GFW 2012

endswell

siobhanb79 wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Thank you for all the feedback, we will take it all on board.
Someone was asked about numbers - we had 2050 enter and about 1800 actually turned up to race.
The top end prizes were cash & weekend in Delphi Mountain resort.
The guy who fell off his bike on sheffrey is fine,

Gaelforce team

If 10% no-shows are an average figure, I assume a little over 2500 entered 2011 resulting in 2300 competing on the day. I'm sure the 500 loss is in some way accounted for by the increased number of events. I think €73, though expensive, is OK value for what you get in Gaelforce, I enjoyed it when I did it. My accommodation was expensive though, as well as kitting out the bike with better tyres etc for the sake of a 200 metre roadbike-wrecking offroad part; this can deter people. I know these events are expensive to run, and they also need to turn a profit, but not sure if €73 is necessary.

However, the €3 booking fee is ridiculous, it's just like a Ticketmaster or Ryanair type charge, and nobody likes those companies; I have no idea what the refusal to let people swap waves is based on; excel could easily do it even if everyone wanted to change (once anyway*); That said, the provision of massages, bus journeys, marshalls (you might as well chance asking people to do it for free), car parking at 5am all are run flawlessly - it is a successful well-run business, not a racket as said before. Maybe the increases to €83 and €93 are unnecessarily big jumps though.

*Re the changes - some people might be waiting on friends to book their waves to see which one to go in, then the €73 deadline comes in, and with accommodation prices going up as well as the fee, this causes some people not to bother. Flexibility will attract more people.

Steamer

Did Gaelforce for the first time and I really enjoyed it. My only problem (and with the connemara adventure race) is no place to have a shower afterwards? Could something be arranged with a local gaa pitch or something like Race2Glory had done in Kilitmagh? I'm sure not that many people would avail of it if they are staying in the area but when you are going home that evening it would make things a lot easier.

That would be great.

gigantic09

Regarding the numbers being down this year compared to other years i suppose it could be put down to many issues.However i think the main issue is the continuing state of the economy.

Alot of people no longer have the cash to spend on these events even if they do represent good value.More and more people are getting involved in activities such as jogging,running,cycling,swimming etc.

Many are doing so as a result of needing to fill the void that unemployment leaves.However they are having to pick and choose which events they enter and more often than not the chief

determinant is 'cost of entry'.Its hard to see short term how numbers in Gaelforce will rise again without a drop in entry fee. That the numbers are still relatively good is down to the fact it is

such a great event.

woody1

theres probably some people doing it once or twice and
then changing races for variety as well, so you could well see some of them back..
its a long-ish race as these types of races go, so it probably could attract in more by offering a shorter version a-la sea to summmit or roar but theres the logistics and would it be watering down the brand a bit..
for example the shorter race could start at killary still get in the kayak run up to delphi and do the race as normal from there but maybe not climb to the top of the reek, just to the ridge like sea to summit and then off they go again into westport..

as for suggestions to improve things , i wouldnt have a lot, i enjoyed the weekend and was impressed overall, reg on thursday was very handy for a semi local like me, marshalls and signs everywhere, plenty of water, good craic with the other competitors,
small thing but bigger cups for the water at the end, bit of a pain going up to that tank 3 and 4 times but its small in the overall scheme of things..

Capri Man

Anyone do GF North and GF West - would be interested to hear the comparison in the two courses. Done North this year and hopefully next year, hoping to do West next year also.