Rock and Roll Half Marathon Dublin

twerg_85

djemba djemba wrote: »

Great event really enjoyed it.

Anybody have any problems with their time. My watch has me 20 seconds slower than the chip time.

My watch had me 3 seconds slower for the 10k. It also has me at 6.34miles so a lot of bad cornering or faulty GPS it seems.

28064212

djemba djemba wrote: »

Great event really enjoyed it.

Anybody have any problems with their time. My watch has me 20 seconds slower than the chip time. I could understand it the other way but not my watch been slower than the chip time. I didn't start my watch until I crossed the start line and I was in coral one, so my watch time, chip time and gun time should all be the same or else very close.

Maybe I should just enjoy taking a bit more off my new pb.

Same issue with the time. Pretty certain the watch time is accurate, think they've messed something up with the tracking

28064212

Found the race pretty good, well organised and all, but it terms of a national half marathon it's pretty poor. Terrible course (not to mention that it's not eligible for a national record), derisory prize fund, no club association, commercial race, and now problems with the timing

S. Goodspeed

28064212 wrote: »

Found the race pretty good, well organised and all, but it terms of a national half marathon it's pretty poor. Terrible course (not to mention that it's not eligible for a national record), derisory prize fund, no club association, commercial race, and now problems with the timing

Agree with a lot of that, just wondering what you found so bad about the course? I was relatively impressed with it

28064212

S. Goodspeed wrote: »

Agree with a lot of that, just wondering what you found so bad about the course? I was relatively impressed with it

• Unnecessary hill at Christchurch
• Even more unnecessary hairpin at Wellington Road in the Phoenix Park
• Going in by Royal Kilmainham Hospital introduced a lot of sharp turns (including a couple on gravel)
• Got fairly lucky with the wind. If it had been in any way breezy, prevailing winds would have made the Liffey and Magazine Fort sections very tough

And, as mentioned, if anyone was to break 1:00:57, as a point-to-point course, it wouldn't count as a record

MonkstownHoop

28064212 wrote: »

Found the race pretty good, well organised and all, but it terms of a national half marathon it's pretty poor. Terrible course (not to mention that it's not eligible for a national record), derisory prize fund, no club association, commercial race, and now problems with the timing

As a profit grabbing race series it shouldn't be allowed have the National Half title.

AAD

solidasarock wrote: »

MVP of the event was that one sign that said "Its a hill, Get over it"

Surely the "run like you just stole something" outside kilmainham jail gets that award.

RayCun

MonkstownHoop wrote: »

As a profit grabbing race series it shouldn't be allowed have the National Half title.

People are always saying Athletics Ireland should make money from the boom in recreational running and use it to support elite development.

They make quite a lot of money from this (as do the clubs who work at it). And when the half was organised by clubs it was always a small race (400 in 2012, 690 in 2011, 196 in 2010, 183 in 2009, 430 in 2008), while last year there were 750 runners in the championship.

Sunny Dayz

Really enjoyed the event, my first ever half. Only for I saw the flag for the pacer I wanted to follow, I wouldn't have found my corral, the signage was the other side of the road! There was a great atmosphere along the route from the other runners. It's only my first experience of a half but the runners seem a bit more relaxed compared to a 10km, chatting along the route, says hi, well done to each other, interacting with spectators, pausing for photos.


The Phoenix Park element of the race I found tough, the body was tired and the hills in the Park were tough enough on a weary body. The finish line festival looked great, but I just got the tshirt and the medal engraved and headed off.
I checked my results info this morning on their website and it says my 10km time is 1hr 29! But note that it appears to be gun time as I crossed the start line with 18mins on the clock and it was 1hr 10mins when I got to 10km. There's no way I'd have done the 2nd half in an hour!!

cporto

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Really enjoyed the event, my first ever half. Only for I saw the flag for the pacer I wanted to follow, I wouldn't have found my corral, the signage was the other side of the road!

