Cheetah Run 2013

slowsteady

Entries for The Cheetah Run, organised by Eagle AC and sponsored by both John Buckley Sportsand Layahealthcare,and held in FotaWildlife Park and the grounds of Fota House, is open now.

10.45am - 465 places out of 850 are gone already. Likely to be full by evening if not sooner.

http://www.eagleac.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

slowsteady

Event sold out in 2 hours 47 minutes!!

RubyK

slowsteady wrote: »

Event sold out in 2 hours 47 minutes!!

:eek: wow! Are you signed up slowsteady?

slowsteady

RubyK wrote: »

:eek: wow! Are you signed up slowsteady?

For my sins, yes. Was a good laugh last year so will struggle again.

sixpack's little hat

Wow, 850 places sold in less than 3 hours!

Glad now I set a reminder for myself to book it this morning.

I ran it last year and couldn't fault it at all. It's the only race I've ran where they actually put any effort into getting people to line up according to expected finishing times which is a nice change too.

opus

sixpack's little hat wrote: »

Glad now I set a reminder for myself to book it this morning.

Luckily I had the same reminder set as know a few people who've missed the boat. Wonder why the sudden surge in interest this year?

eliwallach

opus wrote: »

Luckily I had the same reminder set as know a few people who've missed the boat. Wonder why the sudden surge in interest this year?

It's the Ballycotton phenomonen, the quick registration accelerates itself when people realise that if you don't register early you'll most probably miss out. Hence people setting reminders etc. as with Ballycotton, the quality of the field wii probably suffer as a result.

Condo131

eliwallach wrote: »

It's the Ballycotton phenomonen, the quick registration accelerates itself when people realise that if you don't register early you'll most probably miss out. Hence people setting reminders etc. as with Ballycotton, the quality of the field wii probably suffer as a result.

Just before the first Cheetah Run, one of the Ballycotton organisers said to me "You've created 'a Monster' for yourselves!" And so it has come to pass.

We could have sold this year's event out several times over. Alternatively, we could have charged an awful lot more to enter..........however we aim to provide a quality event for a reasonable price, so that ain't gonna happen.

When the dust has settled this year, we will need to take a serious look at where this event is going; maybe reserve elite places; allot places for people with proven times; staggered entries, like Ballycotton, with Club/BHAA runners getting priority, etc, etc.

This year was mad, with 50% of the entries gone inside 30 mins. We need to find a balance between quality and participation....while keeping everyone happy :rolleyes:...wish us luck! :cool:

eliwallach wrote: »

Hence people setting reminders etc.

The day before entries opened, we sent some 600 email reminders, to previous Cheetah Run entrants, who had listed AAI or BHAA clubs, in an effort to get them to enter early - most were still caught off guard by the speed at which events unfolded. Our intention was, if entries were slow at the end of the first or second day, to send a reminder to a further 2,500 or so that have entered an Eagle AC event in the past few years...we never got to that stage....

rom

Have you considered running the route in reverse ?

Condo131

rom wrote: »

Have you considered running the route in reverse ?

Yes...Not good, there is a major 'chicane', where the giraffes cross to their gaff, after about 250m, so this isn't feasible.

There are major developments taking place in the park, over the next 18months or so, where they are introducing another section, an African Savannah area. This will open up new road sections, so we may have scope to maneuver. It will almost certainly, allow us to reduce the overlap, one of the major stumbling blocks to increasing numbers.

It'd be great if these new roads were ready for the 2014 event, but probably not.

knipper

Is there any way of getting a standby place for this race in case a spot comes up.
I did this race last year it was excellent.
Great atmosphere and weather.

Condo131

I'm afraid not, knipper. We could have sold this race out several times over, if we had capacity. There have already been *loads* of other requests. We are not even facilitating Eagle club members who missed out, and there are no reserved elite places. An awful lot of people, including ourselves, were overwhelmed at the speed of the sellout - 850 places in 2 hours 47 mins!

We will be taking a fresh look at everything, to see if we can increase numbers significantly next year. Our 'bottlenecks' include parking, the lap route and adherence to time zones. Fota Wildlife Park is being expanded over the next two years, with the introduction of an African Savannah section. This will open up new roads for us - whether the roads will be ready for next year's race is the question now.

Sorry we can't facilitate you, this time.

noiniho

I presume their is plenty of parking in fota? and what time are advising people to arrive?

Condo131

There are 450 spaces in the main Fota Wildlife Park car park, with an additional 800 spaces in the adjacent overflow car park. The nearby Fota House has space for another 220 cars, plus bus spaces. There are probably another 150 spaces that we can use if push comes to shove.

....so parking shouldn't be an issue.

We will have a dedicated crew on parking, so things should move smoothly. Arrival: suggest that you aim to arrive with plenty of time - we will have approx. 1,000 cars coming in over a period of 1 to 1.5 hours. If you arrive too early, well then there'll be plenty to occupy you! LOL...the residents will be delighted to see you.

Race number: You will pick this up in the Education Centre, after you arrive. This evening or tomorrow, we hope to mail out a list of race numbers. Look up your number and collect. There will be 5 or 6 desks, with plenty of people to assist/advise you, so there should not be a queue of more than 3 or 4 people, if even that. If you forget what your number is.....we have lists.

Bottom line: we want everyone to enjoy their entire Cheetah Run experience, from the moment they enter the gate, to the moment they go out.

Organised by Eagle AC and sponsored by John Buckley Sports and Layahealthcare, in conjunction with Fota Wildlife Park.

RICHIE-RICH

Ran this last night. Another fantastic display of race organisation.
The number pick up was simple, car parking was efficient, the race ran on time, chip timing, beautiful surroundings, well marshaled course. Results were available very quickly.

Well done to all at Eagle.

If you want to see how to organise a race- check this one out. Flawless.

opus

RICHIE-RICH wrote: »

Ran this last night. Another fantastic display of race organisation.
The number pick up was simple, car parking was efficient, the race ran on time, chip timing, beautiful surroundings, well marshaled course. Results were available very quickly.

Well done to all at Eagle.

If you want to see how to organise a race- check this one out. Flawless.

Agree 100% all went very smoothly & the extra numbers didn't seem to have any impact. Felt a bit sorry for marshals who were guiding the cars during the heaviest shower of rain.

Noticed no sandwiches afterwards this year only biscuits, maybe for the best as meant I only had a cup tea rather than stuffing my face :P

Great work by Eagle!

Condo131

Thanks Riche-Rich!

Pity about the heavy shower before the race. Thankfully it finished just in time. After four years of having sweltering conditions for the race, we probably can't complain...........but we do! LOL!

We tried a few new things last night. Some worked very well, and we need to fine tune some other things. As always, we'll try to improve again next year, but, no doubt, we'll encounter different problems then.

Condo131

Thanks Opus!

opus wrote: »

Noticed no sandwiches afterwards this year only biscuits, maybe for the best as meant I only had a cup tea rather than stuffing my face :P

We decided, after last year, that we simply couldn't cope with cater for an expected 1,300 people (including families, stewards, sponsors and others). I'm keen to up the numbers, (but need to convince our Race Committee) so that would put even more pressure on the food. 1,000 competitors = approx. 1,750 people :eek:, assuming fine weather.

Condo131

Video: Bandit two, and four, legged runners join in the fun

Video: Race Start

Sunnier evening: 2010 Race

Photos: Doug Minihane's flickr photostream

Condo131

Same video as above but....

...........Cheetah Run makes ITN

Update...also covered by ABC on Good Morning America today.