Athlone 3/4 Marathon

RacoonQueen

This is a strange one...

http://www.athlone3quarter.com/

Sosa

RacoonQueen wrote: »

This is a strange one...

http://www.athlone3quarter.com/

nice pic of the golf course ? ? ? ?

Ideal 3 weeks before Dublin if you wanted to rattle out a long pmp session....

RacoonQueen

And only 29 yoyos if you book in groups of 5. Most marathon plans would have 20 miles in for that week too.

Nialloooo

brillant idea, suprised no one thought of it before, think ill be using it as one of my 20 mile lsr for dublin

tunguska

4 stars (good)

This is brilliant, perfect session right before the Dublin marathon.

Krusty_Clown

Some familiar names on the contact page too. Nice to see them linking back to Boards.

donothoponpop

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Some familiar names on the contact page too. Nice to see them linking back to Boards.

+1. "By runners for runners", is always a good sign so far as organization is involved. Previous events by PM ("excuseless" on Boards) have gotten the thumbs up around these parts, so best of luck to them.

elvis jones

hmmm,

I'm working until 4am the night before but if i can get some sleep on the sat during the day i might go for this !

ThisRegard

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Some familiar names on the contact page too. Nice to see them linking back to Boards.

It's the ROAR crowd isn't it, they did a good job on the West Wicklow ROAR and it's looking good for Achill at the end of the summer too.

Krusty_Clown

Given that the organizers are both posters, they should answer that question, but there are a number of events lists on their website.

Excuseless

To answer your question Racoon Queen:- The 3/4 Marathon is indeed being organised by myself and Bazman of fast running fame.
It is placed in the calendar to suit those doing Dublin and New York a few weeks later so we are hopeful it will prove popular and useful part of most training plans.

Other events listed on the left of my website are in association with various others:-
e.g. The West Wicklow and Achill Roar events are in conjunction with Total Experience

The shared google calendar on the site gives listing of various events that may be of interest to boardies not just the ones I am involved in.

searay

I live about a mile from the course and much of it would feature on my training rides. You'll need good quads for the course. It is quite hilly and the hills are spread out. Primarily on country roads with a scenic finish. The climb up through Ardnagrath is about a mile long and you'll feel the burn.

ElectraX

Looking forward to this one. Its a great idea, surprised nobody thought of it before. Just a pity that its clashing with the Causeway Coast(same weekend). But sure u can't do all of them:)

DigiJem

4 stars (good)

Signed up for this during the week. Good idea, perfect timing for the 20 mile lsr for DCM training.

village runner

These are all the rage in the UK.

But why didnt they go 4 weeks or even 5 weeks before the marathon. That way runners could do it at pmp. 3 weeks might be a little tight.
Would love one of these 5 weeks before berlin.

Not knocking it as its a great idea.

Excuseless

village runner wrote: »

But why didnt they go 4 weeks or even 5 weeks before the marathon. That way runners could do it at pmp. 3 weeks might be a little tight.
Would love one of these 5 weeks before berlin.

Not knocking it as its a great idea.

Rather difficult to get a date that suits all but we did consider other dates for sure.

Half M in the Park is on 5 weeks before DCM (19/09) - This event is very popular as a DCM prep race and is sure to be this year too, need to allow some recovery after, etc.
Hence the date decision for 3 weeks before DCM - ideal for almost all marathon training plans.

bazman

Due to local access considerations and safety concerns we've had to make the unfortunate decision to drop the relay option for this event. Apologies for the inconvenience to anyone who was planning on entering a team.

pdiddyw

Can anyone shed some light on the actually course route.......?

I am training for the marathon for the first time and see this as ideal prep.....but to be honest that last thing I want to do is enter a race , especially a distance I've never run before "19 + miles"..and find that there is alot of hills.......if anyone could shed some light on this I'd be grateful...

tunguska

4 stars (good)

pdiddyw wrote: »

Can anyone shed some light on the actually course route.......?

I am training for the marathon for the first time and see this as ideal prep.....but to be honest that last thing I want to do is enter a race , especially a distance I've never run before "19 + miles"..and find that there is alot of hills.......if anyone could shed some light on this I'd be grateful...

