Killarney 15 miler 16/07/2011

RubyK

Apologies if there is another thread on this, I looked but couldn't find one. I'm hoping for some feedback on this race. Is it a very tough run?

http://www.maximarathonkillarney.com/

ronnie085

RubyK wrote: »

Apologies if there is another thread on this, I looked but couldn't find one. I'm hoping for some feedback on this race. Is it a very tough run?

http://www.maximarathonkillarney.com/

Did it last year and really enjoyed it, got lucky with the weather and scenery wont be beat. Its not a tough run at all, mostly downhill, then flat for the last few miles. I put a link up on the race profiles thread.

RubyK

ronnie085 wrote: »

Did it last year and really enjoyed it, got lucky with the weather and scenery wont be beat. Its not a tough run at all, mostly downhill, then flat for the last few miles. I put a link up on the race profiles thread.

Cheers for that ronnie, you have sold it to me I had visions of lots of hilly miles, so I'm delighted to hear that's not the case! I'll have a look for your link. Thanks again!

groovyg

Here is the profile from Map my run, it seems to be down hill and then flattens out.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28589854

Its on the same day as the 5 mile in the phoenix park so will probably do that instead.

RubyK

Thanks groovyg, looks like a nice profile alright! Right, I'm deffo on for this.

red face dave

Have signed up for this as my next big test, glad to hear there is no major hills that's the one thing that was making me doubt it.

Using this as a holiday also so hope for good weather. Really looking forward to it after yesterday.

opus

3 stars (average)

Didn't know about this one but certainly sounds interesting. If CCM goes ok then I'll definitely sign up for it.

red face dave

Last 4 miles have now been changed to new route
http://maximarathon.blogspot.com/

opus

3 stars (average)

Sent off my entry form for this yesterday. Mentioned it to a friend of mine & they thought I'd signed up for some 26mile+ distance until I explained it a made-up term that was a 15 mile race

Scholesy1981

4 stars (good)

I done this race last year and to be honest, I've never ran a race like it, top notch from start to finish, scenery is incredible, mostly downhill, plenty spread on the water stations, at the end theres hot baths, physios, plenty grub, nice race pack, medal, tshirt, mayor was even at finish line greeting everyone crossing line! It may be new and it may be 50 euro (for those that give out bout race prices!) but its well worth the money and trip, highly recommended, and I dont say that about many!

red face dave

Started the hard training for this yesterday. I have only heard good things about the race plus everyone is saying its mostly downhill which is a big plus.

anymore

Pity it starts at 8.00 am !

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

red face dave wrote: »

its mostly downhill which is a big plus.

you won't be saying that the day after the race!

red face dave

Very true, But those hills kill me just not able for them.
8.00 is a very early start alright think you have to be there at 6.30 to get the bus to start maybe I'm wrong. Never thought a year ago that I would say this but I am looking forward to running 15 miles hope the weather is good.

ger664

Mate of mine ran it last year said it was well organised and good post race rubs and grub.

And what TFB said running downhill hurts if ure not used to it.

anymore

ger664 wrote: »

Mate of mine ran it last year said it was well organised and good post race rubs and grub.

And what TFB said running downhill hurts if ure not used to it.

My first real experience of how unpleasant running down hill could be was after managing to get up the long hill at the 20 mile point in Dingle marathon, last Sept, going down the hill was awful agony ! In futre for hilly marathons like that I am going to enure plenty down hill running sessions - fortunately Cork is quite hilly .

red face dave

Has anyone got the race pack yet?

Slogger Jogger

50 quid for the race. Really :eek::(

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

red face dave wrote: »

Has anyone got the race pack yet?

