Another New Marathon in Kerry??Whos interested?

RobMarathonMan

i would be aiming for 1000 runners on year 1 and advertising on websites,radio,magazines etc and handing out flyers at events.do you reckon its well possible?

Enduro

Two more off road marathons are the Mourne Way Marathon and the Causeway Coast Marathon (which was last weekend). These both cost around 40 sterling.

HardyEustace

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

And yes reasonable price I agree but first year costs are always highest.the expenses are actually huge you know,however in saying that i wont be charging more than the Dublin,Connemarathon,Cork or Dingle.

The first year you'll be ironing out the kinks in your race. If you're looking for a long term race then I'd be more inclined to have a cheaper entry fee so that if something does go wrong that people will feel less ripped off. From what I gather from other organisers, it's rare that you'd make money the first year of a race.

HardyEustace

baza1976 wrote: »

And none of this registering/collecting numbers the day or two before hand adding extra expense in the current economic climate!!!! post them out or have it on the morning of the run.
It's a pain spending x amount of money to enter a race and then more money on B&Bs etc. I jsut want to pay my entry run the marathon collect my t-shirt and medal then go home.

Very, very true. Equally, this would mean having the marathon late enough that you can get from Dublin say(as it's where the biggest amount of people may come from) without having to leave at five in the morning.

tunney

HardyEustace wrote: »

The first year you'll be ironing out the kinks in your race. If you're looking for a long term race then I'd be more inclined to have a cheaper entry fee so that if something does go wrong that people will feel less ripped off. From what I gather from other organisers, it's rare that you'd make money the first year of a race.

Very very true.

Race often fall flat on their face first year. If you charge the earth and promise the stars but deliver a pile of sh!te odds are the first year will be the last year. However if you run the first year as a loss leader. Either get it perfect and charge full whack or charge reduced and learn from it. IMHO.

*whats that between the lines*

SucCes09

Would it make more sense to "just" run the half in Feb, and take it from there? Having experience an event this year that was in it's first year, and tried to do too much too soon, and it encountered some difficulties and bad press as a result.

Blueskye

schnellimbiss wrote: »

I ran the Burren Half this year, would 100% recommend it. Completely different to every other race I've done.

Yes, there are no prizes for the top finishers but it's hardly a complaint, given that it is organised by the walking club in Ballyvaughan.

The vast majority of people walked the course, some were finishing the marathon walk after 7/8 hours and they were still getting welcomed home by a very enthusiastic M.C.

The terrain is pretty wild, first couple of miles on road, before going off road and up hills, across limestone fields, down sharp descents, before running the last couple of miles back into the village. You know you're in for a challenge when the race briefing material refers to running along exposed cliff ledges...

Great finishers medal and t-shirt, and as already mentioned, a cup of soup and bread rolls waiting at the end.

Definitely doing this again next year if at all possible.

I did the Burren half this year too and absolutely loved it. It was really mucky in places but such a laugh and everyone taking part was really friendly. A great change from the road races I had done previously. Some challenging hills though!" Will definitely be back again next year .

catweazle

Yes I would be interested in doing an early marathon also, I would be like some of the above, keep the cost down, have the registration and race at a reasonable hour so entrants dont have to go down the night before, chips I might not bother with either at that time of year you will be getting the more serious runners, they will have the stopwatches. Dont bother with the goody bags most of them are useless anyways, have water stations and stewards who know where you are supposed to run.

If the course is good and people enjoy the race the word will spread and it will enable you to go large the following year. Look at the glowing reports of the Banner half above, its one I will pencil in myself now

HardyEustace

I think there's a gap for a marathon at the end of February , the middle of March.

And yes, no goodie bags, no rubbish-y extras, no extravagant promises, just a well run, good value race would be brilliant.

RobMarathonMan

Thanks for the advice.i think perhaps on the first year my best bet would be to keep things safe and just go with a half marathon.would be more manageable and then like you said i could build from there.would people recommend this?a half marathon around feb-march?

helpisontheway

Why are you interested in starting up a marathon in Kerry Rob? Are you a member of a club or charity or a company looking to make money from it?

RobMarathonMan

it will be a privately run event,but will have associated charities and clubs that will benefit from this you know.and my interest is basicly because i saw the gap for a marathon in kerry(before the dingle marathon was set up) and i thought killarney national park would be a suitable location

TFBubendorfer

HardyEustace wrote: »

I think there's a gap for a marathon at the end of February , the middle of March.

If you do that, make absolutely sure that it is at least 2 weeks either side of Ballycotton, or you'll be standing there on your own.

2 weeks before Ballycotton, inbetween that and Dungarvan, would probably be your best bet.

helpisontheway

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

it will be a privately run event,but will have associated charities and clubs that will benefit from this you know.and my interest is basicly because i saw the gap for a marathon in kerry(before the dingle marathon was set up) and i thought killarney national park would be a suitable location

So your running it on your own to raise money for charities and clubs?

Clum

I was going to head over seas for an early-in-the-year marathon but if there was one in Ireland I'd do it instead.

March 21st, two weeks after Ballycotton is probably best bet. Dungarvan and Ballycotton would be good warm up races for it. The only other major race I can think of around then are the national intermediate and master cross countries which you should try to avoid too. Not sure what date they're on though.

baza1976

HardyEustace wrote: »

Very, very true. Equally, this would mean having the marathon late enough that you can get from Dublin say(as it's where the biggest amount of people may come from) without having to leave at five in the morning.

