docklands run

geoff29

you guys were talking about this in the trinity thread there - but did anyone do it here last year? I too heard bad things but I cant remember from who!! The route looks ok...

Popsicle

Would love to hear any feedback from people who have done this also.

Was going to do it this year. The route seems flat enough, is it a fast one?

OldBloke

I did it last year and thought it was a cracking run.

stmochtas

Anyone know where the race starts from. It says grand canal square on some signs around the IFSC but it looks like it starts on the quays from the route map. I am a late registrant as well so I would guess that will be around the start some where.

rovers_runner

http://www.dublindocklands.ie/funrun/files/funrun_route.pdf

Running this evening myself, course looks nice and flat all the way around too so happy days, first time running at this hour in an organised event but nice for a change.

xebec

I'm running (or at least trying to) tonight too. As the map shows the start is on the south quays, with the whole thing (music etc) being based around Grand Canal Quay Square...

geoff29

Warning - here comes a rant:

now im a relative newcomer to these races but I don't need to have been to many to realise that this was a bit of a shambles..

1) Directions. Don't think I saw any sign-posting. At all!

2) Registration. clearly the numbers were far greater than expected - they had enough reg. numbers - just not enough safety pins! I was involved in a fight for a stapler! Why no better method for queuing etc.? As time went on, they started getting a move on though and brought the numbers to the queue...

3) Toilets. I asked one of the staff after registering where the toilets were? 'Arent any' I was told - 'but if you use the cafe there..' The cafe manager said not gonna happen. It was then I noticed the portaloos - thankfully. But why did the staff not know this? A little thing I admit but all a bit weird!

4) The Start. It was on the start-line that I noticed a sign saying 'The Dublin Docklands 7k' - but was it not 8k?! I then heard 7.5 after?

5) The Race. There were no distance markers?! Or were there?! Granted with all the 'yes to europe' and 'no to europe' signage - maybe I just missed them!?!

6) The finish. The finish was odd - I ended up sprinting into a group of people. there was no routing for the finishers. Just a crowd - with some guy shoving some ads into my hand whilst i was struggling for water!! Again - with so many people taking part - why not even have some kind of routing for the finishers etc?


Anyway, the point is that I have a new respect for the BHAA and all the events that they do. I did the BHAA RTE race a few weeks ago - which by comparison was an absolute pleasure!! I can only hope that next year the organisers might put the running of the event up for tender - maybe get someone from the BHAA or similar to do it.

Finally, I ran ~29:43 or thereabouts (accounting for my start which was hindered by a Fiat Punto). But for what distance??!! who knows!!

xebec

geoff29 wrote: »

3) Toilets. I asked one of the staff after registering where the toilets were? 'Arent any' I was told - 'but if you use the cafe there..' The cafe manager said not gonna happen. It was then I noticed the portaloos - thankfully. But why did the staff not know this? A little thing I admit but all a bit weird!

And the queue was huge...

geoff29 wrote: »

4) The Start. It was on the start-line that I noticed a sign saying 'The Dublin Docklands 7k' - but was it not 8k?! I then heard 7.5 after?

The start was an absolute shambles, I got down there reasonably early only to find that there was no 'line'. Ended up stuck behind a load of fun runners. That was the 7k marker... Although I think the last km was too short but the previous one was a bit long...

geoff29 wrote: »

5) The Race. There were no distance markers?! Or were there?! Granted with all the 'yes to europe' and 'no to europe' signage - maybe I just missed them!?!

They were there, some of them anyway. I saw 2km, 3km, 4km & 7km...

geoff29 wrote: »

Finally, I ran ~29:43 or thereabouts (accounting for my start which was hindered by a Fiat Punto). But for what distance??!! who knows!!

Nice time, well done! I'm nowhere near your league, but I enjoyed the race and beat my target time

rovers_runner

geoff29 wrote: »

Warning - here comes a rant:

now im a relative newcomer to these races but I don't need to have been to many to realise that this was a bit of a shambles..

