Western Greenway Marathon

iluvfatfrogs

The Western Greenway between Achill and Westport is the location for a marathon and half marathon next a Saturday.
The race info was emailed today to all entrants and the distances have been changed , ie the full marathon is now 44km.
Surely this is very odd and isn’t a regular occurrence. After people training specifically for a distance and a specific time, an extra 1.5km+ is ridiculous to ask the participant to do?
Just wanted to see if anybody else encountered anything similiar ?

Van.Bosch

iluvfatfrogs wrote: »

The Western Greenway between Achill and Westport is the location for a marathon and half marathon next a Saturday.
The race info was emailed today to all entrants and the distances have been changed , ie the full marathon is now 44km.
Surely this is very odd and isn’t a regular occurrence. After people training specifically for a distance and a specific time, an extra 1.5km+ is ridiculous to ask the participant to do?
Just wanted to see if anybody else encountered anything similiar ?

Not doing it but sounds like one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard of.

TFBubendorfer

iluvfatfrogs wrote: »

The Western Greenway between Achill and Westport is the location for a marathon and half marathon next a Saturday.
The race info was emailed today to all entrants and the distances have been changed , ie the full marathon is now 44km.
Surely this is very odd and isn’t a regular occurrence. After people training specifically for a distance and a specific time, an extra 1.5km+ is ridiculous to ask the participant to do?
Just wanted to see if anybody else encountered anything similiar ?

It's unheard of to change the distance from a standard marathon to 44 km at such short notice. However, the training for 42 or 44 km would be EXACTLY the same. Anyone with a time goal would be rightly screwed, though.

pc11

iluvfatfrogs wrote: »

The Western Greenway between Achill and Westport is the location for a marathon and half marathon next a Saturday.
The race info was emailed today to all entrants and the distances have been changed , ie the full marathon is now 44km.
Surely this is very odd and isn’t a regular occurrence. After people training specifically for a distance and a specific time, an extra 1.5km+ is ridiculous to ask the participant to do?
Just wanted to see if anybody else encountered anything similiar ?

Seems crazy alright. Any reason?? If it's truly unavoidable I would be insisting they put a timer at the marathon distance and make sure people get an official marathon time, at the very least.

But it's hard to imagine how they really need to do this. I'd be pretty annoyed at such ****ing around.

iluvfatfrogs

pc11 wrote: »

Seems crazy alright. Any reason?? If it's truly unavoidable I would be insisting they put a timer at the marathon distance and make sure people get an official marathon time, at the very least.

But it's hard to imagine how they really need to do this. I'd be pretty annoyed at such ****ing around.

They’ve actually came out this evening and said they’re plotting an alternative to ensure it’s the exact same distance, so hopefully it’s plain sailing from here

Krusty_Clown

If they finished it at the marathon distance, they'd be finishing it on a busy stretch of the Achill to Westport Road. Another 2k would have you finish in Westport, where I'm sure they could find an easier more accommodating finish location. I think their mistake is advertising it as a marathon. They should have described it as a race of the Western Greenway. It'll be a shame if they have to cut a bit off (for example not starting in Achill, but starting 2kms further inland).

Peterx

Oddly enough the Greenway itself does finish before Achill

zulutango

Is the surface paved for the full distance? I thought there were gravelly parts.

Coffee Fulled Runner

zulutango wrote: »

Is the surface paved for the full distance? I thought there were gravelly parts.

A lot of it is maintenance/gravelly surface.