I couldn't find the pacers in time at all! Ended up just winging it on my own instead of following them as planned. And somehow my bib had me in the second corral (which I did NOT go in - I was trying to find the 2:00 pacers so belonged a fair bit further back!)

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I checked my results info this morning on their website and it says my 10km time is 1hr 29! But note that it appears to be gun time as I crossed the start line with 18mins on the clock and it was 1hr 10mins when I got to 10km. There's no way I'd have done the 2nd half in an hour!!

Ahh this makes sense! My 10km time on the site was 1:03 ish which would have made the second half about 6 mins faster, which I knew couldn't be right! Thanks for the logic

Labcoats and Running Shoes

It was my first half too. Had been planning to use it as a training run and to get used to the atmosphere of racing and really just enjoy a day out! Hadn't thought I'd actually be able to do it as a sneeze left me with a back spasm last Thursday week. Luckily I have a great physio who told me to take it handy and walk if needs be. I meant to keep with the 2:30 pacers but found they were going a bit too slow by the time we were nearing Christchurch. I motored up the hill and by the time I got back down, they were well behind me so figured I'd keep on going as I had been! I found it great going until just before the Kyber when things started to get a bit tougher. The hill up the S-bends was really hard going and by the time I was running up Upper Glen I was dying a bit! Managed to keep going near enough the same pace and somehow found a new gear once I turned onto Chesterfield Ave! All in all 2:25:19 for me which I'm bloody delighted with! I've signed up for Galway Bay as well so hoping more training and a flat course will shave some time off that. I'd love to do DCM in 4:30 but I'm not sure if that's a bit unrealistic for me at this stage.

On a different note - When I got to the top of the S-bends, there was a girl on the ground receiving CPR and loads of people stopped on phones trying to ring an ambulance and EMTs. Does anyone know if she's okay?

Murph_D

28064212 wrote: »

And, as mentioned, if anyone was to break 1:00:57, as a point-to-point course, it wouldn't count as a record

Where did you see this?

AFAIK there is no issue with a point to point course unless there is a net downhill?

28064212

Murph_D wrote: »

Where did you see this?

AFAIK there is no issue with a point to point course unless there is a net downhill?

IAAF Rule 260.21 (b): the start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.

It's to prevent tailwinds being a factor.

28064212

28064212 wrote: »

IAAF Rule 260.21 (b): the start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.

It's to prevent tailwinds being a factor.

Whoops I just assumed that the distance between the start and finish would be more than 10.55km given how far along the Liffey we travel, but (using a rough Google Maps measurement) the distance is only about 7k, so it seems that it would be an eligible course for a record. Not that anybody is likely to run a record on that course

tea and coffee

Labcoats and Running Shoes wrote: »

It was my first half too.

On a different note - When I got to the top of the S-bends, there was a girl on the ground receiving CPR and loads of people stopped on phones trying to ring an ambulance and EMTs. Does anyone know if she's okay?

We were probably about the same timeframe as I started with the 2.45 pacer in Corral 18 and finished in same time as you and so I saw that girl too. I hope she was ok. I thought I saw her convulse at one stage so I am hoping she was breathing.
I felt bad for not stopping but there were a number of people around her.

Itziger

Labcoats and Running Shoes wrote: »

It was my first half too. Had been planning to use it as a training run and to get used to the atmosphere of racing and really just enjoy a day out! Hadn't thought I'd actually be able to do it as a sneeze left me with a back spasm last Thursday week. Luckily I have a great physio who told me to take it handy and walk if needs be. I meant to keep with the 2:30 pacers but found they were going a bit too slow by the time we were nearing Christchurch. I motored up the hill and by the time I got back down, they were well behind me so figured I'd keep on going as I had been! I found it great going until just before the Kyber when things started to get a bit tougher. The hill up the S-bends was really hard going and by the time I was running up Upper Glen I was dying a bit! Managed to keep going near enough the same pace and somehow found a new gear once I turned onto Chesterfield Ave! All in all 2:25:19 for me which I'm bloody delighted with! I've signed up for Galway Bay as well so hoping more training and a flat course will shave some time off that. I'd love to do DCM in 4:30 but I'm not sure if that's a bit unrealistic for me at this stage.

