Bogtrotters marathon on again in July

SnappyDresser

Just been on the facebook page of bogtrotters marathon in Roscommon and it looks like its a runner again this year in July. It was very enjoyable last time run on a mixture of country roads, bog paths, forest paths (swampy!), trail, open road. Yes, the lead runners got somewhat lost but that was due to someone pulling up the 20 mile marker and sign. It should not take away from a tough challenging event that will test your powers of endurance, power and mental strength. Website will be updated...
http://www.thebogtrottersmarathon.ie/

Oisin11178

Great race. Tough enough course. Killer of a hill after about 3 or 4 miles. Hardest terrain ive ever ran on near the end through that bog. Thought id got lost at one stage because some of the passages are very narrow.
Ill be back again this year:)

RacoonQueen

i008787 wrote: »

Just been on the facebook page of bogtrotters marathon in Roscommon and it looks like its a runner again this year in July. It was very enjoyable last time run on a mixture of country roads, bog paths, forest paths (swampy!), trail, open road. Yes, the lead runners got somewhat lost but that was due to someone pulling up the 20 mile marker and sign. It should not take away from a tough challenging event that will test your powers of endurance, power and mental strength. Website will be updated...
http://www.thebogtrottersmarathon.ie/

What about the half marathon runners being left waiting 2 hours at the finish line for a bus? Then when a bus finally came it was a minibus. Two of us were set to share a taxi back to Strokestown by the time a bus big enough for all of us finally came.

SnappyDresser

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What about the half marathon runners being left waiting 2 hours at the finish line for a bus? Then when a bus finally came it was a minibus. Two of us were set to share a taxi back to Strokestown by the time a bus big enough for all of us finally came.

Yes, I did hear about that alright and one hopes that the organizers have learnt from any mistakes made.....if they sort out the buses and perhaps change that very very tough part around 23 miles in the swamp it could be a real winner:D

RacoonQueen

i008787 wrote: »

Yes, I did hear about that alright and one hopes that the organizers have learnt from any mistakes made.....if they sort out the buses and perhaps change that very very tough part around 23 miles in the swamp it could be a real winner:D

Problem is there was no apology at all for any of this. They just disappeared off the radar, nothing appeared on their website, facebook or twitter and no emails were sent around to apologise for the mishaps. I think the organiser or someone involved anyway was even posting on here prior to the race and they just disappeared into thin air afterwards.

I tore the race apart last year, I had a bad day out there anyway and dropped out at half way, so the bad organisation etc maybe seemed a lot worse to someone who was pissed off anyway. I don't think anyone gave it a particularly good review overall though. They've a lot to make up for this year, fair play to them if they can pull it off.

Krusty_Clown

i008787 wrote: »

Yes, the lead runners got somewhat lost but that was due to someone pulling up the 20 mile marker and sign.

Eh... The lead runners getting somewhat 'lost' makes it sound like it was their fault. There was no marshal or sign to point out the correct route. Imagine a right turn off a straight road not being sign-posted or marshaled?!

I ran 30.5 miles in this race last year ('somewhat' more than your typical marathon), dropping from 5th place to 19th, having run 4.5 miles more than most of the competitors who finished before me. I won't be in a hurry back.

Oisin11178

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Eh... The lead runners getting somewhat 'lost' makes it sound like it was their fault. There was no marshal or sign to point out the correct route. Imagine a right turn off a straight road not being sign-posted or marshaled?!

I ran 30.5 miles in this race last year ('somewhat' more than your typical marathon), dropping from 5th place to 19th, having run 4.5 miles more than most of the competitors who finished before me. I won't be in a hurry back.

I saw that turn at the very last second. Myself and a chap i was running with. I could see gary a good bit down the road having gone wrong but there was nothing i could do. There was loads of oppurtnities to go wrong and i was convinced i had gone wrong a few times and i only ran the last 6 miles alone. Letting gerry in the wheel chair do the race was a farce also, i could barely walk through some of those boggy sections.
Saying l that i enjoyed the race, not your typical terrain or conditions but enjoyabl none the less.
There is lots to improve on to be honest.

xebec

I won't be back this year either. Two hours standing around in the cold and rain after the half with no shelter and no gear bags was bad enough experience to put me off trying again.

