Marathon des Escargots ( half & 10k ), Portarlington, 12/07/2014

Stevo1983

Are there medals or jerseys at the end ?

Claude Burgundy

All finishers will get a medal and those who register by June 30th will get a t shirt.

Also only those who register by June 30th will get a goodie bag at registration.

Claude Burgundy

Another reminder, only one week left to register and get a t shirt !! After that there will be no t shirts as we are just ordering what we need !!

Claude Burgundy

Entry with a t shirt closes at midnight tonight ! You can still enter online until July 9th and on the day ( no t shirt )

The directors run can only be entered by July 9 and no entry will be allowed on the day.

http://www.active.com/laois-ireland/running/distance-running-races/marathon-des-escargots-full-half-10k-2014

purple hands

Will there be a bag drop available on the day?

Dilbert75

Weather looking good for next week (so far anyway):
http://m.yr.no/place/Ireland/Leinster/Portarlington/long.html

connundrum

What's the story with marshals? Is there actually a possibility that the event won't go ahead due to lack of them?

Claude Burgundy

Not a chance, we are just making sure that there are enough plus a reserve list. We currently have all spaces filled but are doubling up like anyone would with such a large event.

denis160

Signed up for the half, what's the numbers like for it now?

Claude Burgundy

denis160 wrote: »

Signed up for the half, what's the numbers like for it now?

We had hoped for between 60 and 80 but we're hitting 120 at the moment with 3 days of online registration left and some on the day also.

Beef

Is there anything happening nearby that would entertain a woman with no interest in running and a small child with autism while the race is on Claude? He's quite mild but get's very bored at these things.

Claude Burgundy

Beef wrote: »

Is there anything happening nearby that would entertain a woman with no interest in running and a small child with autism while the race is on Claude? He's quite mild but get's very bored at these things.

There's a local festival on and there should be stuff going on the main st during the day, there's also the playground as well if that would be of any interest. I'll try to find out what time the festival stuff is on !

Beef

Claude Burgundy wrote: »

There's a local festival on and there should be stuff going on the main st during the day, there's also the playground as well if that would be of any interest. I'll try to find out what time the festival stuff is on !

Great stuff, thanks. A playground would certainly keep him going for a while alright. I'm sure there are coffee shops etc that they could go into for breakfast too.

stirwell

Claude Burgundy wrote: »

We had hoped for between 60 and 80 but we're hitting 120 at the moment with 3 days of online registration left and some on the day also.

Hi Claude, is there a limit to the amount of people that can register on the day?

Claude Burgundy

stirwell wrote: »

Hi Claude, is there a limit to the amount of people that can register on the day?

We can take 80 to 100 over the 3 distances.

Claude Burgundy

Race brief can be found here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/joch0l4wdeu8r67/Marathon%20des%20Escargots%20brief.pdf

ctmck

Hi, can I arrange for someone to register for me or do I need to do it myself. And secondly do I need to bring anything for registration eg id or an email. Thanks.

couerdelion

ctmck wrote: »

Hi, can I arrange for someone to register for me or do I need to do it myself. And secondly do I need to bring anything for registration eg id or an email. Thanks.

You can sign on 30 mins before the race and it needs to be you.

You need to bring the email with you that you received when you registered (if possible) to make our lives a bit easier. Not a problem if you can't find it.

Beef

Claude Burgundy wrote: »

We can take 80 to 100 over the 3 distances.

Just on this Claude, if I turn up at about 10am tomorrow will there be half marathon spots available? I really don't want to drive for over an hour to be turned away.

couerdelion

Beef wrote: »

Just on this Claude, if I turn up at about 10am tomorrow will there be half marathon spots available? I really don't want to drive for over an hour to be turned away.

Yes, no worries.

fasterbetter

Just back home after running my first marathon here.

Really enjoyed it...well organised, stress free, a real community event

I think a lot of us runners take it for granted that these races are put on but there is a hell of a lot of work required to make it work

hope it raised plenty of cash for charity and looking forward to returning next year if the legs are still working!

fasterbetter

Beef

fasterbetter wrote: »

Just back home after running my first marathon here.

Really enjoyed it...well organised, stress free, a real community event

I think a lot of us runners take it for granted that these races are put on but there is a hell of a lot of work required to make it work

hope it raised plenty of cash for charity and looking forward to returning next year if the legs are still working!

fasterbetter

Yep have to agree, very well run event. Support was sparse in places but the route is lovely on quiet roads. Hope to make a weekend of it next year. Well done to all involved.

Toblerone1978

This just didn't happen for me. I was hoping to do the 10k run under 39 mins and failed miserably in this, coming in over 39 1/2m. All indications from a recent 5k race and 1/2 marathon that this should have been very possible for me. I did take my foot of the gas in the last 3 weeks, both training and other lifestyle choices, but I wouldn't have thought they would have much of an impact. I also paid a price for not paying attention at the race brief when I also stupidly ran the first mile of the 1/2 marathon before realising I was in the wrong race (I thought both races were started at the same time)!! During the 10k run, I was on course for the first 5k and I didn't feel too badly but when we turned at the bollard for the second 5k, the race just fell apart for me - based on my HR, it wasn't for a lack of effort! But I suppose you have to accept days like this.


