Great Ireland Run

Mine is showing as "cancelled" in eventmaster, think they refunded it in early 2021 once they knew it wasn't going ahead.

Anyone know what the ‘new’ 10k course is in the Phoenix park for this years Great Ireland Run?

Edit: scratch that - I found it here:

https://www.facebook.com/51011000750/videos/the-great-ireland-run-2022-route/317411777117536/

Saturday morning. Clashes with parkrun. Lost at least 15-20 from my home parkrun alone because of that.

Also it was poorly advertised.

I'm open to correction but I could have sworn the race used to be televised a number of years ago.

AI involvement strikes again. Farcical scenes as many entrants waiting on numbers and a last minute request for people to collect them Sat afternoon for a national 10k race....

You'd think they would have spent some of their stealth tax on some staff who can organise things properly.

Just read the Great Limerick Run, unconnected to GIR has sold up to bear group.

Nothing against the new organisation as they run a good ship but you'd worry for the future of larger races, in that it becomes either a monopoly or so restrictive between insurance and costs Vs the bottom line that the quantity and quality of events on offer reduces.

Hopefully the small organisers around the country continue to last out the uncertain times ahead.

seems like they sent them the wrong way around 2km. Instead of going back by the start they send them down to papal cross.

Waits for some apology on social media.

That's what people are paying a two euro levy on races for, some **** ownership of it and reliable organisation. Dickheads in AI will issue a mealy mouthed apology on Facebook and draw a line under it.

They were trying to blame a rookie garda at the finish area.

The junction of furze Road/Chesterfield had about 20 spectators blocking it so to a lead bike it looked like the route was to go straight. It was literally the 3rd turn on the route and it wasn't marked in any way what so ever. And there wasn't a single Marshall in the vicinity.

Course always looked like it could pose an issue in this event. I’d guess a failure to communicate, but there’s no excuse for whoever is leading out the race not to go in the correct direction.

What a balls up. I met some heads from Inishowen AC on my way back to the car. They were absolutely livid and rightly so after all the travel and costs involved in getting there. I think the first lady would have come from their club had the Champs not been voided.

Garda bike by all accounts did go the correct way but the leader runner didn't think it was correct and lead the field the wrong way.

I didn't see any marshals at the junction were we were meant to turn right. There was a load of spectators stood blocking it. Course should have been properly set up and that area should have been aligned properly well before the start.

Not trying to get at you at all, just pointing out that AI will try to scapegoat someone instead of taking responsibility for their championship races.

They made sure to fire out a mailshot asking for their race series entrants to buy t-shirts this afternoon.....

15-20 barriers to control that area could have been set up in the several hours beforehand and then the 4 or 5 on the main road removed once everyone had gone through for when we came back that way around the 8k mark.

Not rocket science.

As predicted. Not a mention of AAI in the email just sent out. DCH front and centre.

Not discounting what you saw Burkie but at what stage was that at? I’d imagine the scene as the lead past and someone further down the field would be very different. I’d expect people to go to the side of the course as the race past.

The way these events work in the pp is that authorities and the organisers get together, meet and discuss all including obviously the course. That would have been the Gardai, the OPW and most likely in this instance the hosting club. All would have known the course and all had various responsibilities to do on the day. It would be my guess that communication failed somewhere and someone didn’t know and do their job as they should have.

As I said earlier I think the course always looked like it was going to pose an issue but I didn’t expect it would go the wrong direction.

It's not uncommon in hill running that stray runners end up running the reverse direction. They go astray and then follow the markers the wrong way at a junction around a loop. With groups often meeting each other, stopping having a discussion about the weather, route etc.

Now, 1800 people doing that would be a different story. If the first few dozen go wrong, you have to let the whole lot go wrong. Otherwise you could have Charge of the Light Brigade scenes somewhere on the Glen Road.

Obviously, the turn that was missed was a key point of danger with a 90'+ turn. Get that right and the course then follows a pretty natural route. Get it wrong and well....

In my opinion marshalling is an accident waiting to happen in most races. In most races you see marshalls just standing there which means those marshalls don't understand their roles and those controlling them have not communicated the roles or maybe don't fully understand them themselves.

Marshalls are there to guide runners on the correct and clear route (obvious to follow and not blocked by spectators).