I recieced this e-mail from one of the race organisers:

It is an undulating course, but there are no serious hills. You will climb/descend in the order of about 200m over the entire course, which is not much over 20 miles. It's designed as a Dublin marathon prep event & in this regard it is ideal as Dublin marathon isn't flat either ...
We're still in contact with local gardai to finalise the course, but be assured that we will be doing our best to keep the course flat.

I think anybody running the Dublin marathon would be mad not to do this race, its perfect prep.

pdiddyw

thanks for feedvback... appreicated

ElectraX

I went online today to enter this race and was surprised to see that the entry fee has gone up to €59 as it is considered a "late entry" in September. This is not an established event like the Dublin City Marathon, and therefore I don't think you should be copying their format of raising the entry fee each month as the race gets nearer. Surely you are trying to encourage as many people to enter as possible, and hiking up the prices is not going to help with this.Alot of people would plan on using this as training towards the Dublin Marathon, and given as that event is over €80 to enter, another €59 for a race three weeks beforehand is just too steep for alot of people in the current climate.Pity cause it looks like a great event, and I have no doubt it will be very efficiently organised, but I think the race price should have remained at €39 especially as its the first time this is being run.

ThisRegard

The thing is that's the norm these days. I'm not defending or condemning it but all events I've entered this year have had a similar pricing structure and many others I've looked at do the same.

wilson8862

ElectraX wrote: »

I went online today to enter this race and was surprised to see that the entry fee has gone up to €59 as it is considered a "late entry" in September. This is not an established event like the Dublin City Marathon, and therefore I don't think you should be copying their format of raising the entry fee each month as the race gets nearer. Surely you are trying to encourage as many people to enter as possible, and hiking up the prices is not going to help with this.Alot of people would plan on using this as training towards the Dublin Marathon, and given as that event is over €80 to enter, another €59 for a race three weeks beforehand is just too steep for alot of people in the current climate.Pity cause it looks like a great event, and I have no doubt it will be very efficiently organised, but I think the race price should have remained at €39 especially as its the first time this is being run.

Snap. Was also keen on running this, but not at that price. Race directors are shooting themselves in the foot, imo....Can't see too many takers at e59.

RayCun

It isn't just races that do this. Conventions often have a graded pricing structure too. The reasoning is most likely the same - these are expensive events that have a lot of up-front costs. If they're paying money out three months in advance, but not getting money in until two weeks before the race, that's a problem. Also, if you have a steady trickle of people booking you can make an educated guess how many people will be there on the day, which means how much stuff you'll need, how many stewards, etc, etc. If you don't make it attractive to book early, you don't get that information in advance, you get most of the runners booking in the last few weeks.

Don't look at it as a price hike for booking late - I'd guess the current cost is close to the 'real' cost - it's more of a discount for early birds.

tunguska

4 stars (good)

60 quid is a bit cheeky, especially for the first year of the event. The lads running the event are experieced racers themselves so its hard to imagine why the costs are so high. Maybe theres a good explanation, Id like to hear what they have to say in relation to the entry fee.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Cannot seem to find the start time for this?

Excuseless

The pricing "structure" has been a difficult one to do for this race for sure.

If the entry was €29 and somone told me we would get say 2,000 entered we would be happy but unfortunately as a first time event we do not have the luxury of knowing how many will enter.

As Ray Cun says, organisers need to get a good idea of anticipated numbers early on to try to get a handle on items to be purchased well in advance like race shirts and the likes or risk getting stung big time on un-used stock that have little value apart from to race participants.

We have tried to get as many as possibe to enter early by offering an early bird of €39/hd up to 31st July with a group (5+) discount to allow entry for €29/hd which essientially is a known loss leader to try to drum up interest in the event, provide for groups of friends, clubs, etc.
When the early bird was finished the regular entry was set to run up to 31st Aug was then €49 with the €39 available to 5+ groups

It is only by having a change in entry prices that folk come out of the woodwork and enter in general.
This is the trend for many events (evidence by for example the big sell on Electric Picnic tickets in the last 10 days!) in the current climate as no-one wants to risk their hard earned cash until the last minute where possible.

Bazman and I have first-hand experience of this as we both are regular participants in races.

