Great Limerick Run; Feedback to organisers

--amadeus--

Hi folks,

As you possibly know the RD asked me to feedback to him any generic feedback on teh race on behalf of all of us. I've tried to pull together the most common comments and complaints and this is what I have:

Great Limerick Run Feedback
General
The vast and overwhelming feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. People generally enjoyed the race, the route and the atmosphere. The summation seems to be that it was 85% perfect, 5% acceptable with 10% that needs work
Positives:
• The course was – generally – well received. People felt that is showcased the best parts of Limerick and hit all of the points of interest that people wanted to see
• There was a lot of positive commentary around the atmosphere. People had a lot of praise for the bands on route and the amount of support at the start and finish
• There was also a lot of positivity around the frequency of water stops – not only the planned race ones but also the casual stops set up by people outside houses and shops
• The pacers have come in for a huge amount of praise, for hitting even splits, for being positive and for getting to the finish on time
• There was also comment about the intangibles – the sheer number of people out running in Limerick recently for example – as well as the small but nice touches; like the names on the numbers.
• The expo was also good, a nice variety and size for a debut race
Negatives
The negatives are fewer but they are considered very, very serious by the people I have been talking to:
• Half and 10km signage: Speaking personally I found it harder to run to pace and calculate distance knowing without accurate signage. The mental maths if you are running flat out would be pretty tough and people paid their money to race a half marathon or 10k race, not just to finish the last bit of a marathon route. As such the race routes should have had independent markers and it would be great if these could be included for next year
• Information: There was a general feeling that critical information wasn’t communicated through the race website. For example there was a huge controversy around the gates and obstacles by the river, a simple note on the official website detailing plans would have killed that off. Likewise there was a huge amount of difficulty getting accurate and easy to read / print route maps (one supporter took a photo of the large scale route map on his phone as the best he could get!) Early and clear communication – even on things that seem trivial is really important
• The 10k race length: Runners with Garmins are estimating that the 10k route was anything up to 500m short. The bare minimum expected of any race is that it is over an accurate distance and there have been several races recently that have run short and it not acceptable. In this case the races were advertised as a bundle (full / half / 10k) and it was public knowledge that the full and half had AAI certs and were Jones Counter measured. If the 10k was never going to be accurate then it should have been labelled and marketed as a “fun run” without a distance which would have nipped these complaints in the bud
• Water: A number of slower runners reported that the later water stops and finish ran out of water and I know that the finish area ran out of energy drinks shortly after I finished. Again this can easily be remedied for next year
• The course and congestion: Another easy to fix for next year but several parts of the course need attention. The segment behind the Hunt Museum, the steps and the footbridge for example. Likewise there were several sections that were narrow or where slower half marathon runners wearing iPods and the like couldn’t hear marathon runners coming through behind and pacers reported a few near misses with traffic as large groups tried to get past slower moving runners on coned road sections.
Suggestions and ideas:
• Different coloured numbers for the different events so that supporters at the end can differentiate between 10k / half and full marathon runners
• Different medals and T-Shirts for full marathon runners
• A dedicated race director per distance reporting into an overall event director.
• A larger / better laid out number collection facility
• Better signage and information at the end (for example a lot of people didn’t know that the chips were disposable)
• Better staggering of the starts to prevent the congestion
Conclusion:
I feel that the negatives are really serious, in particular the 10k measurement. But they are all areas that can be easily fixed fairly easily. And they are a small part of the overall picture. In general the whole thing went off extremely well and runners – particularly half and full marathon runners – were delighted with how it went.

Any comments? Remember this is generic stuff and in no way should stop you sending comments directly to them!