Run in the dark 5-10km 2013 Dublin/ Cork/ Belfast

Extrasupervery

Anyone looking to sell their entry for Dublin?

Muff Richardson

that was one of the most unorganised money grabbing rubbish events I have ever experienced.

You can shove all your "it's for a good cause" up where it doesn't shine. That was at best unorganised and under resourced and at worst dangerous for runners.

shameless money hungry pathetic sham of an event. never ever again.

A Neurotic

Muff Richardson wrote: »

that was one of the most unorganised money grabbing rubbish events I have ever experienced.

You can shove all your "it's for a good cause" up where it doesn't shine. That was at best unorganised and under resourced and at worst dangerous for runners.

shameless money hungry pathetic sham of an event. never ever again.

Where did you run it?

Muff Richardson

A Neurotic wrote: »

Where did you run it?

Dublin

dubal

Ran myself, was poorly organised
Poor goody bag
Dubal

A Neurotic

Ran Dublin too. The waiting around in the cold for 20 minutes was a bit crap alright. What else about it didn't you like? Genuinely interested because I haven't run many of these so I'm wondering what your expectations were?

fruit salad

Was my first organised run and so was really psyched up for it! The wait was a real pain at the start, was frozen!

Anyone know where results are posted? Can't seem to access runinthedark.org??

Thanks

Murph_D

Part of the problem is the course itself. It's an accident waiting to happen, with congested, narrow streets. Especially in the effing dark. Another prominent race uses mainly the same course and it was comical watching that race earlier in the year: bikes shepharding elite runners through back markers all through the second lap, etc. etc.

outforarun

Really fuming after this one (Dublin)

Dreadful organization.
Late start.
Dangerous Congestion.
And a short 10K course.
I feel mugged.
Never ever ever ever again.

Here's my race report from my training log:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=87495984&postcount=864

Up-n-atom!

This was my first 5k run, and I guess I have to agree with some of the criticisms - they didn't bother me too much, but I was well wrapped up while loads of others were shivering in their t-shirts and shorts while we waited aaaggess for the race to start. It was very congested as well - the faster runners were dodging in and out of people from the start and all the way through the race, and, to be honest, it wasn't clear where each of the sections were at the start. I ended up with the walkers when I should have been further up, but I couldn't see any signs so I stayed away from the front.

I'm still buzzing from it, though, and am mad to go on and keep training for a 10k - but I notice the training thingy has disappeared from the Run in the Dark website. Might anyone have a copy of it somewhere? I had a quick google search for a similiar schedule, but I didn't like the other ones that were cropping up as much as the Run one (cheers if someone does!).

Daithi 1

Skid X wrote: »

You don't get a free top at the runinthedark.

Daithi 1 wrote: »

That's crap. :mad:

Vindication.

slingerz

I did the Cork 10K run last night. Have to agree that even as a relative novice i thought the organisation of this was poor.

Waiting around at the start, the lack of pens - surely those walking should have been told to move to the back, its hard to pass 5 walking abreast down narrow, slippy streets

As for the finish, it was very badly organised with the girl who 'won' the 5K missing the finish line through no fault of her own and going another 500m to the next steward before being informed the finish chute was behind her!

Also thought the goody bag was poor enough tbh and a running top could have been included considering the cost of the race.

think the event should be either 5K or 10K having both distances included just causes chaos and confusion. there was people just finishing their first lap of the 5K being directed down the finishing chute for what would have been a serious PB!

wonderboysam

I thought cork wasn't that bad, a medal would've been nice though!!

Shedite27

Very crowded in Dublin alright, but I'd learnt my lessons from last year and started near the top. Finished in 40.11 - was hoping to break 40 - sometime!

With regards the course, It came out bang on 10k for me, although I stuck to the roads, loads of people were skipping on the kerbs going round corners and especially at the bridges, which would obviously bring it down to 9.93 or whtever.

The 30min wait at the start was very crap. Second year in a row that's happened. And yeah, back markers were a problem, although, again, if ya stuck away from the inside corners you were laughing. This one lad who ran alongside me for the second 5k, was going great guns, but then tried to get the inside corner every corner and got caught in traffic.

Probably won't do it next year, but no doubt it will sell out again anyway.

Shedite27

As for good bags, it cost €25, what were ya expecting? Races with tshirts cost €40 usually. If ya want the tshirt you can buy it as an optional extra - wish more races did that.

Also, the warm up was a joke. Some of the moves they wanted us to do, sure nobody had enough space

adrian522

Shedite27 wrote: »

As for good bags, it cost €25, what were ya expecting? Races with tshirts cost €40 usually. If ya want the tshirt you can buy it as an optional extra - wish more races did that.

Also, the warm up was a joke. Some of the moves they wanted us to do, sure nobody had enough space

They actually don't.

ClashCityRocker

I ran the London event last night, i thought it was OK. Like the rest of you it seems, delayed start which was a bit unpleasant in the cold.

