IMRA season 2012

Mothman

paulocon2 wrote: »

Fair play to the summit Marshall for reminding people to lift their heads to take in the views. Had a quick look but was too tired at that stage to make any sense of the landscape!

Well thank you

It was fantastic up there...well apart from being interrupted by 250.....:pac:
but then without the 250, i wouldn't have been up there.



Had to tear myself away, otherwise search parties would have been out for me.

Having walked last nights race, its not one I'll ever race. I do hill runs for the hills, not for edge-of-your shorts descents

I do like the Brockagh descent though

paulocon2

Mothman wrote: »

Well thank you

It was fantastic up there...well apart from being interrupted by 250.....:pac:
but then without the 250, i wouldn't have been up there.

Had to tear myself away, otherwise search parties would have been out for me.

Having walked last nights race, its not one I'll ever race. I do hill runs for the hills, not for edge-of-your shorts descents

Great first pic of the line of runners - legs feel sore even looking at it though. Any more pics?

I do like the Brockagh descent though

Tell me more. Another hair-raising experience?

Mothman

paulocon2 wrote: »

Great first pic of the line of runners - legs feel sore even looking at it though. Any more pics?

Just some of the view. I would have been failing in my duties to try marshal and take snaps of runners at same time.

Tell me more. Another hair-raising experience?

Fast!! but a lot on grass, and I actually allow myself go.
Usually I have brakes on with rougher descents
There's also quite a long run in on forest road, which is not to everyone's liking, but I made good ground on it last year.

paulocon2

Mothman wrote: »

Just some of the view. I would have been failing in my duties to try marshal and take snaps of runners at same time.

Very true! Wouldn't mind seeing a shot from the summit - had a quick glance down but the shock of the descent seems to have wiped all memory of the scene from my brain!

Mothman wrote: »

Fast!! but a lot on grass, and I actually allow myself go.
Usually I have brakes on with rougher descents
There's also quite a long run in on forest road, which is not to everyone's liking, but I made good ground on it last year.

Sounds good. Only new to the hill running but found the descent last night took a lot of concentration. Unfortunately for me, my concentration levels waned at one point and I found myself flying headlong into a fine bed of heather!

Sandwell

That was a fine evening for my first IMRA race of 2012. I found the climb ok but suffered on the descent. I've been out for several months with a horrible combo of ankle and knee injuries and I think my poor joints didn't know what had hit them. Right ankle's a bit sore today but it was worth it to get out in the hills in weather like that.

Mothman

A few more pics from top of Djouce in pic thread

ocnoc

Best of luck to those running the WW. Should be good crack

T runner

ocnoc wrote: »

Best of luck to those running the WW. Should be good crack

Thread here.

pablo t

For anyone interested, I wrote a bit of a longwinded, coma inducing, speil about my attempt at the Bob Graham Round last week which ye can see here:

www.overtrailsandhills.blogspot.com

Antigrav

There is a post on the IMRA Forumabout the race tomorrow:

PLEASE NOTE - PERMIT FROM THE NATIONAL PARKS HAS BEEN RECEIVED SUBJECT TO A MAXIMUM NUMBER OF 150 RUNNERS. Registration will close when this cap of 150 has been reached. Please do not run on the course if you do make it to registration on time or before the cap is reached.

This is going to upset quite a few people who drive all the way to Laragh and are then told they cannot run the race. There is a plan to have an alternative run that people can do but it may be a bit late to organise this.

Turn up early if you want an entry!

firemouth

Antigrav wrote: »

There is a post on the IMRA Forumabout the race tomorrow:


This is going to upset quite a few people who drive all the way to Laragh and are then told they cannot run the race. There is a plan to have an alternative run that people can do but it may be a bit late to organise this.

Turn up early if you want an entry!

lunch in Laragh it is then!

Ar Strae

Antigrav wrote: »

There is a post on the This is going to upset quite a few people who drive all the way to Laragh and are then told they cannot run the race. There is a plan to have an alternative run that people can do but it may be a bit late to organise this.