Tough course and not to be taken lightly, that hill 4 miles in is one of the worst I've ever had to run up - Ballycotton was a walk in the park in comparison!

sarsfieldsrock

I met Krusty on the course and had to ask what happened as he was passing me. I knew I wasn't running that quick!
The lack of a marshal at a very important turn was very poor organisation all right. The organisers should be able to get the very basics right.
The experience of the half marathon runners having to wait around at the end of the half couldn't have been much fun either.

However it was a first run of a small country marathon so I would be inclined to give them a second chance. In small set ups like that one marshal turning up late can have a big affect. Still shouldn't happen though.

I hope to get back to it this year and see how it goes.

Ecoenergy

I'm doing the Cork City half marathon on June 6th and was looking for a full marathon to complete during the summer. Baby number 2 arrives at the start of September so I'd like to run my first marathon before then, as I probably won't have much time/energy for a while after this. The Cork City event is a bit too soon to get the mileage in so I was thinking of the Bogtrotters Marathon in Roscommon in July.
I just wanted to know if anyone here ran this race last year and if it might be a good event for a first timer like me? If you know of any other full marathons between June and September I'd be interested in hearing about them.

Cheers.

groovyg

There has already been a thread started for this years event not sure if the two can be merged
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=71311790

This is the thread from last years one, I think the marathon course itself ended up being 30miles long.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055886520

If you want something to do for a first time marathon Longford could be a good one to do, think its on in August. It wouldn't have the same atmosphere as Cork or Dublin but its flat.

<Merged-mod>

RacoonQueen

Maybe do the half there if you want to run there but I would advise against going at all. Longford would be a much better option.

Ecoenergy

The Longford race looks like a better event alright but its only a week before my wife is due and I'll be travelling from Cork so I might have a mad dash home if the baby comes early.
I think I'd prefer something a bit earlier if possible but after seeing the comments above regarding the bogtrotters, I'm not so sure about this one.

groovyg

By all means do the bogtrotters, according to their website they have taken on peoples feedback from last year and are making improvement but the course seems to be very different from your run of the mill road marathon in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Newry etc. The impression I got from peoples comments was that it was mix of road, trail, bog etc.

Why the rush to do a marathon before the baby arrives? Do you just want to do a marathon for the sake of doing one and tick that box when its complete? or do you run alot and this is the next step up? or do you want to do one and see what time is achievable for you?

I know there is a baby on the way but thats not the end of the world, there are plenty of mammys and daddys out there who run marathons and kids don't seem to stop them from training or completing them.

Ecoenergy

When our first little angel arrived she woke every two hours for the first 6 months and I bearly had the energy to climb the stairs. Number 2 might be a better sleeper but I think the training will suffer for a while.
I ran 12 miles the other day in 1hr 36min so I've gotten to a level of fitness now where I think I can make the step up to marathon. I'll probably just enjoy the shorter races for the summer and wait til next year for a marathon, and I'm enjoying the training anyway, but if there was one in June or early August I might try it this year.

menoscemo

There's one in Portumna on June 16th which might be a bit too early?
It got great reviews last year.

Ecoenergy

Just over 8 weeks from now so it might be a bit of a stretch. I'd prefer to be confident going into my first marathon and try to enjoy it as much as possible i.e. not suffer badly the last few miles.

I found a great one in South Africa if only I could afford it.
http://www.big-five-marathon.com/

runmymidlife

Hi

Apologies we don't use Boards at all but we didn't disappear off other radar. Everyone who emailed us after the event with complaints or compliments was responded to and some of the leaders who went astray were separately contacted to explain and apologise to. The quick explanation is that regrettably we lost a marker and a steward at the same junction and didn't discover this until the lead group had gone astray.
Needless to say this won't happen this year as, as well as arrows and marshalls, we will be marking the road which we were told last year was illegal.

