Run Killarney Marathon

Dilbert75

http://www.runkillarneymarathon.com/

Anyone do this before? Anyone familiar with the route? Thoughts on it?

mossym

Dilbert75 wrote: »

http://www.runkillarneymarathon.com/

Anyone do this before? Anyone familiar with the route? Thoughts on it?

i'm 95% decided to do the half as my first half marathon, know a couple who've done a bunch of half's round Munster, and this is their favourite. bus takes you to the top of molls gap and you run back. will be mainly downhill.

will have cycled the route 2 weeks earlier as part of the ROK cycle, so i like the idea of being back to run it

TFBubendorfer

The first few miles are all downhill, so it's a very fast course (to the point of cheating! :P).

Then it goes through the National park (though they do make some changes every year) and can feel very tough after you trashed your quads on all the downhills.

The half ends there. The full then does a pretty flat loop through Killarney.

How well you're doing will depend very much on how your quads survived the early downhill miles. Not an easy course to get right, but definitely potentially a very fast one.

NoGutsNoGlory

you could defo have improved on the pb at this one thomas

MRJ

Would it be suitable for a first half marathon? I'll be in Kerry for that weekend and thought I'd give it a go.

mossym

MRJ wrote: »

Would it be suitable for a first half marathon? I'll be in Kerry for that weekend and thought I'd give it a go.

planning on it being my first anyway

TFBubendorfer

NoGutsNoGlory wrote: »

you could defo have improved on the pb at this one thomas

2 years I ago it was a 15 mile run and I improved my PB by over 3 minutes, so I guess I'd have to agree.

I won't PB this year - it's 2 weeks after the 10in10 and somehow I don't think I'll be in my best shape. They asked me to pace but I declined because I have no idea what time I'll be able to do.

mossym

going to use a non refundable voucher to book accommodation for this tonight which will pretty much commit me to doing it. also off out to do a 16km run tonight so training well under way.

FutureGuy

I'm planning on running this as my first half marathon. Definitely need to get the first half of the race planned correctly in my head. There's a very experienced runner working in my local Holland and Barrett so I'm going to grill him whill I buy a few bits and bobs.

skeleton_boy

Thinking of doing the 10K (along with Dingle Half on Sep 7) as prep races for Dublin. Quite annoying that you can only pick up your race pack the night before at the "expo" which happens to be on in the hotel that's sponsoring the event. That's a 2 hour journey just to get my pack the night before and the same again in the morning for me.

mossym

doing the half, but suffering with a knee problem right now, did 18 a couple of weeks ago but not run since, will do a 18/20km next week and a couple of shorts but this is going to be interesting.

mossym

cycled the course yesterday as part of the ROK. have to say, it's a lot tougher than i thought it was going to be. this is not going to be an easy run

FutureGuy

mossym wrote: »

cycled the course yesterday as part of the ROK. have to say, it's a lot tougher than i thought it was going to be. this is not going to be an easy run

Oh great! Can you explain how it's tougher? Is there a lot of hills early on?

Doing a 19km at 7am tomorrow to avoid the heat. I'm hoping the weather cools a bit before next week. I'm signed up now so looking forward to it.

Trampas

Any pacers in half?

mossym

FutureGuy wrote: »

Oh great! Can you explain how it's tougher? Is there a lot of hills early on?
.

it's depicted as running down from moll's, in fairness there are quite a few uphill drags as well. plus the drag in from muckross house could be tough

i could be wrong, but cycling it it just felt like a tougher run than the course profile suggeests

Trampas wrote: »

Any pacers in half?

i asked this on twitter, got a reply that there would be 1.30, 1.40, 1.50 and 2.00 pacers

mossym

"The high pressure will be building over Ireland for the next week, so temperatures will be heading back up to the high 20s by Saturday and Sunday."

going to be warm folks. hydrate well this week

mossym

twitter account just confirmed the pacer times i provided above

FutureGuy

Lots of heat at 1030 I reckon, I'll fade like a flower in it :P

mossym

FutureGuy wrote: »