We agree that 4 weeks in advance is probably a bit early to have a late entry price particularly as many are only finding out about the event now via the Irish Runner that was delivered early this week, flyers at Longford and Galway last weekend, etc.
We have changed the entry cost to keep the regular entry price at €49/hd until midnight on Monday 20th Sept with the 5+ group rate of €39/hd applicable until then also.
We have already given on-line refunds of €10 to anyone who has paid the full €59 price since 1st September.

We know from many of the entries recieved so far that there is extensive use of discount codes to reduce the price from that shown so average prices paid for entries is to date is less than €40 out of which also comes Active Europe's commission.
We don't add this onto your entry fee as sometimes is the case.
The bottom line fact is that we don't expect to make money from the event this year but if the folk that do come, enjoy the race and feel they get value for money then the numbers will increase in subsequent years.

This would be somewhat similar to the recent Tulfarris 10 event which folk that participated in felt was well run and great value and we hope that it will be viable next year with increased numbers.

At the end of the day we know the event has been well recieved by runners and definitely has a place in the calendar as a unique event.

We want a decent crowd there to experience what we believe will be a good event and a really useful one in terms of Dublin Marathon preperation in particular so hopefully we will see lots of boardies and more there

donothoponpop

Fair play Excuseless, that level of disclosure could be a template for all commercial races.

tunguska

4 stars (good)

Fair play Excuseless, thats very honest and upfront of you. I hope you get a decent turnout on the day.

BrokenMan

4 stars (good)

Fair play Excuseless, wish all race directors were as up front and willing to engage properly with people.

I wasn't too sure if I would run this but its definitely on the list now.

welsher

I heard form a friend that the organisers where finalising the course....any update on this....hopefully there will not be too many hills!!!!
Also is any first timers doing this?

seanin4711

3 stars (average)

ElectraX wrote: »

Looking forward to this one. Its a great idea, surprised nobody thought of it before. Just a pity that its clashing with the Causeway Coast(same weekend). But sure u can't do all of them:)

I will be doing the athlone though!done GB a couple of times and need to get the milage up asap!!!!
c u there!

pdiddyw

I wonder what the numbers are like so far for this event,,,
I'm guessing it will probably gain momentum once the Dublin half marathion is over this wkend....

tunguska

4 stars (good)

pdiddyw wrote: »

I wonder what the numbers are like so far for this event,,,
I'm guessing it will probably gain momentum once the Dublin half marathion is over this wkend....

Its hard to tell what kind of numbers they'll get as the Cork - Cobh 15 miler is on the same day.

Mike D

Quite fancy doing this but may wait till after the half. Its a good distance and will hopefully become a regular fixture. Great to see upfront honesty about the organisation. Hope the numbers are good for you...Well done

mooddog

Can someone qualify what the exact distance is - now I know that 3/4 of a marathon is 19.65 miles (well the calculator helped me a little ) ..... but if the organisers are targeting this for the punters doing their last 20 miler before DCM .... is it 20 miles?

I just want to know whether or not I can stop at the finish line or do I need to run another half mile after it?

Peterx

It looks like the ideal weekend for the distance and seems ideal for practising marathon race strategy with gels and fluids and the like. Hope you get the numbers to justify doing it again.
Fair Play Excuseless+Bazman.
Any race organiser could be on a hiding to nothing engaging with interweb forums so thanks for the good long reply.

(Excuseless is a good friend of mine but I'd say all that to anyone who has engaged so well here, I hadn't seen this thread in a while and now with the half marathon so close thoughts of the next one inevitably bring me to this)

tunguska

4 stars (good)

Does anybody know Athlone well enough. Im travelling down from dublin via bus eireann and the bus stops at athlone bus station. Registration and race start is in Glasson, so would anybody know how far Glasson is from athlone bus station?
Cheers

ThisRegard

If registration is in Glasson Village I'd say your looking at somewhere between 15-20k from Athlone itself, not sure where the bus station is in Athlone but there are taxis around so it might not be too expensive to get one. Glasson is a beautiful place though so I'd imagine the course is equally as scenic.

