Antrim Coast Half Marathon 2021

echancrure

Looking for a race in Ireland this is very likely to take place?

Well, the Antrim Coast Half Marathon on Sunday 29th August 2021, is probably a good candidate.

Website https://antrimcoasthalfmarathon.com/

They are really trying to build that race up with elites but should be a good popular choice too. The route is flat, it follows the superb Antrim coast. Without wind, this course is a record-breaker.

Hopefully, I'll be there in good shape.

healy1835

I'm signed up. Looked great on the tv coverage last year.

AntrimGlens

See ye there. I'm in again, they made quite a few changes to the route for the race last year in anticipation of all the elites coming and smashing pb's. Unfortunately none of the masses got to run the new 'fast' route, so I'll see how it compares to previous years. They've taken about a half mile climb out of it, but also the recovery half mile descent back to the coast road is binned too, in lieu of more racing through the town.
It's a pity as the hill was always a great motivator, just passing people who had obviously few hills in their training.
I'll see what shape I'll be in for London in October once I've done this race.
It's my birthday that day too so it will be a session afterwards with all our club members. Ohh something to look forward too at last.

Dub13

Signed up myself.

Ross Runner

Me and the wife have signed up, can't wait to give these a proper run out

https://youtu.be/9FFMZdfizTU

ThebitterLemon

I’ve just entered this.

Can’t see races happening in Republic this year unfortunately so I’m going to try a 1.29 at this!

TbL

Unknownability

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

I’ve just entered this.

Can’t see races happening in Republic this year unfortunately so I’m going to try a 1.29 at this!

TbL

I'd love to sign up for this and have the same goal as you but I think my child might be starting school that Monday so wouldn't want to miss the excitement of that weekend.

Additionally I have the Berlin marathon (unlikely) on the 26th of September so might be too close.

Actually I will sign-up on the chance that it is the week before or after they start and I can't get to Berlin.

richj

Hi Guys,

I currently training for my first half marathon, would this be a good choice for a first timer?

Thanks in advance

Unknownability

richj wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I currently training for my first half marathon, would this be a good choice for a first timer?

Thanks in advance

They market themselves as an fast and flat course so you can't go too far wrong with it. Good luck with the training.

AntrimGlens

richj wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I currently training for my first half marathon, would this be a good choice for a first timer?

Thanks in advance

It will be about as flat as they come and usually a good spread of competitors from 1hr 15 to 2.30 if that's your ball park.
It depends on the weather on the day, as it's fairly exposed to the sea you can often get a 3 mile headwind either on the way out or the return as they're both on the coast road. The scenery is first class though and well supported.

richj

Cheers, might give it a shot so, at least it would be something to aim for at the moment

richj

I bit the bullet and signed up, see you all up there !!

The Davestator

richj wrote: »

I bit the bullet and signed up, see you all up there !!

Me too!
Convinced some friends to do it too. Make a holiday out of it!

Laineyfrecks

I have also signed up for this, ran a half TT (during one of our many lockdowns) 1:34, hopefully can improve on this! Can't wait to run a real race again.

Van.Bosch

The Davestator wrote: »

Me too!
Convinced some friends to do it too. Make a holiday out of it!

A holiday & a race!!!

sk8board

With Mo missing out tonight on Olympic quali, he might fancy doing this again this year.

Any idea what the race capacity is? I fancy driving up that morning, it’s about 2hrs

echancrure

Entries closing very soon for this.

sk8board

Just registered today.

registration closes tomorrow (Jul 31), capped at 2,000

racersedge

Signed up for this one myself. a three and a half hour trip for myself, but I've decided to take accommodation for the Saturday night to give myself the right prep. Looking forward to it and hope to improve on the PB I set in Kildare back in June.

dmmnnba

Signed up for this back in March, attracted by the advertised fast flat course. Only my third half marathon but surprised today when I saw on the course statistics page of their website that the elevation gain is 220m, significantly more than my previous efforts. Would this be regarded as a flat course? Or perhaps an error on the website? If not will have to take in a few more hills than planned over the next three weeks.

PTPaulAC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697514#Comment_117697514

I'm not sure what method of measurement they're using to arrive at 220m because that's not flat in my books! (I saw the webpage you're talking about, too, and can't make sense of the 220m)

I Google Mapped the course and it is pretty flat (elevation is 131ft = 40mtrs). I also did the Larne AC 10k which follows the Half M route and can confirm it is quite flat (Strava elevation gain was just 17m for this 10k race, which would add up with Google Maps, too) .

racersedge

Anyone with experience from up that way know what parking is like around the area? Plentiful or hard to come by? Free, or do I need to find some coins and notes? Trying to do some forward planning in that regard as we are now down to three weeks to go.

sk8board

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697514#Comment_117697514

I saw that huge figure too, so I manually recreated the route as a training course in garmin, and it measued 81m elev gain

My training courses usually run lower elevation in reality too, than they measure on course creator. That might just be my watch.