Getting lost is quite a common occurrence on marathons, it happened to 2 other Irish races last year that we know of, both rural and urban, but that's not to say that anyone wants it to happen.

The other main issue as you identified was the buses for the half - we knew there would be a pinch point with the half but it was greater than expected due to people coming in faster than we expected and to more registering on the morning for the half than we expected too. Again measures are in place to avoid that this year.

We find that everyone likes a different type of marathon - we purposely did not want to be another Longford marathon as it is our nearest marathon and respect due etc! We hope that people can forgive the mistakes of the event's first year and if they want this type of run then give it a chance for 2011.

runmymidlife

Hi

as we said elsewhere what happened was we lost a steward and a marker at the same junction and we only discovered this after the leaders had gone astray, not their fault at all, and eminently regrettable. All other 240 people however did not 'go astray' as we had the problem rectified by then. People who contacted us through other media were given an explanation and apologised to, but we don't do boards....! We have a number of measures in place this year to rectify the 2 main issues from last year (the above and buses for the half) so at least we are trying to learn from our mistakes. Many races we have done have had their problems or inadequacies too, even after many years, but if we like them despite this we still do them.

RacoonQueen

You don't do boards? There were two posts from your account promoting the race on here last year...

Edit: Three posts last year actually.

runmymidlife

yes, that's not doing boards - 2 posts in how many years and how many subjects?!

donothoponpop

runmymidlife wrote: »

Hi

Apologies we don't use Boards at all but we didn't disappear off other radar.

runmymidlife wrote: »

but we don't do boards....!

That's bull. You use Boards almost exclusively to promote your event (here, from a year ago), then disappear when questions are asked of your event. If you want to use this forum to promote your event, you'll be expected to answer questions posters might have, including the hard ones.

runmymidlife wrote: »

Many races we have done have had their problems or inadequacies too, even after many years, but if we like them despite this we still do them.

runmymidlife wrote: »

Getting lost is quite a common occurrence on marathons,

You should use that second quote on your website, as a bye-line for your event, its a classic!

RacoonQueen

runmymidlife wrote: »

yes, that's not doing boards - 2 posts in how many years and how many subjects?!

You were promoting your own race on here, then when there were major problems you didn't bother coming onto the biggest running website in the country to defend yourself even though you had been posting on here beforehand. Facebook went dead, twitter went dead, don't think I know anyone who received an 'apology'. A mass email to all participants would have been a nice touch instead of everything going quiet.

As I've said, fair play if you can sort things out, but, this is the one race I would never recommend to anyone, if anything I'd encourage them not to do it.

plodder

runmymidlife wrote: »

Getting lost is quite a common occurrence on marathons

:eek: I really don't think so.

TFBubendorfer

runmymidlife wrote: »

Getting lost is quite a common occurrence on marathons

Seriously? :eek:

That comment alone just convinced me to give your event a miss - again.
If you make a mistake, you acknowledge it. What you don't do is come up with excuses like that.

groovyg

runmymidlife wrote: »

Getting lost is quite a common occurrence on marathons, it happened to 2 other Irish races last year that we know of, both rural and urban, but that's not to say that anyone wants it to happen.

:eek:
Yes on shoddily organised ones people are likely to get lost.
Using an excuse like I don't do Boards is unbelievable, you came on promoted your event and when the s**t hit the fan you did a runner. Other race organisers who have promoted their events on Boards and had problems or something went wrong have come on with apologies and their hands up. You just went into hiding and come out a year later to promote the event again.
:mad:

SnappyDresser

Come on lads you are being a tad over the top. The leaders got lost when marker was removed and steward was not at correct place. This was the 1st time running of the race and problems did occur but fair play to the organizers for putting it back on and the problems should be sorted.

I found it a very interesting and challenging course. We need more marathons so that we have a good choice. Character assasinations do not help as it is easy behind a keyboard to fire pot shots.