Lots of heat at 1030 I reckon, I'll fade like a flower in it :P

is that for the end of the half or the start of the 10k?:D

FutureGuy

mossym wrote: »

is that for the end of the half or the start of the 10k?:D

haha end of the half. I'm not going to be throwing at great shapes. Want to come home under 2:15:00 for my first half but heat has a terrible effect on me

mossym

FutureGuy wrote: »

haha end of the half. I'm not going to be throwing at great shapes. Want to come home under 2:15:00 for my first half but heat has a terrible effect on me

it's my first half as well, aiming for sub 2:00, do okay in the heat but haven't really done focus training for this so it's a bit of a crapshoot

EauRouge79

anyone any ideas on the kind of numbers expected?

celeniu

Last I heard theres 1000 for the 10 k,950 for the half and something like 400 odd for the full.I'm doin the full but am gettin a bit anxious now about the heat.I hope theres some bit of a breeze and if all else fails we'll be running very near one of the lakes at some point too so we might make a duathlon out of it.:D

FutureGuy

Looks to be really hot tomorrow. Forcasts of 23 on the day have shot to 27, so the morning will probably be hotter.

ger664

People would be well advised to adjust their predicted times tomorrow. In these temps you could well add 15% or more to your time.

This link will give you a good idea

I am pacing 2 Hour half tomorrow so make yourselves known at the start

mossym

ger664 wrote: »

People would be well advised to adjust their predicted times tomorrow. In these temps you could well add 15% or more to your time.

This link will give you a good idea

I am pacing 2 Hour half tomorrow so make yourselves known at the start

i'll be following you around so, aiming for 2 hours. see you in the morning

Dilbert75

Good luck to everyone taking part - I never thought I'd be glad to have decided not to go to Killarney but for this one time I am. Marathons are difficult enough without that heat.

FutureGuy

Dat heat!

I have incredible respect for anyone who finished the marathon in that heat today. Unbelievable heat even at 1030 this morning.

So the half pretty much as I had expected except for the most part. Kept with the 2:00 hr half marathon pacers till around mile 8 but the lack of water on the course was an absolute killer for someone that had never done a half before. Couldn't really take a gel, couldn't wash down anything I had and I was just drained. Walked for a bit and as I was just contemplating walking back, a woman pulled up. We got talking and decided just to get the thing finished. We were both outside the 2h but we went for the 2:15h. Kept each other going till the very end. Was sweltering by the time we were in Muckross park but got over the end in 2:12:18 so, considering that heat, was very happy.

The lack of adequate water for the first two stops was very disappointing, and I can see that there was quite a large number of DNF. My first water was the dregs of another persons discarded bottle. Not good at all.

sam30

yeah in fairness I came through in 1.35 pace and at that stage the water stations seemed sparse. It was expensive enough entry to have sufficient water. Course is class.There is an unbelievable amount of small uphill sections-its definitely not downhill!

FutureGuy

sam30 wrote: »

yeah in fairness I came through in 1.35 pace and at that stage the water stations seemed sparse. It was expensive enough entry to have sufficient water. Course is class.There is an unbelievable amount of small uphill sections-its definitely not downhill!

Even at 1:35 the water was sparse? Wow.

Dilbert75

Inadequate water supplies is just about unforgivable. It's not as if the hot weather was a surprise - the organisers of the Clontarf half were left with 1700 spare bottles but nobody was left short on the day.

mr.wiggle

Sorry about the water .
A slight oversight I'd say. The guy who was rushing to the bank to lodge all the 70, 55 & 25e entry fees, obviously just forgot to pick up a few slabs of water bottles in our local Aldi. Sure it'll be all grand next year, and wasn't the course absolutely fantastic in the sunshine? You were lucky to be allowed run on our roads down here in the Killarney. See you next year suckers!!.....

