[Event] The Race - Donegal, 1st March 2014

Bambaata

Might be of interest to some here - 260km of cycling, running and kayaking

www.therace.ie - Full details up 3rd July. Was up in the area about two months back, savage area.

Enduro

It'll be interesting to see what this actually is. I see the usual BS of "Ireland's toughest" already being spouted on the site though. Oh dear!

MrCreosote

Brave time of year to put it on...

Bambaata

The time of the year is part of the challenge i believe. Scenery up there is amazing and the route is hilly so not an easy one

Causeway

€600 entry will put me off for a start. Hope it goes well for them as it is a stunning area.

Enduro

Causeway wrote: »

€600 entry will put me off for a start. Hope it goes well for them as it is a stunning area.

600 quid.... faaaackin hell. How the hell could they possibly justify that? :eek:

johnruns

Geeez I thought triathlons were expensive but 600euro for an "adventure race"is crazy!!

Peterx

jaysu lads, maybe wait till you see what you get before deciding it's not worth it.
This sort of attitude killed some good races such as the Caveman and others organised by Dolmen Sports. The initial €90 sounded expenisve but you really were getting bang for your buck.
Give this one a chance.

of course feel free to slate it if you are expected to provide your own food, transport and accomodation en route as you traverse lots of tarmac

woody1

for 600 euro peter id want a new bike, !! i thought the rat race events in the uk were expensive..
certainly rules it out for me regardless of whats on offer.. it MAY turn out be value for money..how i dont know..
sure the moxie race in lanzarote was 600 euro..and that had 5 days accomodation and events on each day..and it was in spain in the heat...not donegal in march..
anyway best of luck to them with it, il certainly be keeping an interested eye on it to see how it goes
big difference with arguing over 90 euro or 600 euro too..

Causeway

Peterx wrote: »

jaysu lads, maybe wait till you see what you get before deciding it's not worth it.

I was just pointing out the price Peterx, I thought it was a bit steep at first, it's a charity event so they want to raise as much money as they can which is fair enough.

In return you get advice on training and nutrition, race number and performance top.
Competitors will be collected from Letterkenny and brought to the Gartan Estate, The Race headquarters. Accommodation will be provided in The Race estate for competitors on the eve of the event and upon completion. An evening meal will be served on arrival before The Race briefing. Breakfast and an evening meal will also be available on race day. A prize-giving brunch will be held the following day in the beautiful Gartan Heritage Centre, where competitors who complete The Race will be presented with a Race 2014 medal. Cash prizes will also be presented to the winners of the male and female categories.
The Race is a not for profit event. All proceeds from the race will go to charity. Each competitor pays €200 and then raises the other €400 in sponsorship. Each competitor will be assigned a fundraising liaison contact to offer advice and provide materials to help with events and sponsorship.
They'll also provide everyone with all the kayak equipment.

All in if you look at it as an entry fee of €200 it's not that badly priced, the website is due to go live this Wed.

Oryx

What kind of accommodation? Forgive me saying but I think it's going to be quite a hard sell. There are a lot of charity events around, and a finite number of people who are a) willing to collect that kind of money, b) fit enough to do the race and c) sold enough on the idea to go to donegal in March to do it.

But I am a proper pessimist so I hope it goes well in spite of what I think

Enduro

Agree with Oryx. If it's just a charity event that's me out for sure. The world would avoid me like the plague if I tried to raise money for every long race I took part in. Feck that.

Causeway, what kind of Kayaks are they providing? Will you be allowed to use your own kayaks if they're the usual S(h)it-on-tops? 15K in the ocean off Donegal in March on a S(h)it-on-top would be a special kind of torture :eek:

How much money will they deduct if we promise to completely ignore their advice on training and nutrition, and not take their "performance" top?

Oryx

Bear in mind that every nearly every backyard 10k, mud run, fun run or three legged race in the country gives a performance top so a race souvenir like that isn't the biggest incentive.

Peterx

They are restricted to 60 entrants and hopefully they get them.
I don't think anyone will be entering an event like this for the T-shirt, that's a ridiculous comment!

The amount of folk who are motivated by charity events AND 24 hour events has to be small. The first Killarney race organised by Fighting Blindness had a 2000e entry fee per team and got at least 20 teams of two, but that was in the heady days of 2008 when corporate money was plentiful.

Many people motivated by solo racing are either inherently selfish or else have an already full calendar of planned races.
Many people motivated by charity events are either inherently unfit or else have an already full calendar of planned events.

If there's anyone there I haven't insulted sufficently please let me know

Enduro

Peterx wrote: »

I don't think anyone will be entering an event like this for the T-shirt, that's a ridiculous comment!

In fairness, it was listed as part of what the 600 euro gets you in return. I agree that its pointless. I'd be happier as a racer if they didn't give them out and gave the money to charity instead. But that's just my opinion.

Peterx wrote: »

The amount of folk who are motivated by charity events AND 24 hour events has to be small. The first Killarney race organised by Fighting Blindness had a 2000e entry fee per team and got at least 20 teams of two, but that was in the heady days of 2008 when corporate money was plentiful.

Many people motivated by solo racing are either inherently selfish or else have an already full calendar of planned races.
Many people motivated by charity events are either inherently unfit or else have an already full calendar of planned events.

If there's anyone there I haven't insulted sufficently please let me know

You made me LOL anyway.

hunkymonkey

Would love to do this as I know the area v well but the price is extremely prohibitive. Same as other posters, very hard to raise money theses days.
Best of luck with it, stunning area!

BeBetter

I'm doing this race in a few weeks! The €600 was a bit scary initially but when I looked into it a bit more they actually give you support in fundraising to cover the cost of entry so it wasn't an issue in the end. They also announced new competitors in groups of 4 and ran a competition between each four for €400 of their entry fee to be covered by an event sponsor and a bit of free gear to go along with it. I was lucky enough to win the €400 & gear! With 60 competitors and a competition winner every 4 competitors that's 6K plus the cost of the gear from the sponsor so not too bad. We get two nights accommodation, a few meals and support, kit & bike transfer and transport for the money as well. And we got subsidised training support but I didn't use any of that. Another thing I liked about the set-up was that the entry money was paid directly to the charity partner, not to the race organisers.

So that's the inside story! As for the event itself I spose a few weeks time will tell me what it's like. I'm not going to have a chance to get to Donegal for a recce so I'm going to be going in blind. And if we could just get rid of these storms I'll hopefully get out on the bike more!

Now to tackle Art O'Neill tonight

Bambaata

Best of luck BeBetter. I know of one of the people involved and he's a standup guy. Really hoping it goes well. Might see if i can get up to spectate!

Bladeserver

Hi everyone. Apologies for raising this thread from the dead but I am considering the 2015 event.

Can anybody go into detail about their experience?

Thanks in advance

Bambaata

What things are you wondering about? I'm also considering it. I didn't do it last year but helped out at it at various stages from the start to the middle of the marathon so would know a bit about what people were coming up against!! It was an inspiring day.

woody1

http://www.sligotriathlon.ie/node/1389

race report.. not mine :eek:. knew id seen one somewhere though. theres another more detailed one ive read, if i can remember where i saw it il post the link up

Bambaata

Mods: Would it be possible to move the 2015 event discussions to the new thread?