Connemara 2016 – Sunday 10th April

Neady83

pgmcpq wrote: »

4.01 ... 4.00.52 chip. Disappointed not to get under 4, but a misbehaving sock did me in and the 4.00 pace group gave me a false sense of security.
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brownian wrote: »

Final little dig - 1:30:05 for a finishing time. Five fecking secinds...

It's amazing how those few seconds that we usually wouldn't give a toss about drive us mad when they appear at the end of a nice round number after a long and tough race

opus

I like this pic they had on their facebook page

brownian

Was it just me, or was the number of runners for the half marathon waaaayyy down on previous years?

This despite emails send out, and the amazing innovation that is posting out of race numbers (at last!) ?

Just a dodgy forecast, or was there something else this weekend that I missed out on?

Myles Splitz

Great runs in what sounds like nightmare conditions.

Also fair play to the boardsie ultra runners. I believe there was 2 in the top 6 looking at the results.

Red Kev

brownian wrote: »

Was it just me, or was the number of runners for the half marathon waaaayyy down on previous years?

This despite emails send out, and the amazing innovation that is posting out of race numbers (at last!) ?

Just a dodgy forecast, or was there something else this weekend that I missed out on?

According to the results page about 1400 finished the HM, 600 finished the Full and 150 the Ultra. So that's 2150, no idea how many started.

Loads dropped out and were taken back to the start by bus and ambulance. I've no idea how many started, but the bad weather forecast would have kept some away.

brownian

Did a lot of half-ers drop out? All chest-thumping aside, I thought the first 2 or 3 miles were the worst; once you were up the hill out of Leenane it was more a slog than a battle, with a mix of nasty gusts, handy tailwinds, and in-betweens.
For the full-ers and ultra-folks, I can well believe that running into that wind and rain and cold was a serious ordeal, and that DNFing in Leenane was tempting.

echancrure

I thought that the absence of an expo and talks as in previous years in Elverys was a big loss this year. The number collection in the shopping centre was really an underwhelming experience. I personally don't mind but for first timers and international runners who travelled from abroad it was bad. There was not even a map of the course and only one person (an ultra runner) had actually ran the course and was able to give advice. No music. No buzz.

I liked the fact that some of the buses stayed at lough Inagh, for the full start, this year and provided some good shelter until near the start.

As mentioned by many others, congrats to all the water station helpers (do take the top plastic bit off next time).

I rather liked the chaotic mess in the Peacocks afterwards.

echancrure

For memory sake weather at Oranmore (50k away) on the day.

Colostomy Bag

That was my fourth Connemara Marathon in a row. By a country mile it was the hardest of the last 4 years. I remember at around 13 or 14k wondering whether I'd make it to Leenan. 4h29, 9 minutes slower than 2015. Certainly the hardest road marathon I've experienced.