Dublin Marathon 2013: Mod Note #316 NO RACE SWAPS

Pacing Mule

RacoonQueen wrote: »

When did pace groups become a 'right' in marathons? It's an added expense and a luxury, personally don't get the attraction to running with a pace group at all. That's just me...don't see any benefit to having pace groups every 10 minutes in a marathon with a relatively small field. 14000 is small compared to major marathons.

As a matter of interest how much do the pacers cost the DCM ? I know they are volunteers as such but I'm sure there are some expenses and at least goodie bags etc to pay for.

Ol' Donie

average_runner wrote: »

Who else can afford to sponsor it if not a beer firm or unhealthy food company

A lottery company? An international sporting goods company? :-D

Any idea how much cash is actually involved?

RayCun

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Any idea how much cash is actually involved?

200k for the headline sponsor, says the article.
Also say the problem is partly that companies don't have the 200k + the marketing budget to promote their involvement

TFBubendorfer

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

As a matter of interest how much do the pacers cost the DCM ? I know they are volunteers as such but I'm sure there are some expenses and at least goodie bags etc to pay for.

They get €50 expenses, a pacers' top and out-of-town pacers get one night free accommodation in a hotel. Plus free entry into DCM itself (which should go without saying).

The goodie bag is the same as for any other runner.

mrak

“We certainly haven’t thrown in the towel just yet, but right now we’ve had to cut our elite athlete budget completely. For the past number of years we’ve invited up to 30 runners, many Kenyans and Ethiopians, paid their way here, and put them up for a couple of days. That’s gone.

Okay perhaps a bit controversial here.. but to me this could be a good thing.. Hopefully RTE will leave the cameras hover on the good irish lads that we know about as they battle for placings instead of the elites that we've never heard of. , or probably won't again.. Would also love if the camera stayed on the finish line until the 3 hour finishers get home.. nice chance to see familiar faces on the telly (same thing goes for the great ireland run imo.. instead of cutting straight from Bekele's sprint finish to a chat between Peter Collins and Sonia, can we not leave it focused on the finish line so we can see which of our mates got under 35 mins, etc..)

Pacing Mule

mrak wrote: »

Okay perhaps a bit controversial here.. but to me this could be a good thing.. Hopefully RTE will leave the cameras hover on the good irish lads that we know about as they battle for placings instead of the elites that we've never heard of. , or probably won't again.. Would also love if the camera stayed on the finish line until the 3 hour finishers get home.. nice chance to see familiar faces on the telly (same thing goes for the great ireland run imo.. instead of cutting straight from Bekele's sprint finish to a chat between Peter Collins and Sonia, can we not leave it focused on the finish line so we can see which of our mates got under 35 mins, etc..)

There was no tv coverage of the marathon last year nor will there be this year if no sponsor is found. RTE charge for showing the marathon.

The fact is that most people interested in the marathon will be either running it themselves, volunteering at it or out on the course watching / supporting it. It's not for want of a better phrase good telly for the majority of people at home on the day. Granted there will be people at home with an interest in seeing their mates cross the line etc but there isn't enough demand to justify it even with a sponsor. RTE sees the marathon as a kind of infomercial.

shels4ever

average_runner wrote: »

Who else can afford to sponsor it if not a beer firm or unhealthy food company

Maybe a Bank or a property developer .. NAMA Dublin city marathon has a nice ring.

shels4ever

Signed up today for this Price was basically the same that I paid for London last year. London was pure class but with the 75 for Dublin I can see the work that they have done through Marathon mission etc I dont mind the increase of €5.

Ruu

Can anyone recall there being any timing clocks on the course, maybe at 10k or around the half point? Thanks.

menoscemo

Ruubot2 wrote: »

Can anyone recall there being any timing clocks on the course, maybe at 10k or around the half point? Thanks.

As far as I remember there are generally time clocks at 10k, half way, 20 miles and at the finish. There are also timing mats and official cameras at these points.
Bear in mind there are 3 waves at the start with the last wave going 20 minutes after the first. The clocks on the course are for the first wave. Last year there were 3 seperate clocks at the finish, 1 for each wave start.

rasher_m

RacoonQueen wrote: »

When did pace groups become a 'right' in marathons? It's an added expense and a luxury, personally don't get the attraction to running with a pace group at all. That's just me...don't see any benefit to having pace groups every 10 minutes in a marathon with a relatively small field. 14000 is small compared to major marathons.

Well I followed them last year to 8 miles but it was too congested so went just a few hundred metres ahead of them for the remaining time.
My reasoning was that I didn't want to have to think about timing and pacing myself. It was handy to have it done for me and I agree it is a luxury but its also part of the whole event and adds to the atmosphere for many.

