to be some sort of collation of poll results so that runners might begin to compare one race with another?

shels4ever

bigdaddy2010 wrote: »

50 euro for the run is a rip off. They say on the poster that a donation goes to bantry hospice. The two guys running it made 76,000 euro from it this year. I think that is an absolute disgrace. I would agree with the posts above that you get very little for the money you pay.

Nobody is forced to pay €50 euro and i'd have no problem with anyone making a profit if people are silly enough to pay that sort of money... fools and their money .... If people stop paying then prices will come down.. If q's of people showed up to had me money i'd hardly say no.

Condo131

shels4ever wrote: »

Nobody is forced to pay €50 euro and i'd have no problem with anyone making a profit if people are silly enough to pay that sort of money... fools and their money .... If people stop paying then prices will come down.. If q's of people showed up to had me money i'd hardly say no.

I fully agree! Nevertheless I really am genuinely amazed at the numbers paying into these 'high ticket' races.


....I see one of the 'high ticket' events is advertising free bands..... and free water.... every three miles :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:. Personally, I couldn't give a fiddlers about the band.....but "free water"....I'd hate to be running with a sackful of change if they decided to charge!