BHAA 2012

AJCOT

After record numbers at our first two cross country meets in Tymon & Cherryfield, we move to a great venue in Swords for another epic Saturday race. In 2011, Mick Clohisey, Simon Ryan & Noel Kelly led the men home, while Fiona Mahon, Patrycja Wlodarczyk & Helen White were the top three women. 227 runners crossed swords last year, we should have even more brave warriors next Saturday. Here's hoping the bales remain rectangular rather than those giant round ones!

AJCOT

The Met.office say Saturday "will be milder" but this all depends on what's going to hit us between now and then. I'd be inclined to leave the convertible in the garage!

Pronator

Anyone know what the course is like, flat/hilly, soft underfoot conditions I'd imagine?

pconn062

Pronator wrote: »

Anyone know what the course is like, flat/hilly, soft underfoot conditions I'd imagine?

I've never done this race but I imagine the ground could be quite soft given the rain at the weekend. Also have heard they but bales down you have to jump over during the race, which is a first for me!

JosDel

Pronator wrote: »

Anyone know what the course is like, flat/hilly, soft underfoot conditions I'd imagine?

Ran it last year, It's a flat course, A couple of bales of hay at the start other than that its a nice run.

guapos

Remember not to tempted to run on the lovely tarmac paths beside the muddy grass :-)

JosDel

One thing I forgot to mention was the little bottle neck after a half mile, It's where you have over 200 runners entering a narrow wooded area, It will slow you down for a few seconds ):

plodder

JosDel wrote: »

Ran it last year, It's a flat course, A couple of bales of hay at the start other than that its a nice run.

In previous years, there was a little detour right down to the edge of the river that meant pretty much jumping up a ditch to get to level ground again. I quite liked it for variety, but I don't think others did. So, it was taken out.

pre

Pronator wrote: »

Anyone know what the course is like, flat/hilly, soft underfoot conditions I'd imagine?

There are just two fences to negotiate the small beechers brook and then the chair. U should be fine with ur background in point to point.

average_runner

AJCOT wrote: »

The Met.office say Saturday "will be milder" but this all depends on what's going to hit us between now and then. I'd be inclined to leave the convertible in the garage!

A few bale's of hay if going by experience of this one:D

guapos

Might be a good idea to change races from women and mens to short and long races. I have a few friends who have started running and 2.5 miles would be the perfect distance for them to start at, i'm sure under the present system they are allowed to run in the women's race but i can't see them doing it. Changing the name to short might encourage more men to enter and possibley more women to race the longer course.

Looking forward to being well fed after Saturdays race.

beeduybe

From the BHAA website:

A couple of things to note about Saturdays race.

There are two races starting at the same time 11.30, but at different positions in the field (this is to avoid bottle necks of runners on the course). The ladies 2.5 mile race and a longer 5mile race for men. Ladies can choose to run the longer race but please ensure you mention this at registration. Runners in the 2.5 race will have numbers less than 150, runners in the longer race will have numbers above 150.

The course is set out across two fields separated by a bridge. The 2.5m race starts nearer the yellow jeep and involves one small lap and the final long lap. Ladies should not cross the bridge on the first lap but will for their second lap.

The men's race is three and bit long laps. All runners in the 5 mile race will cross the bridge on the first lap.

There is a short section of woods on the course. On the first lap to avoid congestion and allow the field to spread out, this wooded section will be skipped and on subsequent laps runners will be directed into this area.

The course will run parallel to the river but will not drop down the bank to the river as in earlier years.

There is a short section of the course where runners might be tempted to "run on the path" but the race organiser is putting on a cross country race and would appreciate if runners respect this rule. There will be stewards on this section.

Once you've cross the finishing mats and have had your number recorded as part of our paper backup process, please remove the pins and then return the race number and pins to the people collecting them.

http://bhaa.ie/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=2303

pconn062

Sounds like a fun course with a few challenges, think I will head up for this.

JosDel

beeduybe wrote: »

There is a short section of woods on the course. On the first lap to avoid congestion and allow the field to spread out, this wooded section will be skipped and on subsequent laps runners will be directed into this area.