The organisation for this event was very good, definitely one of the better ones. Great atmosphere before and after the race with warm-up instructors provided. The key for a good race is the course which was well marshalled, accurately measured and is fairly flat - it's a good PB course (the course is a lot flatter that it looks on the profile provided!). A very nice t-shirt and medal were presented to participants. The organisers definitely put a lot of thought and time into organising this and should take a bow for a job very well done.

jake1970

i done the 10k today.
it was a really well organised race. Everything on time and well marshalled.
nice medal and a nice t-shirt.

as for my performance the less said the better,
couldnt really get going from the start and
finished 90 secs outside my PB.

stirwell

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

This just didn't happen for me. I was hoping to do the 10k run under 39 mins and failed miserably in this, coming in over 39 1/2m. All indications from a recent 5k race and 1/2 marathon that this should have been very possible for me. I did take my foot of the gas in the last 3 weeks, both training and other lifestyle choices, but I wouldn't have thought they would have much of an impact. I also paid a price for not paying attention at the race brief when I also stupidly ran the first mile of the 1/2 marathon before realising I was in the wrong race (I thought both races were started at the same time)!! During the 10k run, I was on course for the first 5k and I didn't feel too badly but when we turned at the bollard for the second 5k, the race just fell apart for me - based on my HR, it wasn't for a lack of effort! But I suppose you have to accept days like this.


The organisation for this event was very good, definitely one of the better ones. Great atmosphere before and after the race with warm-up instructors provided. The key for a good race is the course which was well marshalled, accurately measured and is fairly flat - it's a good PB course (the course is a lot flatter that it looks on the profile provided!). A very nice t-shirt and medal were presented to participants. The organisers definitely put a lot of thought and time into organising this and should take a bow for a job very well done.

I think you dropped out of the half just in front of me, I was wondering what the story was there.

Good race well marshalled and organised. Just a pity about the lack of air from the 15km mark or was that just me?
Will be back again to do this next year.

Dilbert75

Another excellent event from the Up & Over team. Pretty much faultless organisation from start to finish. Route was very fair. Aid stations were plentiful and well crewed, with plenty of encouragement. Great medal. Decent feed at the end. Most importantly the right distance and well marked route. Lots of race organisers could learn from you. Recommend this race (and the tri) to anyone.

Claude Burgundy

Thanks everyone for your kind words, we're fairly happy with how things went yesterday and honestly amazed to have 327 runners overall crossing the finish line.

Like any event we can improve and since yesterday we have a list as long as our arm of improvements to make. Some are safety, some are logistics and some are cosmetic.

We have a long term plan to try and make this an event people look for every year. We want to grow slowly and not get overtaken by size and ego.

Thanks everyone who ran and 13 July 2015 is the date for next year. We are working on another event and details will follow shortly.

Claude Burgundy

Up & Over are happy to announce that we will host "Off The Laois-Half Marathon & 10k" on November 23rd in Portarlington. You said it was warm on Saturday so hey lets see how you like the cold. The event will have chip timing, a unique medal, a branded gift for each runner and a good feed of smabos and soup afterwards !!!

The event will have a limited capacity of 350 which going on Saturday's number IT WILL SELL OUT !

Entry will open later in the week with the following prices.

Half - 25 ( on the day 30 if not sold out in advance )
10k - 15 ( on the day 20 if not sold out in advance )

The feedback from the weekend was so good that we just can't wait until next July to host another event. Remember as usual with us ALL profits go to our 2014 charities Irish Autism Action & LARCC Cancer Care.

So remember capacity is limited and once 350 is reached entry will close so get in early !!!!!

Claude Burgundy

Yesterday myself and one of the other organisers have two cheques issued for Irish Autism Action & LARCC Cancer Care. Both of which are for €5,000.

We could not have raised the above amounts without you and other who decided to run one of our events. I honestly am so thankful that each and every one of you did as there are so many other events out there and choice isn't a problem.

As you know our events are for charity and nothing goes to us, oh i tell i lie i got a hoodie a "race official" t shirt:D. Anyway we really hope you come back in 2015 and bring friends to one of our events.

Marathon des Escargots ( full, half 10k ) is on July 11th in Portarlington and will be the same half and 10k route with the full still to be announced. We are looking to cut out the middle man for medals which will let us bling them up and at the same time cut the costs.

Numbers will be posted out in advance and all runners who register before July 2nd will get a tech t shirt. We believe it will sell out in advance and this time it will not open as we want to cut out the work load on race day as we have a small crew.

The link to enter is below and all funds raised will go to Irish Autism Action & Aiobheann's Pink Tie.

Once again thanks for running with is in 2014, for me its been a tough year as my mother passed away at the end of August and LARCC were very good to her during her illness so raising funds for them has been very close to my heart.

https://precisiontiming.primo-solutions.co.uk/ps/event/MarathondesEscargots2015

Dilbert75

Very well done M. It was a pleasure to do both the Tri and Escargots full and they were very well organised. The charity donations were the icing on the cake.