Santa Dash south versus Santa Dash north Dublin.....

smunchkins

Hi,
Was just looking round for a 5k race this weekend, and came across two of the same name, but different places.
The Barnados one is closer to me:
http://www.barnardos.ie/getting-involved/fundraising/santa-dash.html

But the Clontarf one is later in the day and seems to have a bit more information and says it has timing chips and medals.
http://www.santadash.ie/indexdublin.html

Anyone got any recommendations as to which one to choose?

C

RacoonQueen

I'd do the Barnardos one, for two reasons. It's for charity and the organisers of the Clontarf one don't have the best rep for their races. Though their most recent one in Kerry seems to have gone well this year.

Edit: This would also put me off

Santa Suits:
Suits are included in your entry fee and must be worn. Anyone finishing the race who is not in Santa costume will not be eligible for prizes or medals.

nerraw1111

The Barnados one says: 'The funds raised from sponsorship and registration fees from the Barnardos 5k Santa Dash will allow us to continue our work with 6000 children and families throughout Ireland each year.'

Whereas the one from Irish Fit says it is run in association with Irish Heart Association but 'To Fundraise please email.." which doesn't make it clear if any of the entry fee money goes to charity.

smunchkins

Thanks!

The Barnados one also mentions Santa suits, so I'm resigned to that aspect. Its more that they mention "dress up your elves for prizes" in theirs, which makes me worried it will be more like a nice family jaunt, and not an actual run at all.

Timmaay

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Whereas the one from Irish Fit says it is run in association with Irish Heart Association but 'To Fundraise please email.." which doesn't make it clear if any of the entry fee money goes to charity.

Irish Fit, hmmm enough of a reason to stay away. The Barnardos UCD one is just a fun run though, I was talking to the organizers a while back, I don't know if they will have results etc.

adamski8

nerraw1111 wrote: »

The Barnados one says: 'The funds raised from sponsorship and registration fees from the Barnardos 5k Santa Dash will allow us to continue our work with 6000 children and families throughout Ireland each year.'

Whereas the one from Irish Fit says it is run in association with Irish Heart Association but 'To Fundraise please email.." which doesn't make it clear if any of the entry fee money goes to charity.

it says in the fine print that only €5 goes to the IHF. where is the other €20 going??????

adamski8

did the 5k today with a back injury
seemed pretty well organized to me. I just turned up and registered got my suit etc no hassle. Suits were massive though, needed lots of safety pins.
Bloody freezing breeze there too. Huge turn out it seemed, people in good spirits, mixture of walkers etc
Beach was very wet maybe they could have held it an hour or too later as it looked like the tide had just turned at 1.

RacoonQueen

I see the "IHF's Santa Dash" got a piece on the six one news.

800 runners is pretty impressive actually. I think the cupids dash is run for the IHF as well is it? Are any other Irish Fit events run alongside a charity. Given the negative press they get on here it would be interesting to know how much, on average, per year they pass on to a charity/charities. Plenty of races out there who don't give anything at all.

smunchkins

I opted for the UCD Barnados one myself.
All the organisers were really lovely and very helpful and friendly, though I do suspect a shortened course, seeing as I gained 2 minutes on my pace in the final km.
Was slightly embarassed to almost be hailed as the female winning Santa as I crossed the finish line just after the male winner, but still had a lap to go! (We did three laps of the big pitch beside the sports centre)
The MC got the idea when i shook my head violently though and kept plodding on thank goodness!
My first race after an 18 month break, so nice to be back!

antomagoo

Did the Santa Dash in clontarff and although it was just a bit of craic I was pretty disappointed with it.

From what I can gather, of the €25 entry fee, only €5 goes to IHF, which I think is a bit scandalous. Goodie bag may as well have been non existent and no extras like tech tee or anything, yes there was medals. Chip timing wasn't proper chip timing as no timing mat at the start.

Now just to clarify I ran this with the charity in mind so didn't expect or care about the frills and other stuff that you get/expect from most of the races throughout the year but to find out only €5 (and I'm open to correction) went to the charity out of €25 entry seems very wrong to me given how little organisation that would appear to have gone into the event.