1) Directions. Don't think I saw any sign-posting. At all!

2) Registration. clearly the numbers were far greater than expected - they had enough reg. numbers - just not enough safety pins! I was involved in a fight for a stapler! Why no better method for queuing etc.? As time went on, they started getting a move on though and brought the numbers to the queue...

3) Toilets. I asked one of the staff after registering where the toilets were? 'Arent any' I was told - 'but if you use the cafe there..' The cafe manager said not gonna happen. It was then I noticed the portaloos - thankfully. But why did the staff not know this? A little thing I admit but all a bit weird!

4) The Start. It was on the start-line that I noticed a sign saying 'The Dublin Docklands 7k' - but was it not 8k?! I then heard 7.5 after?

5) The Race. There were no distance markers?! Or were there?! Granted with all the 'yes to europe' and 'no to europe' signage - maybe I just missed them!?!

6) The finish. The finish was odd - I ended up sprinting into a group of people. there was no routing for the finishers. Just a crowd - with some guy shoving some ads into my hand whilst i was struggling for water!! Again - with so many people taking part - why not even have some kind of routing for the finishers etc?


Anyway, the point is that I have a new respect for the BHAA and all the events that they do. I did the BHAA RTE race a few weeks ago - which by comparison was an absolute pleasure!! I can only hope that next year the organisers might put the running of the event up for tender - maybe get someone from the BHAA or similar to do it.

Finally, I ran ~29:43 or thereabouts (accounting for my start which was hindered by a Fiat Punto). But for what distance??!! who knows!!

Firstly well done on the time geoff29.

I'd agree that the start was a complete shambles, was almost a min gone on my watch after the gun until I ran a step in anger.

The km markers were accurate early on but got lost after 3km, the 7km was completely off, measured the course on mapmyrun and it does cover 5m.

As for registration and the toilets, it's out of their control imho as you can't legislate for number turning up not registered already and it's not the kind of place in the city you could organise portable toilets without them being vandalised overnight

Broke 40 mins handy enough but the first km was carnage, could see it coming a mile off.

Peckham

I usually give the benefit of doubt to the organisers, as who am I to criticise - I never organise races, and if I feel I can do a better job, then maybe I should volunteer!

However, the start was very poorly organised last night - in fact, a total shambles. Everyone arriving from the front to the start was never going to work. All it took was a few carefully positioned crowd barriers to divert people towards the back of the startline (or bring people down a different street). Chaotic scenes of marshalls trying to move people back a few metres...and then all of a sudden, without warning, the gun goes. (Am guessing the guards didn't want any delays given the road closures).

I would question the length of the run. My GPS didn't have a signal at the start, so I didn't get an exact measurement. However, I was running at about 6:15 pace, yet finished in 30:25 (and even slowed down a bit over the last km). Must check my exact paces and see how they add up.


Relating to other criticisms:
- I thought the route was reasonably well sign-posted and there were certainly plenty of marshalls out directing people.

- Safety pins - I took some safety pins from a pile on the desk in the bag storage area about 10mins before the start, so these were available.

donaghs

T'was a bit messy, but I enjoyed the run overall. They ran out of goody bags as well - I was waiting for someone to finish and they were all gone when we approached the desks. I did it in 41 mins which was under my target time. I suppose it's easier to organise a race in somewhere like the Phoenix Park.

dtf

The start was a disaster. It bordered on being unsafe.
I'm only a fun runner so not really too bothered about getting stuck behing walkers at the start. It seemed to me that there was a few pedestrians not involved in the race, getting caught up in the rush during the first Km. A few badly placed cars parked along the narrow streets didn't help either.

All in all a good athmospere, and a great crowd. Just needs a little better organisation.

Don't suppose there is any chance of getting results?

stmochtas

Start was a shambles and the toilets and i have to think the seventh kilometre was really long and the last short but can't be sure. Would be interested to know if it was 5 miles or was my time inaccurate. Finished in 37:27 which i was happy with. Mapmyrun says 5 but how accurate is that?