The Davestator

I signed up but an Achilles injury will prevent me from taking part. If anyone is interested in a number, PM me.

Dante

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117738508#Comment_117738508

Any chance thats still available? Just dropped you a PM.

AntrimGlens

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117766171#Comment_117766171

If Davestators number isn't available mine is. Achilles injury also has put me out. Drop me a PM if wanted.

Dante

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117767550#Comment_117767550

Great, just sent you a PM!

Mogrump

@AntrimGlens or @Thedevastator Either or you guys/girls have a spare entry for Belfast?

sry to hear about injuries btw

AntrimGlens

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769622#Comment_117769622

Not me didn't enter belfast but I'll ask around the club, thanks.

Mogrump

Thanks @AntrimGlens, appreciated

The Davestator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769622#Comment_117769622

I have a number. Dante has first refusal but if they got sorted, you can have it.

Mogrump

Thanks The Davestator, just let me know 👍

sk8board

Anyone know why they split the race?

elites now start at 8am and the rest of us at 9:30. Oversubscribed maybe?

Sheep1978

Anyone got any idea what parking is like for this.?

The Davestator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117805435#Comment_117805435

On the final instruction email, there were maps of the official car parks.

healy1835

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117799657#Comment_117799657

No, apparently it was to do with it's status as an elite sporting event in NI, and for it to have that classification from whatever body awards these things, it had to be separate from the mass event.

racersedge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117805820#Comment_117805820

Only thing they didn’t mention on the parking is if any of those places are paid parking. Trying to scrounge up a few coins just in case! 🤣

echancrure

Yes, trying to obey the 13 pages of instructions is not easy. Some serious crowd control efforts are being attempted up to the point of not releasing a course map.

The weather looks perfect for tomorrow; pity I did not train...

echancrure

Live at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/northern-ireland/58361639

deconduo

Women's world record broken 😮

healy1835

Great course and amazing depth in the mass field. I'm guessing they would have learned alot from today from an organisational standpoint.

The start area was absolute mayhem. No signs and no designated wave areas meant that runners just exited the park onto the road and walked down to the start pen. This is all well and good if each wave was walked down in turn, but from what I could see, the DJ announcing that it was the individual waves' time to leave the park was all that was in place.

I'm not a nervous person re Covid-19, but the start line must have been an issue for a lot of people who are. It was like the Tokyo underground in there at the front, and I'm not exaggerating. I was with 3 clubmates and we were wedged up against each other which isn't great to be fair. I think the race was 15 mins late starting because of this.

Also, only 2 water stops, the first of which was around 7 Miles, was probably a big issue for some of the later waves.

Those issues aside, it was a cracking race with good support at points. Finish area at the football club looked like it was well set up, but we didn't stay long, and left very content with our t shirt and medal.

I'd definitely run it again. Not very often you get to say you've ran on a WR course 😁

echancrure

I'd like to thank the organisers for this race, a great amount of work done. Also congratulations on the elite race (and the world record!).

However, I'd also like to point out a few negatives as a mass participant.

The start was a mess, delayed by 19 minutes, most people not knowing where the starting line was nor in which direction we would be going (including me, and no map was available pre-start despite 13 ages of instructions). The starting pens were non-existent but most people tried to respect the colour code the best they could.

I know a world record was beaten but the I would not describe this year's race as flat and the surface in Larne town was pretty bad (coarse tarmac and quite uneven).

The out and back on the coast road is great but also quite narrow as the road had to be split in the middle unless you were at the front.

Apart from that, support was great and the standard of racing was very high.

If they could fix the start and extend the coast road run (up the 10k turn-around they had for the 10k a few weeks ago) to cut out more of the Larne town at the start it would be great.

Well done to all!

AceLesya

Great time for me today.

However, probably the worst organised race I’ve run since the farcical Donabate Dublin Half in 2017.

Toilets in the warmup area were totally inadequate.

Starting pen was a mess. A horde of people bunched together with no clue as to which way to go, no instructions, stewards or announcements.

Water stops were chaotic and too late: if you wait 7 miles into a half to take on water you’re running a real risk of dehydration. I had emailed the organsiers a few days ago to find where the water stops were positioned but got no reply. Just as well I carried my own water from the start.