They acknowledge they made mistakes and should have emailed everyone after but sometimes crap happens. I did the Jingle bells 5k and that is seen as good event. Was it ever! Total crap. No official time given to me. No clock. A disaster. At least this event has the right ingredients. The leaders got lost but the vast majority did not. Give them a chance. I fully intend to do it again if only to encourage the organizers to keep the faith even if cyberbullys try to drag it down.:cool:

RacoonQueen

There was a clock and official times in the jingle bells 5k that I ran last year...

Another difference being that Bogtrotters is a commercial race and jingle bells is to fund Donore Harriers, maintain the clubhouse and be able to provide facilities for athletes and kids etc etc...

donothoponpop

i008787 wrote: »

Come on lads you are being a tad over the top. The leaders got lost when marker was removed and steward was not at correct place. This was the 1st time running of the race and problems did occur but fair play to the organizers for putting it back on and the problems should be sorted.

I found it a very interesting and challenging course. We need more marathons so that we have a good choice. Character assasinations do not help as it is easy behind a keyboard to fire pot shots.

They acknowledge they made mistakes and should have emailed everyone after but sometimes crap happens. I did the Jingle bells 5k and that is seen as good event. Was it ever! Total crap. No official time given to me. No clock. A disaster. At least this event has the right ingredients. The leaders got lost but the vast majority did not. Give them a chance. I fully intend to do it again if only to encourage the organizers to keep the faith even if cyberbullys try to drag it down.:cool:

There's no-one cyberbullying on this thread. There's a huge pool of interested and experienced runners here, who have engaged with RD's previously, to ensure smoother running of their events, that's the win-win scenario. Feedback that gets discussed and worked upon, will ensure a better race, much more so than "keeping the faith".

It's perfectly valid to point out that the RD only use Boards to promote their event, then disappear. And its perfectly valid to point out that someone who considers getting lost in marathons a common occurrence, shouldn't be organizing marathons.

Oisin11178

runmymidlife wrote: »

Hi

as we said elsewhere what happened was we lost a steward and a marker at the same junction and we only discovered this after the leaders had gone astray, not their fault at all, and eminently regrettable. All other 240 people however did not 'go astray' as we had the problem rectified by then. People who contacted us through other media were given an explanation and apologised to, but we don't do boards....! We have a number of measures in place this year to rectify the 2 main issues from last year (the above and buses for the half) so at least we are trying to learn from our mistakes. Many races we have done have had their problems or inadequacies too, even after many years, but if we like them despite this we still do them.

No you didnt rectify the mistake. I was in about 9th or 10th position and me and a chap i was running with guessed the right way, there was no marker or steward at this stage and i was a good chunk behind the leaders at this stage. I could see another guy in front of us already gone worng but there was nothing i could do. Only through very good fortune and a bit of good luck i didnt do the extra 5 miles like the leaders.
I had all intentions of doing this race again this year because i loved the variety of the course and i think its unique but to say its common to get lost in marathons both urban and rural is just untrue. i can forgive a mistake like that from a first time race if they take the criticism on board, admit they were in error and correct the following year. I cant see me doing this race this year now to be honest but i wish you luck and hope your race thrives.

Teddy2

I'm definitely doing the Bogtrotters again this year! Really enjoyed the course - its just something different from the regular city races. Lovely countryside to run through and the bog track was great to run on - definitely a welcome break from the hard roads.

Krusty_Clown

Teddy2 wrote: »

I'm definitely doing the Bogtrotters again this year! Really enjoyed the course - its just something different from the regular city races. Lovely countryside to run through and the bog track was great to run on - definitely a welcome break from the hard roads.

Fair play to you Teddy2. Just be aware that if you plan on doing the full marathon instead of the half, the second grassy bog section (which you wouldn't have encountered during the half marathon) is very uneven terrain (quite a few people raised concerns about the runnability of this section and others describes it as quite dangerous).

What other half marathon events have you done? I can suggest some superb alternative off-road half marathon courses that don't have any road sections at all, if you'd prefer a total break from the unwelcome hard roads (90% of the Bogtrotters is on hard tarmac).