Popsicle

Didn't get out from work in time to partake myself but hubby did and got round in about 32 minutes.

He did say that there was a huge queue for registration on the night, but the organisers can't really legislate for that.

My understanding is there are no published results with times, so why they give you a number is a bit of a mystery!!

rovers_runner

They had a photo with a scanner at the finish line to record the results so they should be available at some stage ?
They were printing off like a cash register type reciept.

Popsicle

Oh, I see, well thats good!

Walls

I took part and beat my target time which I was happy about.

Didn't see any signs re distance, if they were there then well enough. But I agree with regard to comments already made re safety and the start time, they were sloppily handled and could have been a lot better.

Also at the end, there was no crowd control bar one poor soul shouting at people at the finish line to move along.

The route itself is lovely and is one of my favourites. It is exactly one mile from the toll bridge to the Matt Talbot bridge so that is an excellent way to add to the length as you wish. I plan to redo the route again this Friday, when my knees stop complaining.

bo-sco

It was a total shambles to be honest.
1) As was mentioned the start wasn't announced. Everyone was standing around and then the gun just went.
2) It seems that there were km markers but that's news to me. I certainly didn't see any.
3) The website said the distance was 8k, the flyer you had to fill out to enter said 7k. I was running and had no idea what distance it was supposed to be.
4) As a result of all of this I hadn't a notion how long was left towards the end. I'd caught up with a lad ahead of me on the stretch along the south dock but actually started sprinting then because I thought we just had to turn into the finish. Little did I know that there was about half a mile to go!

Based on my time and the effort I put in I'd say it was about the 8k alright (which is that bit short of 5 miles). In fairness, there was pretty good stewarding but I wouldn't be in a run this race again.

plodder

I agree with everything that's been said. The start was completely dangerous and shambolic. In the end, people arriving from the registration area, who possibly wanted to start down the field, couldn't get past the mass of runners who had already assembled. So, they had to just stay where they were and start ahead of the starting line (which was an imaginary line between two lamp-posts).

I only saw one steward at the start, and there certainly was no mega-phone or PA, or possibility to organise people at the start.

The organisers need to get their act together before somebody gets seriously injured or worse.

TheRoadRunner

I was thinking of doing this but had talked to a couple of friends who ran it last year and they had a similar experience to what has been described in the above posts.

I'm glad I didn't make the effort to get to it now.

By all means the course seems to get the thumbs up its just the organisational side that is letting them down. I don't know the individuals who organised this but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't runners themselves.

islandexile

The course was good and well marshalled by Gardai and volunteers...if a little short of 8km in my opinion. The start was a bit of a shambles alright. There was no PA and the gun just went off without warning.

The large crowd caught the organisers by surprise....huge queue for registration. The problem here was probably due to the fact that people were rushing from work and didn't have the opportunity to get there early to register (maybe events like this should be pre-entry only??)

OldBloke

As far as I can recall it was supposed to be 7.75km - I remember thinking thats an unusual distance.

And there were Km markings last year too.

geoff29

cheers xebec and rovers - i was on the verge of collapse 18 mins in or so - I missed all the distance markers so I really didnt know what i was doing!

actually - just had a look back at the docklands site - they put up the results for the top 3 mens and womens races - and about 6 or 7 photos too. the womens race winner Catriona Jennings overtook myself and the 3 other guys I was trying to stay with at about 2km to go - and she made it look effortless!! I had passed her earlier when I was making up for my slow start (that random gunshot!) and thought nothing of it until she breezed by the whole group prob 10 mins later! I may have done a bit better time-wise than I thought because I was a few metres behind her at the end.. Have to say i was hugely impressed by how effortless she seemed to make it! Did anyone else get passed by her?!!?

Suppose with hindsight I enjoyed the night - despite my misgivings!