On a different note - When I got to the top of the S-bends, there was a girl on the ground receiving CPR and loads of people stopped on phones trying to ring an ambulance and EMTs. Does anyone know if she's okay?

2.25 Half to 4.30 Full. A tad optimistic, yeah. It was your first 13 miler though so there could be loads of improvement. That would come with a lot of training and a couple of years of experience. DCM 2017 would be 5 hours or more.

murpho999

I volunteered at this yesterday as my wife works for an associated charity and helped with setting up drinks and food.

I'll never take a banana at the finish line of a race for granted again as we opened all the boxes and separated them and re-boxed them by hand! :-)

We then moved onto giving the medals out to the finishers. So if you received your medal from the only male handing them out then it was me!

Was good craic, and great atmosphere. The amount of British and Americans who had travelled for the event was unreal.

Hopefully I'll run it next year, illness this year prevented me from doing so.

Gillo

murpho999 wrote: »

I volunteered at this yesterday as my wife works for an associated charity and helped with setting up drinks and food.

Fairplay for volunteering, I'd say you're sick of banana's! Seriously though I really think that anyone who give's up time like that deserve's a massive thanks for their efforts.

Labcoats and Running Shoes

tea and coffee wrote: »

We were probably about the same timeframe as I started with the 2.45 pacer in Corral 18 and finished in same time as you and so I saw that girl too. I hope she was ok. I thought I saw her convulse at one stage so I am hoping she was breathing.
I felt bad for not stopping but there were a number of people around her.

Must've been, I started with the 2.30 pacer but they were actually a little too slow for me. Ran with the guy handing out Gummi Bears for a wee bit after the S-bends. He was a lovely chap!

That was my thinking too - there were already a good few people around her with their phones out calling for help etc. I would've just added another body in the way when help did arrive!

zedhead

Second time doing this half marathon and I have to say it was great. I did the 5km on the saturday and the atmosphere for both races is fantastic. I've struggled with injuries and just a lack of motivation in my training for the last few months so was not very optimistic in getting a decent time and I was shocked when I came in at 2:11:40 - just over a minute slower than last year but still my 2nd fastest half by a decent amount.

I know its a pricey race but I do think its worth it and will be signing up again next year. Well done to everyone who took part and all the volunteers. They really were brilliant!

Sunny Dayz

murpho999 wrote: »

I volunteered at this yesterday as my wife works for an associated charity and helped with setting up drinks and food.

I'll never take a banana at the finish line of a race for granted again as we opened all the boxes and separated them and re-boxed them by hand! :-)

We then moved onto giving the medals out to the finishers. So if you received your medal from the only male handing them out then it was me!

Was good craic, and great atmosphere. The amount of British and Americans who had travelled for the event was unreal.

Hopefully I'll run it next year, illness this year prevented me from doing so.

Thank you for volunteering! There were quite a lot of marshals and volunteers which was great.


I did the banana job at a race before also - same as yourself, spliting out the bunches and repacking them in the boxes. My hands stank of bananas for hours after!

Yes quite a lot of UK runners taking part, you could see their club vests. The Americans seemed to take it easy, enjoy the sights, take photos. Was chatting one elderly American gentleman, he had to have been in his 70's - himself and the wife travelled over for the RnR, spent a few days visiting parts of Ireland beforehand. Their first visit to Ireland.

Gillo

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Yes quite a lot of UK runners taking part, you could see their club vests. The Americans seemed to take it easy, enjoy the sights, take photos.

A great way to see part of the city! I've signed up for the London marathon a few times (never managed to get a place) but figured it wouldn't be a fast race as I'd be noticing all the landmarks.

