Killarney marathon of the lakes 2012 ***CANCELLED***

mr.wiggle

http://killarneymarathonofthelakes.com/


Hi, New race this year on May 12th. I have signed up for it with a good buddy in work for our first Marathon. Looks like it should be a beautiful run.

ThePiedPiper

Best of luck to whoever's organising this one. It looks like very good value, and I think it's an excellent idea to leave out a lot of the frills. I'd have a couple of issues though.

1. A 40 metre elevation gain over 250 metres is extremely difficult. I can only assume there is a misprint here, because that's a 16% incline. That's way worse than Heartbreak Hill in Boston. If that's a mis-print of some sort, clear it up or if it there actually is a hill of that type, don't try and cover it up.

2. No frills is great, but I really do think that there should be a medal. Yes, it might increase the entry fee but I genuinely think that every person who finishes a marathon, whether they've done 1 or 100, wants a medal at the end to mark that achievement.

3. Has the race received it's permit, will it be measured and approved?

4. Are there any prizes available for winners, etc?

Sincerely, the very best of luck to the organisers. I think that you're leaving it a little bit late in the day to be promoting it, most people are settled on their spring/early summer marathons at this stage, and there are now a lot of established marathons in April/May/June. I'll not be for it this year as I'm signed up to London, but I might see ye in the future sometime.

TFBubendorfer

I think it's the same organisers as the Hardman Ironman in Killarney last year. They seem to like putting on low-key events.

Wonder if many doing this?

Want to do the Cork Marathon a few weeks after, and think this would be a good way of getting in one good hard run beforehand. Though perhaps running a marathon to train for a marathon makes no sense. But won't be killing myself on this one, it's just to get the mileage into the legs really.

TFBubendorfer

It's the day before the Kildare marathon, so that rules out most runners from the east.

It's the week after Limerick, so that rules out most of the runners from the west.

Their choice of date is rather strange I have to say, and I very much doubt they will have many runners doing it.

Yeah. It could be lonely out there. Friend suggested doing the half with a long warm up and warm down rather than pounding out the miles alone.

griffin100

As said above its the same guys that did Hardman last year and that was good. I think their approach is small in year 1 to iron out any glitches and then get bigger......not necessarily a bad thing.

GKiraly

Nice one, a marathon in Killarney, just down the road for me! But I aint goin jumping into this, kinda clashes with some other races ive got lined up for that time of the year, few 10ks in the summer, leading to an autumn of halfs wrapping it up with a marathon or two in the winter so unfortunately its at the wrong end of the year for me. Like some others have said its strange timing indeed given the other races. Im with RunForestRun on the medal thing as well, as much as I love running and dont do it for medals or tshirst, when it comes to marathons I believe that whether its marathon #1 or marathon #901, its always nice to get some silverware to show for the - hard - efforts! May do it next year though, so itll be interesting to see what the feedback is. That national park aint flat or smooth by any means!! Good luck to the organisers though, with the scenery and location its got the potential to be a big one in the calender if it ticks all the right boxes

b.harte

I've signed up for this with a running buddy.
I'm looking forward to the solitude and beauty of the park, ideally there will be people of similar pace floating about but I've no problem talking / listening to myself or running on my own if that's the way it pans out.
In a way I think it might be nice to run without the crowds and activity of a bigger event.
Also I texted the organiser about the route map before it went live on the website and he made the effort to ring me and went through the whole thing with me, great service to be fair.
As said above I think this is a slow burner, a small event that lessons can be learned from.
As for the medal, sort of mixed opinion on it. This will be my first "official" marathon so a medal would be nice, but memories aren't made of metal, they're made of blisters.

Hardmantri

Hi guys, Alan Ryan here from Hardman Events. As mentioned by someone else we are the same guys who organise the Hardman Tri which as you all know was very well received by all involved. As pointed out by Griffin100 our philosophy is to take things easy the first year and get things right and then increase the numbers from then on. We are in this for the long haul and are very sure that like the Hardman Tri this marathon will grow into a must do on the Irish calendar. Regards possible clashes with Limerick and Kildare to us this isn't an issue. Any date you pick will clash with something else and to be honest neither Kildare nor Limerick can compete with the experience of running through Killarney National Park.
The race will be sanctioned, there will be prizes on offer, the course will be officially measured and there will be a medal for all finishers. We have received/are receiving a lot of support from Gneevguilla athletic Club to this end. All the above points will be added to our website over the coming weeks.
Hopefully I have answered most points which you have raised. We are determined to ensure that the race will be a good experience for all those of you who give it a shot. To those who have already signed up I thank you. Hopefully not everyone will be negative about this and TFBubendorfer will be proved wrong. If there are any other questions please don't hesitate to call me on 087 6259892 or indeed e-mail me on info@hardman.ie
Thanks for your time, hope to see you in May and maybe even again in August,
Alan Ryan
087 6259892