Disclaimer...I have nothing to do with the organisation of this race :pac:

FutureGuy

celeniu wrote: »

Last I heard theres 1000 for the 10 k,950 for the half and something like 400 odd for the full.I'm doin the full but am gettin a bit anxious now about the heat.I hope theres some bit of a breeze and if all else fails we'll be running very near one of the lakes at some point too so we might make a duathlon out of it.:D

According to the results, 680 finished the 10K, 638 finished the half and 211 finished the marathon.

mossym

FutureGuy wrote: »

. Kept with the 2:00 hr half marathon pacers till around mile 8 but the lack of water on the course was an absolute killer for someone that had never done a half before. l.

we were running in the same group so, i trailed the 2 hr pacers till about mile 11 then pushed on with what i had left. we were probably running side by side for a while. i had the solid white tshirt on . was doing a bit of talking with ger664, who, btw was an excellent pacer, kept the group going well and was very proactive about trying to get the water sorted. Cheers ger(plus the other 2hr pacer), many thanks for taking us through on time and looking after the ever dwindling group behind you, did all you could


chip time they give me is the same as my gun time, 1.59:01, which i know is off, my garmin reads 1:57, so it looks like officially i am just getting the gun time rather than my proper chip time. i know i went over the line in the high 1:58, could have been just into 1:59, but that was gun time, not chip time.

not to worry though, first half done on target of under 2 hrs. sent the organisers a message on twitter about the water and they have already been back to apologise and promising it was an oversight which won't happen again . apart from that i really enjoyed the race, was a great course, loved the run and would definitely do again, for the weekend in killarney as much as anything else, have spent 2 of the last 3 weekends in Killarney with the ROK cycle and now the half and had savage crack on both occasions.

FutureGuy

mossym wrote: »

we were running in the same group so, i trailed the 2 hr pacers till about mile 11 then pushed on with what i had left. we were probably running side by side for a while. i had the solid white tshirt on . was doing a bit of talking with ger664, who, btw was an excellent pacer, kept the group going well and was very proactive about trying to get the water sorted. Cheers ger(plus the other 2hr pacer), many thanks for taking us through on time and looking after the ever dwindling group behind you, did all you could


chip time they give me is the same as my gun time, 1.59:01, which i know is off, my garmin reads 1:57, so it looks like officially i am just getting the gun time rather than my proper chip time. i know i went over the line in the high 1:58, could have been just into 1:59, but that was gun time, not chip time.

not to worry though, first half done on target of under 2 hrs. sent the organisers a message on twitter about the water and they have already been back to apologise and promising it was an oversight which won't happen again . apart from that i really enjoyed the race, was a great course, loved the run and would definitely do again, for the weekend in killarney as much as anything else, have spent 2 of the last 3 weekends in Killarney with the ROK cycle and now the half and had savage crack on both occasions.

Were we talking about the half in Charleville before the race by any chance and did we talk around 5 miles in saying I was well on for the 2h? I was wearing the Black Great Limerick Run tech top.

Well done man, great effort. If you find your name in the results section and click it, does it give 2 separate times? I initially thought I had the same line/chip times but found the correct times there.

Also thanks to Ger, excellent pacer. Too bad I couldn't hang till the end One of the hills just killed me altogether.

ger664

Roger O Mahony was the other pacer with us, who got the timing spot on for the last 2 miles as my main watch malfunctioned.

MossyM as you start pretty close to me my differential between gun and chip was 1:15.

The water situation soured what was up to that point and afterwards a pretty well run event from my perspective.

mossym

FutureGuy wrote: »

Were we talking about the half in Charleville before the race by any chance and did we talk around 5 miles in saying I was well on for the 2h? I was wearing the Black Great Limerick Run tech top.

Well done man, great effort. If you find your name in the results section and click it, does it give 2 separate times? I initially thought I had the same line/chip times but found the correct times there.