This Fat Girl Runs

I emailed my volunteering contact about the runner who was getting CPR. I saw the ambulances while at the finish line on the baggage trucks. He said she was taken to hospital and has improved since.

gypsylee

This Fat Girl Runs wrote: »

I emailed my volunteering contact about the runner who was getting CPR. I saw the ambulances while at the finish line on the baggage trucks. He said she was taken to hospital and has improved since.

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear she is doing okay. It must have been a very scary experience for her.

28064212

Anybody have any results time issues? I started in the first corral, near the front:

• probably took three or four seconds to cross the line
• started watch as I crossed the line
• stopped watch as I crossed the finish line

But my results are showing a time 15 seconds faster than my watch. Also my clock (gun) time is showing the same time as my chip time.

Anybody know what company did the chip timing?

chris85

Tough course and found it quite warm. Not a bit fan of the course in terms of the hill at Christchurch early on & the long road outside the park which is just boring but that's my own mental thing I guess. 

My PB for HM is 01:48 so had wanted to come in within 01:45-01:50 but had not tapered at all really for this event to achieve a PB. I went out a bit fast and caught up with the 01:45 pacer who started in coral ahead of us by 3km in I think so bit quick fairly early. Stayed with the pacer to 10km but felt tough then and struggled with the heat a bit but kept pushing to keeping a good pace through the park. I also stopped for 30 seconds about 1km from the end to talk to a volunteer to send some help back to a runner who had started swaying and was helped to the ground by another runner. 

Ended up finishing in 01:46 which is a 2 mins HM PB and 10 minutes off last years RnR HM time so no complaints at all!

AAD

Found the race enjoyable once again, haven't ran much over the last while so this was going to need a big push from me to get it finished never mind set a PB. Stayed with the pacer until the last hill and he took around two minutes out of me until the finish. But still finished under what I was looking for by nearly two minutes .

Must say a massive thank you to all the people who gave up their time to volunteer and help out in the day. Without these people a race like this couldn't go ahead. So fair play to anybody on here who volunteered,

The only negative this year I felt was the bands, there were a number of them that were not exactly "rock n roll" and more pub karaoke. Even when you were on top of them you couldn't hear them.

Anyway, can't wait for next year.

chris85

I hope to get out and run the new Dublin HM course this month sometime but I am wondering how would people feel the RnR HM course compares to new Dublin HM course for toughness? I know the Dublin HM course seems to be mainly a drag for first half but you get a nice run at it for the 2nd half.

Chartsengrafs

https://goo.gl/photos/3sLCLJqCJFk9k19KA

A handful of photos from the sixth mile. Most of my clubmate pics were removed at some stage, I'll try to add them back in.

Wubble Wubble

AAD wrote: »

Found the race enjoyable once again, haven't ran much over the last while so this was going to need a big push from me to get it finished never mind set a PB. Stayed with the pacer until the last hill and he took around two minutes out of me until the finish. But still finished under what I was looking for by nearly two minutes .

Must say a massive thank you to all the people who gave up their time to volunteer and help out in the day. Without these people a race like this couldn't go ahead. So fair play to anybody on here who volunteered,

The only negative this year I felt was the bands, there were a number of them that were not exactly "rock n roll" and more pub karaoke. Even when you were on top of them you couldn't hear them.

Anyway, can't wait for next year.

Well done on your run, tricky conditions out there.

Not sure about your comments regarding the bands :pac: I was glad I couldn't really catch most of them. Apart, that is, from the one at the main entrance to the Dublin City Council offices (Christchurch) who were ear-splitting.

chris85 wrote: »

I hope to get out and run the new Dublin HM course this month sometime but I am wondering how would people feel the RnR HM course compares to new Dublin HM course for toughness? I know the Dublin HM course seems to be mainly a drag for first half but you get a nice run at it for the 2nd half.

RnR finishes quite a bit uphill from where you start, with most of the tough hills in the second half. So in advance I'm going to say RnR; I'm also entered in the Race Series HM, but will not be racing it.