DonKing

rasher_m wrote: »

Well I followed them last year to 8 miles but it was too congested so went just a few hundred metres ahead of them for the remaining time.
My reasoning was that I didn't want to have to think about timing and pacing myself. It was handy to have it done for me and I agree it is a luxury but its also part of the whole event and adds to the atmosphere for many.

Which pacing group did you start with?

rasher_m

DonKing wrote: »

Which pacing group did you start with?

I was with the 4.15 group. I don't know if it was coincidence or but every time I tried to find a gap there was this same woman beating me to it and squeezing into the gap before me. She was even in my marathon photos :eek:
I tripped slightly at one stage cause of it and I decided the only way I'd cope without losing the cool would be to run on my own in my own little world but I could always hear the banter of the pace group around me so I knew I wasn't losing the run of myself and flying off too fast. Thats another good thing about a pace group, when you feel good early on its tempting to race off too fast and then suffer later as you've probably read loads of times. The pace group keeps you honest and you know that you're on track.
I would advise anyone running with one of the larger groups to hang back or run just ahead of them cause it can get pretty snug and water stations etc can be a bit of an obstacle course.
The 10 minute idea might solve some of those issues though!

mrak

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

There was no tv coverage of the marathon last year nor will there be this year if no sponsor is found. RTE charge for showing the marathon.

The fact is that most people interested in the marathon will be either running it themselves, volunteering at it or out on the course watching / supporting it. It's not for want of a better phrase good telly for the majority of people at home on the day. Granted there will be people at home with an interest in seeing their mates cross the line etc but there isn't enough demand to justify it even with a sponsor. RTE sees the marathon as a kind of infomercial.

yeah.. only saw that other thread on the tv coverage now.. that's a pity..

If you live away from Dub, it's hard to justify the whole day off to go to watch the race, tv coverage would be nice. I don't see why it has to cost so much - about 8 cameras - 4 stationary and 4 on bikes should cover it (male/female overall, male/female irish). Don't see the major need for helicopter cams, etc.. don't know much about live tv, but I'd guess someone is milking it if it costs 200k+!

Hard Worker

mrak wrote: »

yeah.. only saw that other thread on the tv coverage now.. that's a pity..

If you live away from Dub, it's hard to justify the whole day off to go to watch the race, tv coverage would be nice. I don't see why it has to cost so much - about 8 cameras - 4 stationary and 4 on bikes should cover it (male/female overall, male/female irish). Don't see the major need for helicopter cams, etc.. don't know much about live tv, but I'd guess someone is milking it if it costs 200k+!

A highlights program is not that expensive to make. Once you go to live, you are on a different planet altogether. In order to relay live footage back to a control cabin ( OBU ), you need a lot more hardware and you also need the helicopters. €200,000 comes nowhere near covering the cost of live coverage.

average_runner

Hard Worker wrote: »

A highlights program is not that expensive to make. Once you go to live, you are on a different planet altogether. In order to relay live footage back to a control cabin ( OBU ), you need a lot more hardware and you also need the helicopters. €200,000 comes nowhere near covering the cost of live coverage.

I dont think we need full coverage. A highlight of the elites and irish top runners is enough.

rom

menoscemo wrote: »

As far as I remember there are generally time clocks at 10k, half way, 20 miles and at the finish. There are also timing mats and official cameras at these points.
Bear in mind there are 3 waves at the start with the last wave going 20 minutes after the first. The clocks on the course are for the first wave. Last year there were 3 seperate clocks at the finish, 1 for each wave start.

Look at any of the video's from 2012 results and you can see them.

10k,1/2, 20M all mounted on top of skoda estate cars.

Murph_D

There was a clock on the Stillorgan flyover too, let's not forget that one.

jmcc99_98

Have just signed up for the DCM - It is my first Marathon and really looking forward to it. I would love to dip in under the 4hour mark. I did the Connemara Half Marathon a few weeks back in 1hr 56m - Is this in the "zone" to allow me get in under the 4 hr mark?? It should be pointed out Im a big lad, just over 16stone.

pistol_75

jmcc99_98 wrote: »

Have just signed up for the DCM - It is my first Marathon and really looking forward to it. I would love to dip in under the 4hour mark. I did the Connemara Half Marathon a few weeks back in 1hr 56m - Is this in the "zone" to allow me get in under the 4 hr mark?? It should be pointed out Im a big lad, just over 16stone.

Will a 1:56 convert into Sub 4 for a first timer most likely not.