Once it got going it was ok, obviously for faster runners there was a lot of traffic as it was 2 or 4 laps to run depending on your distance, but it's a nice wide road in Battersea Park so personally speaking it didn't bother/hinder me too much. Not a particularly exciting course but nice and flat at least for those chasing a time.

The course measured a little short for me, 6.14 miles on the garmin, which isn't great. The goody bag was fine i thought, but if you were expecting a medal or tshirt i guess you would have been disappointed.

Not sure if i'd do it again, but for what it was i thought it was fine.

gigtown

I think there are valid criticisms up here. Was going through them in my head as I waited to start the race. Then I went past Mark Pollock at the start line and eh...well my frustrations kinda fizzled out. What a ledge bag.

opus

wonderboysam wrote: »

I thought cork wasn't that bad, a medal would've been nice though!!

I quite enjoyed the run in Cork as well, nice to have a run around the city centre on closed roads. After all it's just a charity fun run! Really noticed the doubling of numbers from last year as think I came to a complete stop three or four times

Not sure why the start was moved to Oliver Plunkett St from Grand Parade as that guaranteed congestion for the first few hundred meters.

quaalude

To those giving out about the goody bag - did you not see the individually wrapped Fisherman's Friend?!

Kidding aside, this was my second only race - but to me it seems that a goody bag for a charity race shouldn't realistically consist of more than a few sweets cadged off companies looking for PR, and some leaflets for businesses that presumably pay for the advertising. I'm not sure what people are expecting - what makes a "good" goody bag?

I'd rather the money went to the charity - if I want a t-shirt I can buy one.

Rega

I ran the popup event in Kilkenny. There were only around 30 runners. A nice relaxed atmosphere. Started and finished at the castle which was a lovely backdrop. Ran a pb which I was thrilled with. No goody bags or start / finish lines. Just a great evening for a worthy cause. And a tshirt!

outforarun

Shedite27 wrote: »

With regards the course, It came out bang on 10k for me, although I stuck to the roads, loads of people were skipping on the kerbs going round corners and especially at the bridges, which would obviously bring it down to 9.93 or whtever.

I'd be suspicious if my Garmin measured 10K spot on. It allows nothing for racing line, especially if you were taking corners wide. On turning onto the first bridge I was following the crowd and realised that we were merging onto the wide cycle path / pedestrian area rather than sticking to the road. I immediately went onto the road once I realised this. On the second lap I stuck to the road while all other runners at that point overtook me by taking the wide footpath. I am borderline OCD when it comes to sticking to the road.
I also had to take corners wide near the end, trying to follow a racing line was impossible.

But for me the math just simply doesn't add up.

"Beforehand something had been bugging me about the race route, especially the fact that the 5K and 10K would finish under the same finish chute. I figured out what it was while I was running home. The 5K route was one lap plus the finishing straight. The 10K route was 2 laps plus the same finishing straight. So say for argument's sake a lap measures 4.9K and the finishing straight measures 0.1K. The 5K route would be spot-on, but the 10K would have to be short (4.9+4.9+0.1) = 9.9. Either the 5K was going to be too long or the 10K was going to be to short. One set of runners was going to be unhappy. If I'm overlooking something please let me know."

Shedite27

outforarun wrote: »

I'd be suspicious if my Garmin measured 10K spot on.

Sorry, I meant on mapmyride...
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/324278879

KeenRunner

This is explained in the pre-race email: "5k runners will do one full lap and finish at Grand canal plaza - you will be timed at the 5k point (corner of Blood Stoney road and Hanover Quay) and complete through the finish line gantry. (5.165k)."

So I suppose you had finished before you got to the finish gantry and the extra 0.165k was a bit of a 'victory lap'.

My Garmin read 9.84km at the finish. I'm guessing here but I think it would have been almost exactly 10k from the inflatable arch at the start (Benson Street) to the 10k finish line, but they must have realised that everyone taking the corner at pace immediately after the start line would have been a disaster, so they sensibly moved the start mat around the corner.

outforarun

KeenRunner wrote: »

This is explained in the pre-race email: "5k runners will do one full lap and finish at Grand canal plaza - you will be timed at the 5k point (corner of Blood Stoney road and Hanover Quay) and complete through the finish line gantry. (5.165k)."

So I suppose you had finished before you got to the finish gantry and the extra 0.165k was a bit of a 'victory lap'.

Thanks for that. I hadn't read that. Weird, but makes sense.

KeenRunner wrote: »

My Garmin read 9.84km at the finish. I'm guessing here but I think it would have been almost exactly 10k from the inflatable arch at the start (Benson Street) to the 10k finish line, but they must have realised that everyone taking the corner at pace immediately after the start line would have been a disaster, so they sensibly moved the start mat around the corner.