Just received an email stating we will receive it by post on 12 July.

red face dave

Got that alright. Its a very early start hope we get the weather

opus

3 stars (average)

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

50 quid for the race. Really :eek::(

It's pricey for sure but thanks to getting use of a friend's holiday home for the w/end it will keep the costs down

red face dave wrote: »

Got that alright. Its a very early start hope we get the weather

The Norwegians are hinting at light rain and a temp of 12C for that day but still a bit long term.

red face dave

The weather looks okay much rather it to be overcast well the hard training is done now. Looking to beat my half marathon time.

dingonerd

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

50 quid for the race. Really :eek::(

Have to agree..€50 for a race is a shocking price..

Considering, for example, you get 3 races (3 tshirts/goody bags) in the Phoenix Park for that, Dunshaughlin 10k €12 (tshirt & eat your body weight with food after), Bohermeen 5k €15 (trophy/bbq)...

red face dave

There is no doubting it is costly but it fell the same time as our holidays so it suited me. But Kildare was €35 or 40 so there is not that much of a difference. There is much better value races out there alright.

ger664

dingonerd wrote: »

Have to agree..€50 for a race is a shocking price..

Considering, for example, you get 3 races (3 tshirts/goody bags) in the Phoenix Park for that, Dunshaughlin 10k €12 (tshirt & eat your body weight with food after), Bohermeen 5k €15 (trophy/bbq)...

There are plenty of 10K's/5K's where we get great value for money been ran by clubs, but outside of September, first week of October and the spring 10 mile classics there are very few races of this distance ( > 10K) on the ground. This leaves the door open for private companies to fill the void and charge a premium for doing so.

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

ger664 wrote: »

There are plenty of 10K's/5K's where we get great value for money been ran by clubs, but outside of September, first week of October and the spring 10 mile classics there are very few races of this distance ( > 10K) on the ground. This leaves the door open for private companies to fill the void and charge a premium for doing so.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. If there were more club-organised long distance races around, there would be no market for €50 races.

dev123

Hi all,

Gonna give this a go on Saturday. From looking at the race pack there are water stations every 3 miles.

Just wondering if anyone knows from last year if the water will be in bottles or cups?

Weather looks a bit mixed so hydration may not be a huge problem.

Thanks,
Dev

ronnie085

dev123 wrote: »

Hi all,

Gonna give this a go on Saturday. From looking at the race pack there are water stations every 3 miles.

Just wondering if anyone knows from last year if the water will be in bottles or cups?

Weather looks a bit mixed so hydration may not be a huge problem.

Thanks,
Dev

Hey dev, if my memory serves me right it was bottles of water and lucozade sport at mile 9 or so as well

dev123

Hi Ronnie085,

Thanks for that. The Lucozade Sport might come in handy for the last few miles.

The weather doesn't look great but hopefully it will be more of a mist than driving rain.

1 star (terrible)

Molls Gap, near the start of the race, is fairly elevated and located between the Reeks, Dunkerrons and Mangertons - often misty and wet around there even when the weather is not too bad around the lakes. So hopefully it might improve.

Wonder if they still taking entries and if they will take money on the morning of the race. €50 is steep, but if weather wasn't as bad as forecast I'd do it. Starting at Muckross isn't great for those of us coming from South Kerry side though, it would mean going to Killarney, bus back the same road, running there again and driving back!

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

Deleted User wrote: »

Starting at Muckross isn't great for those of us coming from South Kerry side though, it would mean going to Killarney, bus back the same road, running there again and driving back!

From today's email:

• Competitors coming from Kenmare / Sneem only:
  • There is no access to the start line Via Molls Gap.
  • You can come to the start line Via Templenoe / Blackwater.
  • Make sure to come to the start line before 7.15 to avoid competitors coming off the busses.
  • There is a car park with limited car parking 700m before the start line that you can park your car.

Mind, it might be too late to sign up now.

RubyK

I'm really disappointed to be missing this Good luck to all of you tomorrow. Enjoy!

opus

3 stars (average)

Best of luck to everyone for tomorrow, thankfully the weather doesn't look too bad, just a bit of light rain....

red face dave

Weather looks better alright. Looking forward to it now. Packing the bag for the weekend.

