FailForce

PiggyWiggy

Did Gaelforce last weekend and thought it was a bit of a mess to be honest, mainly for these reasons

- it took more than 3 hours just to register on the Friday evening
- why was the trip to Killary necessary? Answer - it was a complete waste of time
- Marshalls, very few and far between. Just as well other competitors were so friendly and helpful
- the finish? where you had to leave your bikes at the end was crap, having to run to the finish line, then all the way back and trying to get back again to leave the event with sore legs was not fun

Definitely would not do this again, and would not recommend it to others. Adventure me arse

helimachoptor

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- it took more than 3 hours just to register on the Friday evening
- why was the trip to Killary necessary? Answer - it was a complete waste of time
- Marshalls, very few and far between. Just as well other competitors were so friendly and helpful
- the finish? where you had to leave your bikes at the end was crap, having to run to the finish line, then all the way back and trying to get back again to leave the event with sore legs was not fun

Definitely would not do this again, and would not recommend it to others. Adventure me arse

My first event of this type, I'd have to disagree, got down there about 9:30, registration took and dibber collection took about 2 minutes, bike drop off was a bit muddy that was it. 70km long course how practical is it to have marshalls every 0.5/1km??

Run to the finish line was fine and then the banter with people as you compared results

ThisRegard

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- it took more than 3 hours just to register on the Friday evening

We got there at about 4 or 5 that evening, stolled in right up to the desk and registered immediately, followed by a nice complimentary cup of tea/coffee and some yummy chocolate biscuits.

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- why was the trip to Killary necessary? Answer - it was a complete waste of time

Yes, as imagine how bad Delphi would have been if people were leaving cars around there while both registering and dropping bikes off, worked very well I thought.

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- Marshalls, very few and far between. Just as well other competitors were so friendly and helpful

They were at all the required junctions to stop people getting lost. You don't need them dotted all along the course.

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- the finish? where you had to leave your bikes at the end was crap, having to run to the finish line, then all the way back and trying to get back again to leave the event with sore legs was not fun

Definitely would not do this again, and would not recommend it to others. Adventure me arse

It's not meant to be easy, that's the whole point. It seems like you misunderstand what an adventure is.

GoHardOrGoHome

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- the finish? where you had to leave your bikes at the end was crap, having to run to the finish line, then all the way back and trying to get back again to leave the event with sore legs was not fun

Maybe we can ask the organisers to provide golf carts to bring weary competitors back to their bikes?

greenplain

Really have to disagree with the OP. I thought the event was really well run.

I registered on Friday around 2pm and I was out of there in ten minutes.

The bike drop was quick too.

The marshaling was good too. They were always visible at points were you had to turn and were friendly.

The end may have been a pain in the but I had been up and down CP at that stage a 800m run was not going to kill me.

Didn't mind collecting the bike at the end as it loosen me up.

Rinker

GoHardOrGoHome wrote: »

Maybe we can ask the organisers to provide golf carts to bring weary competitors back to their bikes?

Too much hassle. How about giving your race number to a valet and have him fetch the bike for you.

yop

I think a little piggy went to the market and expected porcelain floors

3 hrs to reg, did u walk between Killary and Delphi, as per the rest of the people it took about 20 mins to do both reg's, what time were you there at?

Marshalls as said, its hard to have them everywhere.

The run at the end was a dog, not it was actually 2 dogs, But its part of the fun

Fair enough if you don't want to do it again but there will be plenty more to fill the places

Mr Freeze

Good Job he didn't register at last years, now that was bad.

This year was a big improvement. No complaints here.

thehamo

have to agree with everyone else OP. Thought it was as smoothly run as it could be. And the reason bikes were at delphi was that it was en route as part of the course. It was mayhem in cars dropping off bikes alone so imagine that with registration?? Perhaps the finish could have been a little better executed, i didnt like how people were walking past you after collecting their bikes and your still doing the race. However, minor glitch in what was an expertly run event in my eyes!

smithwicks

Gaelforce was Epic. The Set up was Epic. Westport was Epic.

Epic i tell you

c montgomery

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

Did Gaelforce last weekend and thought it was a bit of a mess to be honest, mainly for these reasons

- it took more than 3 hours just to register on the Friday evening

I registered at 8:30 friday evening.I was out of killary after 2 minutes and the bike drop took 10 minutes with most of that waiting for a parking space so i really doubt it took you 3 hours.

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- why was the trip to Killary necessary? Answer - it was a complete waste of time

If you were there last year you would know why. To combine both would take extra time and delphy does not have the parking available to cope with this.

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- Marshalls, very few and far between. Just as well other competitors were so friendly and helpful

They were everywhere they needed to be.

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

- the finish? where you had to leave your bikes at the end was crap, having to run to the finish line, then all the way back and trying to get back again to leave the event with soar legs was not fun

Ya poor thing

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

Definitely would not do this again, and would not recommend it to others. Adventure me arse

No point in doing it again if you didnt enjoy it but this is adventure racing, it wont get any easier even with more marshells or faster registration.

DULLAHAN2

smithwicks wrote: »

Gaelforce was Epic. The Set up was Epic. Westport was Epic.