Nice scenery but overall a big fat thumbs down from me.

racersedge

Echo what has been said regarding the organisational mess at the start. More signage to direct people would have helped - as would more stewards to Marshall things along (although some personal responsibility for runners to be on time as well. So many arriving late down to the start area not helping things). I’d also argue that the park itself was not the ideal warmup location given the numbers. I know the 90-minute pacer even commented that all the consideration was given to the elites and not mass race.

Aside from that shambles, the race itself was grand. The first 6 or so kilometres through Larne was tough with the elevation changes. I’d love to know what the pace of the 90-minute pacer was because he was like a rocket! I just gave up trying to stay with.

Didnt stop me from ploughing on. Kept things steady and consistent and broke the 90-minute barrier for the first time, improving from a high 1:35 that I achieved in June. Absolutely chuffed with that one.

sk8board

my first HM race, and a sub 1:30, so I’m delighted overall.

from the comment above, i was one of the lads who stuck with the 90min pacer - he went out in 44:25, so it wasn’t way ahead but did go out fast considering the hill in mile 3, he split the return leg in 45:00 exactly I think. I passed him 2k out and he was very chatty and encouraging to the group he had for us to kick on and finish strong. he’s not supposed to sprint finish :)

echo all the above on the organisation, so I’ll keep it to suggestions:

1. the start pen needed Marshall’s just telling people that it was being back-loaded, to move backwards and we were running back towards town. There didn’t actually seem to be any marshalls, and I was about 50m from the startline. To be fair to the 1:30 pacer he took on that mantle and people immediately moved backwards as they realised the situation.
2. i didn’t use the water stations, but the 500ml bottles was daft. As it was an out-and-back loop, the road was littered on the return with 95% full bottles. 250ml sports bottles is always ideal and probably add one more station.
3. the toilet queue was silly, so most people just went into the trees in the park. Why do races not figure out how many portaloos they think they need, and then double it!

as for parking and traffic, I arrived into caterpillar at 8am and got in and out no problem at all and no queues

im delighted with my time and would be back simply because I’ve no doubt things would improve.

racersedge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117820087#Comment_117820087

Interesting to know something who ran with that pacer. I had at first considered that he was banking some time for the climb back out of town. Just felt to me he was shot out of a cannon and just stayed there. My pace was bang on what I needed to go sub-90 and having started relatively close to him, I was just surprised how quickly he put distance on me! But nice to get the perspective of someone who was within that group. Maybe I wasn't as close as I thought at the start to him! Congrats on the great run in your first Half!

ThebitterLemon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117820311#Comment_117820311

I think he was trying to get the time back lost due to the congestion at the start but he way overdid it

i was behind him and it was a effort to catch up.

TbL

dmmnnba

Ran a 5 min PB so delighted with it, problems with the start aside. I came prepared with a strong mask to wear while in the congested starting area but this was definitely a potential superspreader event, given the vast majority were not wearing masks and packed tightly together for 20 minutes or more.

I enquired earlier in the thread about the elevation of the course. My Garmin gave me an elevation gain of 209m which was close to the official course measurement. It seemed to be a fast course but not a flat one, can't get my head around it!

sk8board

209m? I really doubt that, tbh - it definitely didn’t feel like it

looking through myself and 6 friends on garmin just now, we all recorded 71-94m, which feels far more like it, and yet I’m surprised we had such a spread. The climb from the town to the start line was the highest point and every other climb was pretty tame by comparison I thought.

edit: totally agree on the covid situation at the start line - I didn’t see a single mask, myself included; I didn’t even think about it tbh.

any idea on the numbers today? The results link doesn’t show all finishers. Seemed like 3-4000 crowded together for 30min at the startline

dmmnnba

May be an issue with the elevation on mine, I agree it did feel like less. I had taken part in a couple of 10ks earlier in the year in the North, their attitude on covid seems to be a lot more relaxed than ours, that's why I brought the mask. Another issue I thought today was that there was no facilities for hand washing or alcohol disinfection at the portaloos in the Sandy Bay finish area, I presume it was the same elsewhere. The least that could have been provided was one or two alcohol hand pumps in the area outside each group of loos.

Watched back on the BBC coverage of the race, while all the chaos was unfolding at the start organiser James McIlroy was happily chatting away to the TV cameras in the finish area after the elite race, getting lots of claps on the back. He looked very happy with himself. BBC didn't show any pictures at all from the mass start area!

dmmnnba

Regarding numbers of finishers, there are 29 pages of 100 finishers each on the Popup races website for the mass race. Not sure why positions aren't given. Maybe this type of information is commercially sensitive but it's there anyhow for anyone who wishes to do the arithmetic.