Too often they just stand there, not directing, less useful than a sign which at least often points somewhere.

Organisers think that by sending marshalls to a particular location the job is done, box ticked....they instinctively will know what to do and assertively do it.

At that key junction you need a good team who knows what they have to do and how to do it.

No a good team there. No team at all....perhaps there was no pre race briefing and the meeting time was wrong? Perhaps marshalls had to cover two postions, got it wrong? Perhaps only two marshalls for that spot and both unluckily inabstentia? Who knows....but we do know that marshall-itus claimed yet another victim ....caught a big fish this time.

I think demfad is correct. Stewarding is an underestimated task - and risk. I have done it many times at races in the Phoenix Park and have always known beforehand exactly what was to happen and what was required of us. Stewards who are runners will usually know what is required. It sounds logical that the fast guys should have the course in their head but there is always an expectation of a lead bike or car, adequate stewarding and signage etc.

This extract from the Celtic DCH website, posted on Friday 14th - less than two days before the race, does not fill me with confidence:

"Sun 16Apr all athletes who are born 2010 and older meet at the HITW at 8.30 to help at the race( on bikes if you have one). Edel and Shane will bring you over to where you are needed to help at the race. Any adults who havnt been assigned jobs come directly over to finish area on the furze road for 9am. All help appreciated from parents and older siblings."

Looking for thirteen year-olds to help? Parents who are not runners wouldn't have a clue.

Fundamentally though, it was a badly designed course that was asking for trouble, regardless of the detour. The last wave was to start six minutes after the first wave - but the first wave was due to be coming back down that road past the start at that time, having done just over 2km. It would also have been a mess if the runners had gone the right way.

Not defending AI at all but isn't that the system for pretty much any championship race, whether it's county, provincial or national? Isn't it always delegated out to a host club who get a few quid out of it? The AI involvement on the day would presumably be limited to collating results, handing out medals and the like?

Yes generally it is but depends on the competition. T&F for example is not entirely reliable on a host club. Okay few stewards are required for a T&F event but a bit more oversight and a bit more involvement after handing out the permit for a road championship race wouldn’t go a miss.

Issue was though were there any stewards at the turn? I was spectating further down the course but it doesn't seem like there was based on reports.

Edit, maybe not

I was there yesterday. Knew were were wrong when the 3k marker board ‘disappeared’ and we were running the course in reverse. It’s actually an achievement that they managed to shepherd everyone back to the start.

I've been involved in road race organisation. the director can’t see everything - they have lead marshalls in charge of sections of the course, connected by radio.

With minutes to go, each section of the course gives a strict GO/NO-Go and the whole course is declared ‘open’. Only then is the starter told to go ahead.

from a Marshall perspective, the missed turn was the most important one on the whole course (the rest of the course was quiet - this area was where everyone gathered pre race - the portaloo’s were literally at the junction etc) - it was the only junction that needed to be cleared before gun time for a ‘go/no-go’.

Separately, with that short 3km initial loop, the timing of each wave just doesn’t add up.

there was always a huge risk the lead pack would have to go through the walkers from wave 3. The missed turn was at the 2.2km mark (6-7min into the race), but the gun time for the 3rd wave was +6min, if they could achieve that, and then all the walkers would have to make their way up to and through the start line and then another 500m to the first right hand turn (another 5-7min?) in order to clear the road for the leaders.

I can’t see how that was ever possible.

The route change is a result of OPW restrictions on permits for races in the park, it's here to stay that only the main avenue and the south of the park will be availble, all orgnizers have to work within these limits since 2020.

Was surprised to see that the elites would have nearly met the rest of the runners starting on the elites second loop of the short section, would have been mayhem there.

Either way it's probably the last race in this current guise of the combination of National 10k and GIR, Nationals will probably go regional in rotation and GIR will pick up the pieces with a damaged brand, doubt they survive with the price tag and shitshow that was yesterday. Lot of other races across even the area local to the park which are better value and won't have issues such as the postage of numbers, collection of numbers, bag drop, marhsalling, call for volunteers at last minute for a national championship.

my first thought at the finish line yesterday was ‘they can just re-run the 10k champs at dunshaughlin in 9weeks time’, but I’m told it’s not that simple and in particular that scheduling for elites and sub-elites is a factor - they have their race calendar in place early in the year