Epic i tell you

So what your saying is that it was EPIC

pc11

The (constructive) criticisms I would have are:

• start times for many waves were delayed a half hour, I still don't know why
• 34 minute wait and more for a kayak was very long
• the finish was a little chaotic, as you cycled in you had no idea how far where you had to cycle to, and the walk back to the bikes was messy with cyclists coming in beside you
• Turn down the damned "music" at the finish tent! The last thing you need is that ****e blaring at you when you can barely speak.
• I would expect a little more in the way of drinks or food at the end for 95 euro - how about a cup of tea?
• the final run was very narrow and I had trouble passing walkers

Plus side:

• registration was fine for me, I wonder why the OP took so long. I was there around 5 on Friday and took 15 mins at Killary and maybe 20 mins at Delphi including the queue to enter
• The course was mostly well marshalled, I can't remember being delayed at any junctions or feeling unsafe.

ThisRegard

The start was delayed by the use of toilets which as the day went on just increased until the delay was around a half hour for the last couple of waves. I'm guessing you were in a later wave, as was I, hence the delay at both the start and the kayak. Not a whole lot that can be done as faster people catch the slower people in the wave ahead and more and more people gather waiting for one. For my wave the average wait seemed to be 20 minutes.

Most people do seem to have an issue with the finish and lack of direction at it, I had slowed right down on the bike and was asking marshals what I was supposed to do.

Wonkagirl

pc11 wrote: »

The (constructive) criticisms I would have are:

• start times for many waves were delayed a half hour, I still don't know why
• the finish was a little chaotic, as you cycled in you had no idea how far where you had to cycle to, and the walk back to the bikes was messy with cyclists coming in beside you
• Turn down the damned "music" at the finish tent! The last thing you need is that ****e blaring at you when you can barely speak.

I would agree with those 3 points- the music gave me such a headache that i just headed off soon after! and yes, i have no idea why we were due to go at 8am, but the gun didnt go til 8.20-that shouldnt have happened

apart from that it was great. clearly piggy didnt take part in 2009, that was pure chaos, i thought this yr was infinitely better, no comparison!

Seanie_H

I think Piggy made some valid points. However, most of the replies fail to address what was wrong with it and (forgive me for putting word's in peoples mouths) just say 'get on with it, it's adventure racing.... part of the challenge'.

How's about they organise it better (better org and peak registration time, punctuality of start times and better placing of bikes etc at the finish) and then make the course tougher? Better to spend the energy on the course rather than a 2km loop to pick up your bike at the end?

Roy Keane wouldn't be happy with this, nor Drico.

ThisRegard

The only point that people seem to agree with is the confusion at the finish, everyone else seems to think that everything else went smoothly. People on this and the main thread seem to think that registration went very well and nobody bar the OP seemed to have an issue with it, out of 49 voters, 22 rated it Excellent, 24 good and 3 Average. The walk to the bike from the finish line and back was hardly 2k was it ?

For what it's worth, Roy Keane is an arse so who cares what he thinks . Drico would have jogged back to the Skelp and then picked up his bike on the way back to Westport as part of his cool down.

Seanie_H

OP seemed to have an issue with it, out of 49 voters, 22 rated it Excellent, 24 good and 3 Average. The walk to the bike from the finish line and back was hardly 2k was it ?



Difficult to argue with stats like that alright but faults have to be recognised, that's merely my point and I don't think I'm being toooooooooo pedantic. Similar to all endurance events and pregnancy, peoples hormones etc have romanticised the event at this stage.

Keaneo I think would be the ultimate the event organiser, love him or hate him.

Wonkagirl

Seanie_H wrote: »

Similar to all endurance events and pregnancy, peoples hormones etc have romanticised the event at this stage.

That's definitely true- you tend to forget the bad bits and fondly remember the buzz.

My main issue was the horrible offroad approach to CP, but that definitely fits into the 'get over it, it's an adventure race' category.

I would be interested to know though whether piggy took part last yr or not, because there really was no comparison, this yr was infinitely better

PiggyWiggy

Sounds like it is a good thing that I didn't do 2009 from what most of you are saying. I stand by my original comments and still feel the same way. I have done a lot of marathons, triathlons etc and will do many more. Perhaps I wasn't down with the whole "adventure racing" train of thought. The way I like to get through races is to mentally tick off obstacles I overcome in the course of the race and I don't like having to overcome one unexpected obstacle after another. Adventures are supposed to be fun in my book

ThisRegard

But isn't an adventure all about overcoming the unexpected by definition ? Adventure races are not for you judging by your comments. Where the hell is the adventure if you know what's coming around every corner ?

yop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure

Wonkagirl

PiggyWiggy wrote: »

Sounds like it is a good thing that I didn't do 2009 from what most of you are saying. I stand by my original comments and still feel the same way. I have done a lot of marathons, triathlons etc and will do many more. Perhaps I wasn't down with the whole "adventure racing" train of thought. The way I like to get through races is to mentally tick off obstacles I overcome in the course of the race and I don't like having to overcome one unexpected obstacle after another. Adventures are supposed to be fun in my book

I'd say stick to the tri's piggy. DIfferent folks, etc.

I like both, personally. But i definitely prefer ARs. Largely because of the crowd it attracts vis a vis the tri crowd.

sorefeet

it was not that bad you must have been having a bad day,its was agreat event