However given,

The course in Connemara,
The time you have between now and the Marathon

If you want to there should be no reason why you can't achieve it with the right/sensible training.

jmcc99_98

pistol_75 wrote: »

Will a 1:56 convert into Sub 4 for a first timer most likely not.

However given,

The course in Connemara,
The time you have between now and the Marathon

If you want to there should be no reason why you can't achieve it with the right/sensible training.

Thanks pistol_75 - Yes, my aim is to finish but my secret goal is to dip under 4hours - but I am not stupid enough to aim for sub 4hour despite everything else i.e. injuring myself in training etc. I have used the asics training website and it works out a training schedule for you. I will follow that and on the day, all going well and remaining injury free I will keep an eye on where the 4 hour pacers are on the day and just take it from there.

I just wanted to know if I was completely fooling myself at aiming for a sub 4 hr. On your comments I am not completely dillusional but it will be very difficult to do!

pistol_75

jmcc99_98 wrote: »

Thanks pistol_75 - Yes, my aim is to finish but my secret goal is to dip under 4hours - but I am not stupid enough to aim for sub 4hour despite everything else i.e. injuring myself in training etc. I have used the asics training website and it works out a training schedule for you. I will follow that and on the day, all going well and remaining injury free I will keep an eye on where the 4 hour pacers are on the day and just take it from there.

I just wanted to know if I was completely fooling myself at aiming for a sub 4 hr. On your comments I am not completely dillusional but it will be very difficult to do!

You should get involved in the DCM Novices log in the training logs section. There will be lots of people in the same situation and lots of support/advice available as well.

Steroo

jmcc99_98 wrote: »

Have just signed up for the DCM - It is my first Marathon and really looking forward to it. I would love to dip in under the 4hour mark. I did the Connemara Half Marathon a few weeks back in 1hr 56m - Is this in the "zone" to allow me get in under the 4 hr mark?? It should be pointed out Im a big lad, just over 16stone.

You've plenty of time. Try get that half time down under 1:50 for the race series half. As mentioned, join the novices thread it's full of great info to help you along

Degsy123

jmcc99_98 wrote: »

Have just signed up for the DCM - It is my first Marathon and really looking forward to it. I would love to dip in under the 4hour mark. I did the Connemara Half Marathon a few weeks back in 1hr 56m - Is this in the "zone" to allow me get in under the 4 hr mark?? It should be pointed out Im a big lad, just over 16stone.

I was in a very similar position a couple of years back. I did the dublin race series half in 1:51 and just missed the 4 hour mark by 1 minute !!. So lookin back I should have made under 4 hours - the trick is to get enough miles in the legs. I followed the Hal higdon novice plan and found it really good but I think by being at half distance this early you have a great shot at beatin the 4 hour mark. Best of luck.

Van.Bosch

Degsy123 wrote: »

I was in a very similar position a couple of years back. I did the dublin race series half in 1:51 and just missed the 4 hour mark by 1 minute !!. So lookin back I should have made under 4 hours - the trick is to get enough miles in the legs. I followed the Hal higdon novice plan and found it really good but I think by being at half distance this early you have a great shot at beatin the 4 hour mark. Best of luck.

I did a 1:44 half and still couldn't do it. Finished in 4:09. Now I should have done it but the lesson is there is a huge difference between the two distances. Find a suitable plan and follow it, do LSR's slow or as prescribed, don't miss any of them and if you have a knock/strain, take a few days off. You have the time to do it but listen to the more experienced guys (not me).

Kurt Godel

Pacers for the Dublin Marathon have been organized from this forum for the past few years. If you are interested in pacing for this year, please PM a mod for access to the private Pacer's Forum, further details are in there.

Dow99

Hi Folks,
Just a little something for extra motivation for Garmin users. I've set up a Dublin Marathon 2013 group for people of all levels to join and share their training activities, give advice, motivation ect.

http://connect.garmin.com/group/283194

Please feel free to join.

This will be my 1st marathon and although I've completed 4 HM, I'm still very much a novice at this sport.

Hope to see you in the group!!

pointer28

Great idea, just joined your group.

Like yourself, first marathon, 3 HM's to date and another couple on the cards before DCM.

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Blarney92

Thinking of doing the DCM this year (first marathon) and wondering about the Athlone 3/4 marathon on October 6th:

Have people done this before? Would it be good prep for the DCM later in the month?

blockic

Blarney92 wrote: »

Thinking of doing the DCM this year (first marathon) and wondering about the Athlone 3/4 marathon on October 6th:

Have people done this before? Would it be good prep for the DCM later in the month?

I've done it and it is excellent prep for Dublin. Would recommend as it has a similar profile with a hill at 17 miles similar to the time you'll be hitting heartbreak hill in DCM.