NiallG4

dingonerd wrote: »

Have to agree..€50 for a race is a shocking price..

Considering, for example, you get 3 races (3 tshirts/goody bags) in the Phoenix Park for that, Dunshaughlin 10k €12 (tshirt & eat your body weight with food after), Bohermeen 5k €15 (trophy/bbq)...

I am all on for a bit of crack but €50 is outragous. It would want to be a serious race pack. Sorry, but there is no justification for this price. Hope it goes well and people do well but Irish people need to wake up and stop paying these inflated prices. Follow the Meath races or look at Athletics Northern Ireland website. All races are £10 and £15.

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

NiallG4 wrote: »

I am all on for a bit of crack but €50 is outragous. It would want to be a serious race pack. Sorry, but there is no justification for this price. Hope it goes well and people do well but Irish people need to wake up and stop paying these inflated prices. Follow the Meath races or look at Athletics Northern Ireland website. All races are £10 and £15.

Sure. Just tell me where these cheap races are around here, half marathon or longer, and I'll gladly sign up for them rather than paying €50 for a commercial event.

dingonerd

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Sure. Just tell me where these cheap races are around here, half marathon or longer, and I'll gladly sign up for them rather than paying €50 for a commercial event.

I suppose it is easy to be critical from afar.

I live in Louth so wouldnt be familiar with the racing scene outside of dublin/meath/louth. But if there are no cheaper races above 10m then the local running clubs surely have to take on with organising some.
Because if they dont these rip-off events will prosper..

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

Well, despite the steep price and the stupid name, I am delighted I ran this today. The scenery alone is worth the money.

I suppose I can live with the fee if it's as well organised as that and since I ended up in the prize money, it turned out to be a reasonably priced race after all.

DC

4 stars (good)

Great race - had a unique feel to it that makes it stand out from many other races. Good quality long-sleeve technical shirt at the end and a nice medal. Not much in the race pack - but the Mars bar and Taytos are always welcome and the Outsiders magazine might be a good read. The hot tubs, showers, and physios at the end looked good, but I didn't hang around for long.

It is a challenging race. The 2.5 miles of downhill running from mile 5 makes it interesting strategy-wise because there is still half the race to go when you get to the end of it and it is very lumpy indeed from there. I'm a good downhill runner, so I passed out loads of people, then got retaken by some of them later. It is very bendy too at times, so picking the racing line is important.

I thought the final 4 miles via the National Park (a change to the route this year) would be nice and flat, but it was far from it, almost entirely up and down - plenty of arm pumping to get up the little ascents. But it was an unexpected pleasant surprise really, because it made me work for a time I had taken for granted at about 10 miles and made the last few miles a welcome challenge - if that makes any sense!

A lot of the time banked in the first half downhills gets lost in the 2nd half, plus there is 1.25 miles of uphill to start the race. So I'll be adding the times to my PB list for 1/2 marathon and 15 miles for sure!

It is pricey, but having exclusive access to an iconic piece of road makes up for it, IMO.

1 star (terrible)

Enjoyed it, but heard a few say they thought last years better. Lack of mile/km signs was not great, but know they were there and pulled out by some messer the night before. The 10km sign was nearer the start than the 6 mile one. And a few said that lack of (is it stewards or marshalls) around lake where track split forced them to think. I know Killarney and route so not even really sure where there could be confusion.

But for myself, wasn't in it last year and found it very enjoyable. Yes it's pricey but as was posted above try finding other runs of that distance around here, it has little competition. And it really is a beautiful route that, because of width and traffic, is impossible to run most days of the year.

Edit - just checked results, my time not given, and that's annoying. You pay that kinda money, you trust the chip will register. I have had it before where they've fallen off, but this thing had to be cut off me after the race. Just as well I checked my time myself, given their inability to do so.

DC

4 stars (good)

Deleted User wrote: »

Enjoyed it, but heard a few say they thought last years better. Lack of mile/km signs was not great, but know they were there and pulled out by some messer the night before. The 10km sign was nearer the start than the 6 mile one.