Oisin11178

Hardmantri wrote: »

Hi guys, Alan Ryan here from Hardman Events. As mentioned by someone else we are the same guys who organise the Hardman Tri which as you all know was very well received by all involved. As pointed out by Griffin100 our philosophy is to take things easy the first year and get things right and then increase the numbers from then on. We are in this for the long haul and are very sure that like the Hardman Tri this marathon will grow into a must do on the Irish calendar. Regards possible clashes with Limerick and Kildare to us this isn't an issue. Any date you pick will clash with something else and to be honest neither Kildare nor Limerick can compete with the experience of running through Killarney National Park.
The race will be sanctioned, there will be prizes on offer, the course will be officially measured and there will be a medal for all finishers. We have received/are receiving a lot of support from Gneevguilla athletic Club to this end. All the above points will be added to our website over the coming weeks.
Hopefully I have answered most points which you have raised. We are determined to ensure that the race will be a good experience for all those of you who give it a shot. To those who have already signed up I thank you. Hopefully not everyone will be negative about this and TFBubendorfer will be proved wrong. If there are any other questions please don't hesitate to call me on 087 6259892 or indeed e-mail me on info@hardman.ie
Thanks for your time, hope to see you in May and maybe even again in August,
Alan Ryan
087 6259892

A scenic route is just one of many things i look for in a marathon. Your going up againest 2 marathons that will have been going 3 years at that stage and have ironed out most of their teething problems. Not even to mention that belfast is on the day after limerick. You undoubtadly will get locals doing it and some others from around the country. I fear that if you dont reposition your race in the calendar you will find it very hard to grow the participation in your race. Also i think you are underestimating the competition from other races. I wish your race all the best but i for one will probably never run it d to the races on at the same time.

Hardmantri

Hardmantri wrote: »

Hopefully not everyone will be negative about this and TFBubendorfer will be proved wrong.

In fairness to him, his address suggests he is only over the road, so suspect any criticism is meant to be constructive as we would all like to see good events on our doorstep. I for one hope it works out, but they may have a point about clashing with other events. I must say I hope it works out and I like the price...the Maxi Marathon is very expensive.

flatty

Hardmantri wrote: »

Hi guys, Alan Ryan here from Hardman Events. As mentioned by someone else we are the same guys who organise the Hardman Tri which as you all know was very well received by all involved. As pointed out by Griffin100 our philosophy is to take things easy the first year and get things right and then increase the numbers from then on. We are in this for the long haul and are very sure that like the Hardman Tri this marathon will grow into a must do on the Irish calendar. Regards possible clashes with Limerick and Kildare to us this isn't an issue. Any date you pick will clash with something else and to be honest neither Kildare nor Limerick can compete with the experience of running through Killarney National Park.
The race will be sanctioned, there will be prizes on offer, the course will be officially measured and there will be a medal for all finishers. We have received/are receiving a lot of support from Gneevguilla athletic Club to this end. All the above points will be added to our website over the coming weeks.
Hopefully I have answered most points which you have raised. We are determined to ensure that the race will be a good experience for all those of you who give it a shot. To those who have already signed up I thank you. Hopefully not everyone will be negative about this and TFBubendorfer will be proved wrong. If there are any other questions please don't hesitate to call me on 087 6259892 or indeed e-mail me on info@hardman.ie
Thanks for your time, hope to see you in May and maybe even again in August,
Alan Ryan
087 6259892

Well if I do a marathon next year, I'll do your one. Sounds mighty. I'll give it a bit of a nudge with friends.

TFBubendorfer

Hardmantri wrote: »

Hopefully not everyone will be negative about this and TFBubendorfer will be proved wrong.

Excuse me, just to make it clear, I was not being negative about your event at all. I thought - and still do - that your choice of date is rather strange, that's all. I wish you all the best.

Had you put in on a different date, I would be looking forward to this myself. As someone else pointed out, I live rather close by. But I have already agreed to run Limerick as a pacer and to run Kildare as a pacer, which is already pushing it a bit.

Hardmantri wrote: »

to be honest neither Kildare nor Limerick can compete with the experience of running through Killarney National Park.

No, but they are established races and WILL take runners away from you.

mr.wiggle

Ah well, run cancelled due to some unforeseeable event. In fairness to the organisers, received monies back, including CC fee and a promise of free entry to next years event , when organised.
Was really looking forward to it, but I suppose I can concentrate on The Cork City Marathon now...big price difference though!
Mr.W~