I think the alternate route is fairly pointless, it will be untimed, unmarked, unknown distance, no photographer etc so I don't think will appeal to your general Leinster League punter. But what tomorrow MIGHT do is to make sure that people pay more attention to the website, forums and warnings! No bad thing that.

Plus surely IMRA are going to have to start to cap their LL races themselves anyway, so it's a shot across the bows.

Ro

Stark

Ar Strae wrote: »

I think the alternate route is fairly pointless, it will be untimed, unmarked, unknown distance, no photographer etc so I don't think will appeal to your general Leinster League punter.

I know. It almost sounds like training :eek:

paulocon2

Antigrav wrote: »

There is a post on the IMRA Forumabout the race tomorrow:


This is going to upset quite a few people who drive all the way to Laragh and are then told they cannot run the race. There is a plan to have an alternative run that people can do but it may be a bit late to organise this.

Turn up early if you want an entry!

Saw that alright. Will probably give this one a miss so - driving from County Louth after work so doubt I'd make it down before the cap is reached. Anyone know is such restrictions are likely for Scarr next week?

rovers_runner

This new cap system is completely unworkable without pre-registration.
The majority of people who take part in these races are coming from Dublin which is a 90 minute round trip by car.

The thought of someone being number 151 in the queue tomorrow and being told to F off is a sickner.

Personally I won't be there as I've a marathon next Mon so I'm not trying to argue for personal circumstances, but I can see plenty of problems as a result of this decision.
That or a complete drop off in interest as a result of poor planning which is sad considering that the last 3 races has had 250 turning out.


Why not consult with runireland.com as was done with the Dublin Mountains Plod previously?

Antigrav

This decision by WMNP was obviously a surprise to IMRA and Race Director. No precedent for this.

Online registration is being developed for the IMRA site by Enduro (purportedly )

thirstywork2

Going to give this a miss also !!!

ocnoc

rovers_runner wrote: »

This new cap system is completely unworkable without pre-registration.
The majority of people who take part in these races are coming from Dublin which is a 90 minute round trip by car.

The thought of someone being number 151 in the queue tomorrow and being told to F off is a sickner.

Personally I won't be there as I've a marathon next Mon so I'm not trying to argue for personal circumstances, but I can see plenty of problems as a result of this decision.
That or a complete drop off in interest as a result of poor planning which is sad considering that the last 3 races has had 250 turning out.


Why not consult with runireland.com as was done with the Dublin Mountains Plod previously?

The IMRA model works. So the Parks have put a limit on the number allowed. It was always going to happen eventually.
Back in the day, you have maybe 10 lunny bins racing the mountains, all of which were perfectly able to look after themselves if something went wrong.... now you have ~ 300 at some races. With larger numbers come a larger responsibilty.

Yes the cap is crap, but at the same time, what harm.
In the UK, there are limits on most races given the numbers.

firemouth

rovers_runner wrote: »

The majority of people who take part in these races are coming from Dublin which is a 90 minute round trip

nearly 3 hours for me!

firemouth

ocnoc wrote: »

Yes the cap is crap, but at the same time, what harm.

what harm??????there are over 500 runners registered for the LL,all of whom have paid a yearly registration,to see one person turned away is not good never mind possibly turning away 50 - 100 runners.

ocnoc

firemouth wrote: »

what harm??????there are over 500 runners registered for the LL,all of whom have paid a yearly registration,to see one person turned away is not good never mind possibly turning away 50 - 100 runners.

By my quick copy paste into excel, there are 65 IMRA races this year. Of which your yearly reg allows you to run them all. There are only 13 of which are LL races.

That leaves 52 other awesome races to attend!!
IMRA is the best value race series in the country.

Krusty_Clown

firemouth wrote: »

what harm??????there are over 500 runners registered for the LL,all of whom have paid a yearly registration,to see one person turned away is not good never mind possibly turning away 50 - 100 runners.

It's quite clear that the limit is imposed by another body (national parks), not IMRA. This is the body that owns and regulates the land upon which this race is held. IMRA has to work within the bounds of the regulations provided, as not doing so would put future races at risk (something similar has happened to a number of mountain-biking clubs who were planning races).