Yeah, I drove the route the day before and saw all the signs up. I noticed on the bus on the way up that one of the signs had been dumped over a wall down towards a lake. Can't really blame the organisers for that. I also noticed the 6M and 10Km markers being the wrong way around.

Deleted User wrote: »

And a few said that lack of (is it stewards or marshalls) around lake where track split forced them to think. I know Killarney and route so not even really sure where there could be confusion.

I thought that at a couple of points in the Killarney park, but it was really obvious what the main path was and anything branching off was really rough, with large stone chippings, etc.

Deleted User wrote: »

Edit - just checked results, my time not given, and that's annoying. You pay that kinda money, you trust the chip will register. I have had it before where they've fallen off, but this thing had to be cut off me after the race. Just as well I checked my time myself, given their inability to do so.

That's a shame. Same thing happened to me with the ChampionChip in Limerick Marathon. I was able to email someone who scoured the database and retrieved the result. Might be worth emailing Oliver in Elite Events and asking for a contact in ChampionChip. Incidentally, the chip time I got was over 20 seconds later than what I had on the watch and I'm always within 1 or 2 seconds, so not sure what happened there.

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

Deleted User wrote: »

Edit - just checked results, my time not given, and that's annoying. You pay that kinda money, you trust the chip will register. I have had it before where they've fallen off, but this thing had to be cut off me after the race. Just as well I checked my time myself, given their inability to do so.

I fully understand your annoyance, but would not blame the organisers - they have to trust the timing company with chips and timing mats, a misfiring chip would not be their direct responsibility. My suggestion is to contact the organisers directly, they might be able to look into this more closely if you ask them.

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

Now that the initial euphoria has worn off, I actually have two major gripes (and a minor one) with this race.

The minor one is the 10K marker, which appeared BEFORE the 6 mile sign (in fact it was about half a mile too early). I know the signs had been vandalised during the night, so I guess that happened in the panic when trying to deal with this in the morning, no biggy.

However, there were two more serious points:

1) I suspect the course was a bit short. My Garmin showed 14.93 miles, a friend's showed 14.91. This is within the Garmin's accuracy range and it is perfectly possible that the Garmin recorded the distance short with all the twists and turns under tree cover in the National park, but I think the more likely explanation is a short course.

2) The web site clearly says that prize money will be given to the top 3 in each category, but in reality they only gave money to the top 2. I came 2nd in the M40 age group but a friend of mine was 3rd and he got nothing. I know the vast majority of runners won't be affected by this, but if they advertise prize money for the top 3 and then only pay out for the top 2, this is a serious issue in my eyes.

I still enjoyed the race very much, the scenery is just out of this world and all the other things with the organisation, from the bus transfer to the physios and the rather generous spread at the finish were great, but I can't give top marks with this.

Btw, if anyone's interested, I have a race report on my blog.

Scholesy1981

4 stars (good)

Have to say I really enjoyed this race, fair enough it was €50 but with the scenery, spread of food, medal, tech tshirt, physios, baths, bbq after, Im happy enough with it, worse ways to spend €50. Didnt bother me bout the markers missing, thank God I had my Garmin on me! Think it may have lost some reception in among the trees in the last four miles - killer hills! And I think before next year I need to brush up on my downhill running too! Overall, well done to the organisers on a superb event, highly recommend this race

opus

3 stars (average)

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I suppose I can live with the fee if it's as well organised as that and since I ended up in the prize money, it turned out to be a reasonably priced race after all.

Congratulations on the 8th place, great result!

Personally I really enjoyed the race & was very happy to finish in the top 20 which I didn't expect at all. The organisation was very good, was a bit disappointed at the spread of food available immediately afterwards but maybe the bbq in the afternoon made up for that, didn't stay around as I wasn't staying in Killarney.

