Tralee International Marathon 2014

chavezychavez

Surprised not to see a thread started up about this already seeing as its less than 2 weeks away.

Last years thread here

Everyone looking forward to this. New finish will be interesting, uphill for second last mile but should be fast enough downhill for the finish. Nice to finish in the town as well.

skeleton_boy

Doing the half myself. Don't think I've ever been looking forward to a race more. Fingers crossed for a calm day.

opus

skeleton_boy wrote: »

Fingers crossed for a calm day.

Running the marathon myself, for sure the weather will play a huge part in what sort of run we have, here's hoping for something like last year!

Aimman

Weather last year was textbook pb stuff. Looking forward to it again this year.

TFBubendorfer

I'm doing it again, after all I have a title to defend - well, I'll be on the start line.

In reality this will be a training run and there is no way I'll take another trophy home this year (and if I tried I'd just f*** up my real goals).

skeleton_boy

http://www.yr.no/place/Ireland/Munster/Tralee/long.html

Looking as good as perfect according to our Scandinavian friends.

chavezychavez

skeleton_boy wrote: »

http://www.yr.no/place/Ireland/Munster/Tralee/long.html

Looking as good as perfect according to our Scandinavian friends.

Ah yeah, that's what I like to see.

Erasured

Can someone explain the new finish to the full marathon, the website isn't very clear and the map is showing last years course from what I can see!

chavezychavez

The finish has been changed to go left when you get back into Tralee after the Kerries as opposed to right and down to Blennerville.
We go back up Caherslee again (same patch of road as the second mile of the run), once we get to O'Donnells pub at the top of this road, we take the 3rd exit.
Uphill here again for about 1/4 of a mile and then we take a turn off to the right down a passage way that has been converted into a walkway/cycleway.
Haven't run it yet (might do it Thursday as the last run before Sunday), but from what I've been told, the surface is lovely and its all downhill.
We come out in the town around Dunnes, from there its down to the top of rock street, around by Pembroke street and home by the Mall and Denny street.

That walk/cycle way had me confused as well when I saw it first as it looked for all purposes like the run was going straight through an industrial estate.

Here is a link to the source that I plotted on Garmin
Tralee Marathon 2014 Course

shergar22

Erasured wrote: »

Can someone explain the new finish to the full marathon, the website isn't very clear and the map is showing last years course from what I can see!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/92571133/
Coming back into Tralee town via Spa Road (Mile 22), you head back out the Caherslee road for a second time. At the roundabout by O'Donnells turn right onto the Bracker O'Regan road (locally known as the Fat Mile) which is about Mile 24. After about 100m you turn right again onto the old Tralee-Fenit railway line which takes you down to Rock St. Known as the Skinny Mile, it was recently completed as the first phase of the Tralee-Fenit walkway, it is a smooth tarmacadam surface in excellent condition. This stretch is about 1 mile long and brings you onto Rock Street, at the rear entrance to the Dunnes Stores Car Park.

Then down to the roundabout, turn right, over North Circular Road, left along Pembroke Street, past the Greyhound Bar, Snooker Club & Jimmy Greasy's chipper. Down Rock Street, Bridge Street, across the Mall and down Denny Street where the finish is just before the Ashe Memorial Hall.

Erasured

Thanks for that guys, was confused but the maps really help. No canal section so this year, that was a tough stretch last year I found. Nice to finish around the town.

skittles8710

Hope everyone who did this had a great day. Results are up at

http://www.sportsplits.com/Home/QuickResults?clientId=74&raceId=10221&raceName=Tralee%20International%20Marathon

Erasured

Had a great day, the new finish section was far better. Support was superb despite the misty weather. All in all a tough but rewarding course.

TFBubendorfer

Very well organised and plenty of support from the locals, what more can you ask for?