If you feel strongly about it (IMRA is after all run by volunteers), why don't you propose a solution, like volunteering to create an online sign-up sheet (you could use something like a public survey).

Kurt Godel

firemouth wrote: »

what harm??????there are over 500 runners registered for the LL,all of whom have paid a yearly registration,to see one person turned away is not good never mind possibly turning away 50 - 100 runners.

What harm? The mountains can't take unlimited numbers hitting the same trails at the same time, is what harm. WMNP are doing a great job of ensuring access for as many mountain users as possible. IMRA have to oblige them, and have set up an alternate run for anyone who arrives 150+. Just turn up early, or run the alternate route.

Or even better, turn up as a non-running volunteer.

firemouth

ocnoc wrote: »

By my quick copy paste into excel, there are 65 IMRA races this year. Of which your yearly reg allows you to run them all. There are only 13 of which are LL races.

That leaves 52 other awesome races to attend!!
IMRA is the best value race series in the country.

well if you really want to get into the figures,there are actually 1426 IMRA runners this year,1276 of whom wont be offered a place at brockagh!

firemouth

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

It's quite clear that the limit is imposed by another body (national parks), not IMRA. This is the body that owns and regulates the land upon which this race is held. IMRA has to work within the bounds of the regulations provided, as not doing so would put future races at risk (something similar has happened to a number of mountain-biking clubs who were planning races).

If you feel strongly about it (IMRA is after all run by volunteers), why don't you propose a solution, like volunteering to create an online sign-up sheet (you could use something like a public survey).

Good idea!

paulocon2

I think what a lot of people forget is that these races are organised and run on a voluntary basis - a lot of people give up a lot of time to plan, organise and implement each and every IMRA race.

In this case, the cap has been imposed by a third-party and at quite a late stage so there isn't a whole lot that can be done about it. The situation has been relayed clearly via the website and people have the choice to turn up early or not to travel. I really can't see what else can be done.

On a personal level, I'd love to run it but given that I'm travelling from Louth after work, I'll probably give this one a miss and go for a run closer to home. There are still plenty of LL races left.

I am sure that some will be disappointed tomorrow but I hope that everyone is understanding of the situation.

Kurt Godel

paulocon2 wrote: »

I am sure that some will be disappointed tomorrow but I hope that everyone is understanding of the situation.

You can rest assured that some marshals will be given grief at registration by a runner who arrives too late to make the cut. There's a sizable amount of mé féiners turning up at IMRA races lately, who grumble at the rules and are full of great suggestions for other people to implement. I've talked to loads of long-term volunteers who are a bit fed up of dealing with whingers who expect everything on their terms, while contributing little in return. The vast majority of IMRA are sound as they come, but this do-nothing subset pisses me off no end.

Ar Strae

yeah I wouldn't fancy being a Parking Marshal tomorrow :rolleyes:

I think Dermot should be allowed one honorary sacrifice a year, you know shoot one person at random who wears headphones, gives marshalls abuse, does a cheeky early start. Let fear keep the rabble in line.

Are people here going down to Carrauntoohil?

Ro

nerraw1111

No one will be told to "**** off." NP rules. Seems it took some people by surprise. My suggestion would be non running volunteers get first dibs. Lovely race, if there has to be a cap, give it to volunteers first. Pre reg would make this easier.

Timely reminder that the mountains need to be protected.

firemouth

Kurt Godel wrote: »

What harm? The mountains can't take unlimited numbers hitting the same trails at the same time, is what harm. WMNP are doing a great job of ensuring access for as many mountain users as possible. IMRA have to oblige them, and have set up an alternate run for anyone who arrives 150+. Just turn up early, or run the alternate route.

Or even better, turn up as a non-running volunteer.

I do agree the mountains should be protected for everybody and thats why I dont like the idea of the cap as it excludes people.If the area really cant sustain the amount of people then an alternative venue for next year should be looked at.I will be in Laragh good and early tommorow to make sure of a place as its an amazingly beautiful place to go running but it will not sit easy with me to see people turned away.