Found the last few miles through the park tough going will all the little hills I must say. My garmin read 24.02km at the end so almost spot on for the distance although I'm sure I wouldn't be the best at keeping to the racing line all the time so possibly it was indeed a little short.

One strange thing I noticed was there was a 20 second difference between the time from my Garmin & the chip (slower) time even though I started it just before the start line & pressed stop when I heard the beep at the finish

TFBubendorfer

3 stars (average)

opus wrote: »

was a bit disappointed at the spread of food available immediately afterwards

Bananas, crisps, sweets and pasta is not enough for you?

opus wrote:

My garmin read 24.02km at the end so almost spot on for the distance

That's still short of 15 miles.

opus wrote:

One strange thing I noticed was there was a 20 second difference between the time from my Garmin & the chip (slower) time even though I started it just before the start line & pressed stop when I heard the beep at the finish

Same here, very strange. Maybe they're compensating for the short course?

dev123

Overall I enjoyed the race on Saturday. Weather held off for the few hours that we needed and the wind was helping. It was well organsied and the long-sleeve tee and medal seem to be good quality.

The last couple of miles around the lake were tough. Short, sharp hills that really took their toll.

Going by my Garmin the course was short 0.1 miles. The half marathon timing mat was jsut before 13 miles I was taking the racing line as much as I could. Not sure if the organisers took their racing line from one lane only. I was using both lanes and I'm sure it would be difficult to use both lanes for measuring unless the road was closed.

I stopped by for the after-party. It didn't seem like there was anything specfic organised and the downstairs section was reserved for another function which pretty much halved the size of the bar. On the up the side the burger was savage.

Not sure if I will be back next year. As I don't live in the area logistically it isn't the easiest race to get to what with having to be in the park for 6.30 for the bus ride up. Little or no support along the route. Not much can be done about that as there are very few houses along the route and the early start time may put people off.

I see they are organising a 10k and half-marathon next year so it will be interesting to see how much those races are. €50 was expensive but I feel it was worth it to get a chance to run down one of the most scenic roads in the country.

1 star (terrible)

I should say that I have received 3 posts from ChampionChip looking for details to enable them go through their records, which is very fair of them. Don't know yet if they'll find it, but at least they are anxious to check up on the matter and have taken the time and effort to go through their records. Appreciate the odd glitch can happen, in other events with other companies have seen and heard of it plenty before...it just hadn't happened to me so I didn't care!

Yeah, the bit around the lake at the end had a few testing little hills that were a bit sapping. Had thought it would be really flat there, silly assumption. Was a bit sorry I had ran down the Ladies View so tamely though. Think next year I will "leave more out there".

ChampionChip

Thanks Conor, its not a problem to look at the files and see if we can resolve the issues. At Limerick we found all the missing persons bar one. They were all as a result of admin mix ups of one sort another. Its very very rare for our chips to not work. In 13 years I have found less than a handful of faulty ones and usually thats when we are scanning them into the database before the race and thus they are discarded so not given out to runners. Runners need to ensure the chip is always on their shoe and that their bib number and chip envelope number match when they attend registration.

red face dave

Just home from Killarney. Great race. New Half marathon time by 2 mins. My watch give a time difference of nearly one minute. Had a very poor final 2 miles. Time fell right back. First time to run 15 miles the park finish was fairly tough but enjoyed it.

opus

3 stars (average)

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Bananas, crisps, sweets and pasta is not enough for you?

That's still short of 15 miles.

Same here, very strange. Maybe they're compensating for the short course?

I'm one of those odd people who can't stand bananas, too bad I missed the pasta that would have really hit the spot. Guess I'm more used to the BHAA races with the sandwiches & cakes afterwards.

You've just advanced my education there, I've always converted from km (which I measure my runs in) to miles using the divide by 8 multiply by 5 formula & didn't realise that was wrong Just updated my tracking spreadsheet & have knocked ~8.3 miles off my total for the year!

That's interesting about the time difference, reassuring to know it wasn't just me.