But not too late a start. Don't want people running the last stage in the dark!!! that would be a disaster. 10am start would be good.

SharkTale

Same as above, would normally head away for a spring marathon. Great if it was in March as per other posts and even better on a Saturday, I think you will be hard pushed to get 1,000 entrants but count me in.

Best of luck

RobMarathonMan

after it is up and running well then i would look to take a slice of the profits but for year one and two atleast money will be pumped back into the event to make it better.thats the plan.money will be raised for charities through the runners and clubs that supply volunteers for the on day running of the event will get something in return also:)

meathcountysec

Clum wrote: »

The only other major race I can think of around then are the national intermediate and master cross countries which you should try to avoid too. Not sure what date they're on though.

14th February 2010, venue to be decided.

RacoonQueen

A January marathon would be nice. Do it in January, break the mould, go on.

RobMarathonMan

20th of march looks like the most plausible date now and keep it at a half marathon.before ballycotton wouldnt give enough time to advertise and let the word spread.would be a good training race for the connemarathon on the 11th of april.

RobMarathonMan

RacoonQueen wrote: »

A January marathon would be nice. Do it in January, break the mould, go on.

haha thanks for the push but that would be far too soon.as you might have seen i was originally going to go for the 26th of june and even then i thought time wasnt on my side:eek:

RacoonQueen

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

20th of march looks like the most plausible date now and keep it at a half marathon.before ballycotton wouldnt give enough time to advertise and let the word spread.would be a good training race for the connemarathon on the 11th of april.

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

haha thanks for the push but that would be far too soon.as you might have seen i was originally going to go for the 26th of june and even then i thought time wasnt on my side:eek:

Half marathon on the 20th of March in 2010 and full marathon end of January/begining of Feb 2011 I hear you say? Marvellous idea. :pac:

RobMarathonMan

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Half marathon on the 20th of March in 2010 and full marathon end of January/begining of Feb 2011 I hear you say? Marvellous idea. :pac:

ha if all goes well yes thats what could happen:)

helpisontheway

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

after it is up and running well then i would look to take a slice of the profits but for year one and two atleast money will be pumped back into the event to make it better.thats the plan.money will be raised for charities through the runners and clubs that supply volunteers for the on day running of the event will get something in return also:)

Rob the chances of you getting any help from clubs in Kerry are slim im afraid.I would imagine clubs have enough to be doing promoting the sport rather than helping you make a profit.May i ask are you doing this all on your own?Do you run marathons yourself or have a background in athletics?
It seems a bit ridiculous that eveybody and anybody can start up some type of a race to make a few quid these days.

baza1976

helpisontheway wrote: »

Rob the chances of you getting any help from clubs in Kerry are slim im afraid.I would imagine clubs have enough to be doing promoting the sport rather than helping you make a profit.May i ask are you doing this all on your own?Do you run marathons yourself or have a background in athletics?
It seems a bit ridiculous that eveybody and anybody can start up some type of a race to make a few quid these days.

I don't know about that, it sems that rob is filling a void in the market and you can see it has stirred intrest here.
The more races the better i say. There isn't enough of them down this side of the country. Unless you are living in the dublin or galway areas races of any kind are far and few between.
As long as it isn't over priced whats wrong with it?

Good luck Rob I say.

RobMarathonMan

helpisontheway wrote: »

Rob the chances of you getting any help from clubs in Kerry are slim im afraid.I would imagine clubs have enough to be doing promoting the sport rather than helping you make a profit.May i ask are you doing this all on your own?Do you run marathons yourself or have a background in athletics?
It seems a bit ridiculous that eveybody and anybody can start up some type of a race to make a few quid these days.

Easier said than done though.It takes alot of work to get these kind of things up and running successfully.And no i am not doing this all on my own,i have a team of people working on this.also yes i used to do running with tralee harriers athletics club.

RobMarathonMan

baza1976 wrote: »

I don't know about that, it sems that rob is filling a void in the market and you can see it has stirred intrest here.
The more races the better i say. There isn't enough of them down this side of the country. Unless you are living in the dublin or galway areas races of any kind are far and few between.
As long as it isn't over priced whats wrong with it?

Good luck Rob I say.

Thanks very much baza:)and yes thats true,its filling a gap in the market not only on the race calendar nationally but in kerry as well.what do you think would be over pricing?

helpisontheway

baza1976 wrote: »

I don't know about that, it sems that rob is filling a void in the market and you can see it has stirred intrest here.
The more races the better i say. There isn't enough of them down this side of the country. Unless you are living in the dublin or galway areas races of any kind are far and few between.
As long as it isn't over priced whats wrong with it?

Good luck Rob I say.

There are plenty of races around Munster,theres something practically every weekend of the year.What gets on my nerves is anybody and everybody are organising races now either to make money for themselves or charities while athletics clubs are trying to operate on minute budgets.Its obvious Rob is in this to make money from this and as an athletics volunteer i would always question that motive.
From Robs posts its obvious he knows very little about marathons and maybe even running and athletics in general.
In saying all that i have no problem with the marathon itself,just the motive of it and also how it could be organised competently by a non runner[i assume].

helpisontheway

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

Easier said than done though.It takes alot of work to get these kind of things up and running successfully.And no i am not doing this all on my own,i have a team of people working on this.also yes i used to do running with tralee harriers athletics club.

You used to do running? To the best of my knowledge Tralee H are a track and field club with no distance runners.Have you ever ran a marathon?May i ask what age you are as your post structure suggests you are young?