Also thanks to Ger, excellent pacer. Too bad I couldn't hang till the end One of the hills just killed me altogether.

aye that was me. you looked good when i saw you, seemed to be holding the pace well. wouldn't worry about times from yesterday, heat made it damn tough

jcsmum

Lack of water on any day is unforgiveable but on a day like Saturday and having paid €55 is insane! A friend of mine who was doing the half got her first full bottle of water at mile 10. Before that people were picking up bottles of water off the ground at the unmanned water stations.
The course is beautiful, the tee shirts are lovely, the organisation bar the water was brilliant and I would definitely do it again. Also they could do with more toilets at the start line - the queue was ridiculous. I did like the way they started the 2 races bang on time though. Also it was nice at the finish line, having finished the half, seeing so many other participants finish their races.
It's a tricky course to pace, I got it all wrong - will be smarter next time! :rolleyes:

Jesus, the thought of not having water last Saturday...it makes me wince and I wasn't even there!

Oisin11178

No point in moaning if you dont vote with your feet. Not having enough on a day like that is a disgrace tbh. An oversight is not putting a mile marker up or something else small.

celeniu

Personally i didn't experience any problems with water but the organisers need to take note.Lack of water on a day like saturday is potentially life threatening..Overall I thought it was a good day with a good atmosphere at the end....sunshine,live music and craic.I had read previously on the organisers FB page that there was almost 2000 for the 10k and the half and nearly 400 for the full.But as it turned out there was about 1600 altogether.I wonder if the numbers are exaggerated just to get more people signed up.
This event has great potential if the organisers can get their act together.I tried to break the 3:30 for the full but when the pacers passed me at mile 21,that was it for me.managed to finish in 3:40 so roll on Dublin for sub 3:30.Hopefully it wont be as hot:eek:

Longboard

Enjoyed the day overall, good weather (at the start anyway!) and a good atmosphere.

celeniu wrote: »

I tried to break the 3:30 for the full but when the pacers passed me at mile 21,that was it for me.managed to finish in 3:40 so roll on Dublin for sub 3:30.Hopefully it wont be as hot:eek:

Sounds familiar, was heading for a sub 4:00 for my first marathon and pacers over took around mile 21.

People must have been drinking a lot of water before the race, as i passed a large number of runners along the side of the road in the first 6 miles watering the flowers.

mossym

Longboard wrote: »

People must have been drinking a lot of water before the race, as i passed a large number of runners along the side of the road in the first 6 miles watering the flowers.

hardly surprising, i think everyone was being very cautious with the heat. the huge queue at the start line for toilets probably forced some people to start without going as well

MRJ

Just back from Kerry, thoroughly enjoyed the run even in the heat. Really struggled from the 9 mile mark but made it through to finish. Would definitely do again.

ger664

Eventually got round to doing a write up on this

Dilbert75

Good report Ger and some very valid points.

mossym

agree, well said Ger. agree completely on the club race scene around clare/limerick, there is the ballyhoura race season but that is a bit of a trek if you're north of limerick

topper75

Love Killarney - the scenery, the people, the buzz, and I'll be back - but on my own terms for a train in the park and not for this race. It was fantastic last year but this year there were quite a few changes and they weren't really to the benefit of the participant, such as:
*No parking at start for 10k people. Muckross was straightforward.
*Previous day reg that required Fri night bed expense, instead of mailed out race numbers (rather drive Sat morn and spend Sat night relaxing in the town)
*T-shirt sizes not allocated despite being requested to choose size at entry
*No clock for races other than marathon at the finish line.
*Many people not visible in the results and they shuffled around a lot afterward over the following days as people were inserted (could be timing company issue rather than race organisers but still a dent in the quality of the experience). This even happened in the top 40 of the 10k. Can't see how that went so badly wrong.
*Water shortages on a warm day that you could have predicted the previous week (no such issue in 10km to be fair).

All in all have lost faith in commercially-run athletic events and will stick to club-organised ones in future. Shame after they got it so right in 2012.