I also suspected that they moved the mat around the corner at the start, but that couldn't have been much more than 10 metres. It doesn't account for my 70 metre deficit, my friend's mate's 80 metre deficit, the other low 9.9 measurements by other posters and your own missing 160 metres.

seamus

quaalude wrote: »

Kidding aside, this was my second only race - but to me it seems that a goody bag for a charity race shouldn't realistically consist of more than a few sweets cadged off companies looking for PR, and some leaflets for businesses that presumably pay for the advertising. I'm not sure what people are expecting - what makes a "good" goody bag?

Something more than a couple of chocolate bars, a single (!) disposable razor and a €5 voucher?
Companies are usually clamouring over themselves to give out free **** at the end of big events like this.

I was relatively close to the front on this and it was still a bit mental. It was next to impossible to get into the 3 pens at the front for times under 50 mins, without going into the 1 hour pen and fighting your way through. Most people hopped the barriers, I went down basically to the start line and convinced a steward that there was no other way into the pen except to go that way. Obviously having a break in the barrier at every pen would have solved this.

They need to do something about the start time though. You're asking people to line up at 7:15 and then leaving them standing in the cold for 35 minutes. When someone came on the mic @ 7:40 and said it'd be another ten minutes, lots runners hopped the barriers to get out and warm up/stretch. That's madness. If you can't get traffic management clearance till 7:50, then move the damn start time to 8pm next year.

That's also a bit of a mad start. The roads are a bit potholey down there, and not really conducive to hoards of runners going around corners and getting squeezed. When we came up onto John Rogerson's quay I nearly killed myself on one of the tiny yellow cones they were using to try and separate the lanes. Better to start the race on a long straight (say westbound on North wall quay) to give the field time to separate and settle.

Don't know what to say about the length of the course. I assumed the actual start was at the timing mat at the start, so that's where I started my watch. I stopped my watch at the 10k finish, and got 9.8km. I cut the corner at city quay on both laps but went out onto the road on the bridge (All on my lonesome ), there's no way that accounted for a 200m difference. But then GPS can sometimes be iffy down around that area, so perhaps. If it is a bonafide 10k, then I'm happier with my time

Herc

2nd year doing this and same response as last year really from myself. I don't want to be seen as negative in the post - just constructive hopefully

As a start - goody bag, medals, t-shirts yada yada yada - don't expect and don't necessarily want one - its for a good cause and unless these are 100% sponsored by some entity I would prefer if the money, how big or how small, went to a better cause - for beginners, time and achievement of finishing should be enough. For more seasoned athletes, I'm sure a time was what was on the radar

Organisation - wait at the start a pain - I could live with it but ideally lets get it sorted for next year guys
Roads - some very poor / dangerous spots along the way - marshalled ok but still some major bumps / holes along the way - can't fault the organisers for this though
Distance - garmin measured 9.83 mat to mat - went on path at one corner and road rest of the way but still think a little short
Finish - Too cramped as regards crossing the line and then straight into queue for the water etc - luckily finished fairly high up so wasn't as bad but was waiting for a mate and was jammers from say 50-55mins onwards
Real bug bear - kids / walkers starting up towards the front or else causing issues on the second lap and hogging the road - at one point there was a bunch of 5-6 teen girls basically linked in a line across the road that I had to 'ahem' 'ask' to let me through - answer to this problem I don't really know

Will I be back - definitely as a worth cause but lets see how it goes next year

pconn062

Why do people always sound surprised when a race organised by a charity (or company) turns out to be badly organised? Charities and companies know nothing about organising races, and organising races is not an easy thing to do. If you want to support this worthwhile charity then that's fair enough (and admirable), there is a donate link on their website. But don't go running a race that they organise and expect it to be well organised! Races like this aren't about providing quality for the runner, they are about making as much money and getting as much exposure as possible for the charity/company. The committee of my club (of which I'm a member) wouldn't be much good at running a charity, but we know how to organise a good race. The same can be in reverse for the charity!

ultraman1

outforarun wrote: »

It doesn't account for my 70 metre deficit, .

have u looked at ur garmin trace,,u seemed to have ran taken a short cut through the derilict site on the corner of benson street,taken another short cut through the building goin onto rogersons key,swam across the liffey and popped into the convention centre for a detour...

seamus

"They don't know what they're doing" is a bit of a cop-out tbh. If I decided to hold a swim race in aid of charity, the first thing I'd do is contact a swimming club and bring them on board to assist. Plus this isn't the first year they're doing this, and they've done it a number of times in a number of locations. From what I gather, the exact same problems existed last year.

A race being well organised and being popular/well exposed aren't mutually exclusive goals. Though you have a point in one regard - if someone is looking to set a PB in a dedicated running race, then a popular charity organised event is probably not the place to do it.

However, whether you have 500 club runners or 2,500 people doing their first running 5k, there are still basic things you need to get right, such as starting on time, making the course safe and well marked, and being clear with directions from stewards.