I like this (:

Nialler73

Any ideas what the ground is like? If it's frozen would you be better off in regular road runners?

gerard65

Nialler73 wrote: »

Any ideas what the ground is like? If it's frozen would you be better off in regular road runners?

Spikes would be better even if the ground is frozen, but I'd say it'll be thawed by the time the race starts. Other years there was one very muddy area of about 300m but the rest of the course was ok.

beeduybe

A good race today and a nice flat course. Ground was very soft in places and despite wearing the spikes I found myself slipping and sliding on a couple of occasions. Great organisation from the BHAA as always and was nice to get a warm shower this week even if some people decided to jump in the ice baths instead :eek:

dingonerd

Enjoyable race..good flat course.
Mucky and slippy in parts especially on the tight turns
No bales of hay to negotiate this year!
Wouldnt have liked to run without spikes
Garmined at 4.82

BUT....more importantly where was the brack???

Caprica

Another great BHAA race, with another bumper turnout. Course was tougher than I expected, tough going in places. Had the course short at 4.81mls. Did anyone avail of the pre/post race massage.

Is there a problem with the league tables? Just realised they haven't been updated for the Eircom race yet.

AJCOT

Swords was slippier than any knife edge today but as ever, a fantastic race. Well done to Paul Barnwell, the NCF & the BHAA crew for the complimentary mudbath. The curative qualities of mud are well documented & it's heartening to see the BHAA taking an active interest in the health of its members. The boys & girls in blue race is coming up in a fortnight, it's a shorter course than Swords though at least 2 miles hillier!

emerald007

results online and league summary updated. someone had to remind themselves how things work.

seanmacc

Well done to the North County Farmers. The race was organized by just 3 farmers and at the hieght of lambing season its a credit to them for getting this organized. Hopefully the pitches won't be in too much of a rag order afterwards, last year I believe they had a hard battle with Fingal CoCo to get permission to use the pitches because of heavy rain the night before.

runrabbit

Thanks to NCF and BHAA for another well organised race.

It was a bad day at the office for me; I had a shocker of a run. It was only my 3rd ever XC and my first dealing with that sort of mud - I think I need longer spikes! The women's race seemed smaller than the last 2 events - maybe more girls ran in the longer race?

figs

Another great race today. Well done North County Farmers and BHAA team. Well organised, on time, a very well marked course, use of great facilities, and a good spread afterwards. Couldn't ask for more. Take a bow.

AJCOT

runrabbit wrote: »

Thanks to NCF and BHAA for another well organised race.

It was a bad day at the office for me; I had a shocker of a run. It was only my 3rd ever XC and my first dealing with that sort of mud - I think I need longer spikes! The women's race seemed smaller than the last 2 events - maybe more girls ran in the longer race?

You've been running brilliantly in the past few races, I'm no expert but I was sliding with 9mm spikes today, 12s would have been far better. I salute anyone who got around in anything other than spikes! You'll have better days & plenty of them too.

JosDel

Well organised race again thanks to Paul and his team of volunteers and the BHAA, delighted now I used my 12mm spikes

runrabbit

AJCOT wrote: »

You've been running brilliantly in the past few races, I'm no expert but I was sliding with 9mm spikes today, 12s would have been far better. I salute anyone who got around in anything other than spikes! You'll have better days & plenty of them too.

Thanks, they can't all be good races I suppose! I still enjoyed it and the legs are grand and fresh so I'll drag the auld fella around on a LSR in the morning!

Have 12mm spikes at home and was just too lazy to change them over this morning - lesson learned for next time!

plodder

Great race as usual. But. what happened to the hay bales? I missed that little obstacle.

drquirky

Once again a fairly poor XC effort from me... not so happy w/ my run as I blew up after the 3rd mile. 5 mm spikes didn't help at all- I'm an idiot for wearing them. Good job BHAA though....

JosDel

plodder wrote: »

Great race as usual. But. what happened to the hay bales? I missed that little obstacle.

Safety reasons I think, to dangerous