The course is fairly tough with plenty of hills, including a real b*tch at mile 10 but very scenic. I certainly enjoyed it out there today and will be back.

dublin runner

Really enjoyed the race. Well organised. Particularly enjoyed the town finish. As mentioned, that hill around mile 10 is beyond a joke! Never seen anything like it.

skittles8710

Must work in the mile 10 section into my run when I'm home next weekend by the sounds of above!! Need a tough hill to tackle as part of training for Conn!

isogel

Great day out for another Tralee marathon .. mighty crowds around the town given loads of support and cheers.. Loads and Loads of water all the way around the course which was great .. the change of course near the finish from last year, is definitely a thumbs up from me .. This is a good testing course full of hills and very open areas all the way around ..Will be back again next year for 2015 .. thumbs up ... o any pic of the marathon out on the road..

skeleton_boy

isogel wrote: »

Great day out for another Tralee marathon .. mighty crowds around the town given loads of support and cheers.. Loads and Loads of water all the way around the course which was great .. the change of course near the finish from last year, is definitely a thumbs up from me .. This is a good testing course full of hills and very open areas all the way around ..Will be back again next year for 2015 .. thumbs up ... o any pic of the marathon out on the road..

Big gallery of pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/francis-foley/sets/72157642433623904/

opus

Nice race again this year, route change at the end was a good idea as keeps it in the town. Great support from the locals so not sure why the number doing the marathon were down 30%+ Plenty of rolling hills on the course so definitely good prep for Conn I think.

Big thanks to John who led the 3:15 group, ran with them myself 'til somewhere around 19m when I somehow got pushed off the front.

chavezychavez

Great race this year for me, knocked off the duck of last years break-down close to the finish line to get over just under the 3:30 and get a nice PB for myself.

No real complaints about the day. Perfect weather conditions, thought the sun was going to burst through after we came through Fenit, but it only lasted a mile, and a nice overcast with drizzle kicked in again to cool the bodies down.

Was surprised with the lack of support in Ardfert and Fenit, much lower than last year. Perhaps the hangovers from the 6 nations was still in effect.

Barrow hill at mile 10 had the group I was running with, especially the first timers, almost laughing in sheer disbelief, and provided more than enough fuel for conversation up through Churchill. After Clonakilty last Dec however, I'm not complaining about Barrow too much.

Race was well organised, traffic didn't pose anywhere near as many problems as last year. Great finish down the skinny mile, could get a nice tempo going down there for the finish. Water stops plentiful and in the right places.

Big shoutout to the 3:30 pacer as well, who had the timings spot on for the finish. My Garmin had gone a bit haywire from mile 18 onwards, so I thought I was further in front of the 3:30 pace than I actually was. When he caught up to us going up Caherslee on mile 24, he spurred us on to get a fast finish in. Great job.

I suppose I'll have to do it again next year :-)

Aimman

dublin runner wrote: »

Really enjoyed the race. Well organised. Particularly enjoyed the town finish. As mentioned, that hill around mile 10 is beyond a joke! Never seen anything like it.

Is was definitely longer than I remember from last year. I believe it will be taken out of the course next year.

dublin runner

Aimman wrote: »

Is was definitely longer than I remember from last year. I believe it will be taken out of the course next year.

Really? Interesting. It was a surprise but in a sadistic way I liked it. I think that section could end many peoples marathons later on in the race as it was so steep. Descending it was particularly tough on the legs. Lovely course.

shergar22

skittles8710 wrote: »

Must work in the mile 10 section into my run when I'm home next weekend by the sounds of above!! Need a tough hill to tackle as part of training for Conn!

Barrow Hill? Tough would cover that alright!

Aimman

shergar22 wrote: »

Barrow Hill? Tough would cover that alright!

It was funny watching people's expressions coming down the hill, half smug that they've got it out of the way and half compassionate for the people just heading up it.

Did the 4:30 pacing and the group managed it quite well, unfortunately, just as you come back down and head along the coast, there was another bit of a rise waiting, so there was no much time to recover from it.

opus

Aimman wrote: »

It was funny watching people's expressions coming down the hill, half smug that they've got it out of the way and half compassionate for the people just heading up it.

Did the 4:30 pacing and the group managed it quite well, unfortunately, just as you come back down and head along the coast, there was another bit of a rise waiting, so there was no much time to recover from it.

Luckily it's one of those short sharp hills, it would be a shame to lose it.

Think I spotted you around the last k afterwards, looked like you were spot on target for the pace!

Aimman

opus wrote: »

Luckily it's one of those short sharp hills, it would be a shame to lose it.

Think I spotted you around the last k afterwards, looked like you were spot on target for the pace!

Came in at 4:29:14. Some of the group were struggling after mile 23 on the run up to the roundabout because of the incline and headwind, but once we got onto the cycle path and had the wind to our backs, they were able to push on and finish a bit in front of me.