BrokenMan

4 stars (good)

Its in Galsson Golf club which is about 10K from the bus station

pdiddyw

Unfortunetly Bus Eireann doesn't do many runs on a Sunday via Glasson

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1274881985-466.pdf

http://www.whensmybus.ie/


So looks like Taxi is the best option ..
Best idea is to maybe share a 5/10 seater with others going to the event from Athlone station..?

tunguska

4 stars (good)

pdiddyw wrote: »

Unfortunetly Bus Eireann doesn't do many runs on a Sunday via Glasson

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1274881985-466.pdf

http://www.whensmybus.ie/


So looks like Taxi is the best option ..
Best idea is to maybe share a 5/10 seater with others going to the event from Athlone station..?

Jaysus that doesnt look good. I think it'll be a joe maxi from athlone bus station. Cheers pdiddyw.

Slogger Jogger

Tunguska.. I'm not planning on running this myself but theres a good chance other boardsies are. Post your willingness to car-pool / split cost on this thread and see who bites? :rolleyes:

tunguska

4 stars (good)

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Tunguska.. I'm not planning on running this myself but theres a good chance other boardsies are. Post your willingness to car-pool / split cost on this thread and see who bites? :rolleyes:

Thanks Slogger. Im very willing to car pool and split costs but I dont think theres too many dubs running this one..

pdiddyw

I'd say once tomorrow 's race is over , the Athlone event will get alot more attention/interest...I'm not sure if travelling form the East or West for this one yet...but will prob get the train and will be open to sharing a taxi or whatever......first time Marathon runner so looking at this event as prep for Dublin marathon....
ps Train station and Bus station is all the one in Athlone....

Excuseless

We can use the marshall's bus to do a couple of courtesy pickups at the bus / train station .

Pickup by Clark's white 18 seater minibus at 8.30, 9.10 and 9.50!
Try to make one of the earlier ones please.

Spread the Good Word at the half in the park tomorrow!

No excuses - See you in Athlone

ThisRegard

Now where else would you get that service

tunguska

4 stars (good)

Excuseless wrote: »

We can use the marshall's bus to do a couple of courtesy pickups at the bus / train station .

Pickup by Clark's white 18 seater minibus at 8.30, 9.10 and 9.50!
Try to make one of the earlier ones please.

Spread the Good Word at the half in the park tomorrow!

No excuses - See you in Athlone

Thats brilliant excuseless, saves me a lot of hassle. Cheers.

pdiddyw

Happy days cheers.....

Excuseless wrote: »

We can use the marshall's bus to do a couple of courtesy pickups at the bus / train station .

Pickup by Clark's white 18 seater minibus at 8.30, 9.10 and 9.50!
Try to make one of the earlier ones please.

Spread the Good Word at the half in the park tomorrow!

No excuses - See you in Athlone

hot to trot

4 stars (good)

Given that long runs are supposed to be slow or partly only marathon pace; I am a bit concerned that if i run marathon pace for the 20 miles that I wont then manage to do it on the big day. Or is it plenty of time to recover in between? I know that I will be struggling to make the pace , even working as hard as I can in the meantime to get a sub 4. ( yes still trying !) but not sure what strategy to follow.

I know that for slower runners ,that training pace and race pace are nearly one and the same( give or take 30 seconds) unlike the faster peeps, but what is the advice on this distance with it as a last long training run?

bazman

hot to trot wrote: »

Given that long runs are supposed to be slow or partly only marathon pace; I am a bit concerned that if i run marathon pace for the 20 miles that I wont then manage to do it on the big day. Or is it plenty of time to recover in between? I know that I will be struggling to make the pace , even working as hard as I can in the meantime to get a sub 4. ( yes still trying !) but not sure what strategy to follow.

I know that for slower runners ,that training pace and race pace are nearly one and the same( give or take 30 seconds) unlike the faster peeps, but what is the advice on this distance with it as a last long training run?

3 weeks is a lot of recovery time and even if giving it 100% I would expect everyone to be fully recovered on marathon day. However, we are NOT promoting this event as a race. We're promoting it as a marathon preparation event. I would suggest running the first quarter marathon at about 85% of your marathon pace and then moving towards marathon pace for the 2nd & 3rd quarters. We will be telling our pacers to keep this in mind also. It's an undulating course (as is Dublin) so I see it as perfect preparation if you go into it with the right attitude.
This is a chance for everyone to do their last long run in the company of others and with drinks provided on route to practice fueling strategy. Keep your eye on the main prize - the day to prove your strength is on 25th October. Everything before that is just preparation, but we might as well have a little fun preparing ...