Run in the Dark 2014 - Cork

viperlogic

Anyone doing this? I did the 10K last year, not one you can really race full out due to all the corners, curb, bollards, and crowds but still good fun and for a good cause.

Last year they messed up with the timing mats so it was unknown how many laps people did, so some crossed the finish line a lap early and messed up the results but they said this will be sorted this year.

Also a new route this year.

Murph_D

Not me. Dodgy race, questionable charity.

Cona

Me neither. Too expensive.

wextipp

Murph_D wrote: »

Not me. Dodgy race, questionable charity.

Please elaborate.

Murph_D

My main objection to this race is that it's unclear how much, if any, of the money collected goes directly to spinal cord research, and how much goes to funding the operational and travel costs of the underlying non profit organisation, which as far as I can see does not engage directly in any research itself.

As regards the races themselves, I'm more familiar with the Dublin event, which for the past couple of years has taken place on a not particularly suitable course for the numbers of participants. I see the've changed the course this year, which is potentially an improvement. Don't know about the other cities. There are threads on these races every year so you could always look at what was said last year.

Anyway the main event seems to be sold out, although they are operating a "waiting list". Not sure how that's going to work as most people don't inform the organisers if they're not going to make it on the day.

run_Forrest_run

I believe the course in Cork was terrible last year.

viperlogic

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

I believe the course in Cork was terrible last year.

It wasn't too bad I taught. Only issue last year was the mat was in the wrong place so people were coming in a lap early etc and messed up the times. Only other issue was, which cant really be avoided as its a course with laps, is you catch up to slow runners or walkers and its hard to hold a constant pace/rhythm but its not really a race you can race full out anyways with all the twists/turns/kerbs/footpaths/bollards etc.

They have changed the course this year also as there was a few bottlenecks that are now gone.

opus

I ran it in Cork last year & am going again next week. Personally quite enjoyed it as it's a really cool sight to see all the flashing armbands heading down the long straight of the South Mall.

The results debacle was funny as I was wondering when I first saw them just where all these 32 min 10k people came from & how they managed that time with the crowds

robinph

Reminder that number transfers are not permitted.

viperlogic

Following update just released......

Changing Your Distance Between 5 and 10k

No matter what distance you have entered you will get either a 5k finish time if you do that distance or a 10k finish time if you do that distance. So, there is no need to contact us to change your entry. Your run number will remain the same and the system will recognise you as long as you don’t cut corners!

safetyboy

Registration is a mess, i preordered for myself and 6 others for the dublin one, paid up and made a team, and invited my friends and every time they try join the team they are asked to pay again, after 2 hours we managed to get 5 on the team but now the last place says its been taken and cant join the team, I smell a hoax its a mess of a system.

viperlogic

safetyboy wrote: »

Registration is a mess, i preordered for myself and 6 others for the dublin one, paid up and made a team, and invited my friends and every time they try join the team they are asked to pay again, after 2 hours we managed to get 5 on the team but now the last place says its been taken and cant join the team, I smell a hoax its a mess of a system.

I haven't seen the team section but I would guess that it's being handled by Active.com and not RITD? Is so, contact Active.com

http://activesupport.force.com/usersupport/UScontact

DubOnHoliday

safetyboy wrote: »

Registration is a mess, i preordered for myself and 6 others for the dublin one, paid up and made a team, and invited my friends and every time they try join the team they are asked to pay again, after 2 hours we managed to get 5 on the team but now the last place says its been taken and cant join the team, I smell a hoax its a mess of a system.

I registered with a view to making a team for the office here. Followed all the steps, tried to add pre paid memebers and it wouldn't let me. I contacted Active.com for help, they said they couldn't help. I asked them to delete my registration so I could start again, they refused. I contacted run in the dark organisers, they didnt even answer. In the end I had to get eash user to register themselves, a joke. First and last time for this race.

viperlogic wrote: »

I haven't seen the team section but I would guess that it's being handled by Active.com and not RITD? Is so, contact Active.com

http://activesupport.force.com/usersupport/UScontact

can you believe they asked me in the online chat for my password so they could log in as me. They told me to contact the race organisers.

viperlogic

I contacted RITD via email and got response same day. You can always try the phone number or their Facebook page

safetyboy

They whole thing is a joke to register, finally after 2 weeks of trying I have the 6 people on the team.

safetyboy

shambles of an event. no sign of the kits in the post even though i specifically said i would pick them up and went to collect them on saturday morning to be told that they had been posted. absolute shambles of organisation.

safetyboy

went home at lunch and still no packs, if they don t arrive i'm down 207€ I will be seeking legal advise

mjp

Anyone know if it's similar setup for Dublin event. Doing it for first time Wednesday and not holding out much hope from what I'm seeing on here. Let's hope it's a dry night at least as don't fancy running in rain and wind we have tonight !!!

devondudley

safetyboy wrote: »

went home at lunch and still no packs, if they don t arrive i'm down 207€ I will be seeking legal advise

your going to seek legal advise against a charitable organisation doing a fun run. i presume firstly it will come by wens if not you could organize another pack to be collected at lifestyle.

safetyboy

devondudley wrote: »

your going to seek legal advise against a charitable organisation doing a fun run. i presume firstly it will come by wens if not you could organize another pack to be collected at lifestyle.

How much goes to charity? as you know charity's in Ireland are not the most trustworthy. If its sold out how can they give out more packs?

devondudley

safetyboy wrote: »

How much goes to charity? as you know charity's in Ireland are not the most trustworthy. If its sold out how can they give out more packs?

i presume most if not all goes to charity with sponsors paying costs that's what website says anyway, hopefully they have kept some aside for legal fees!!! i don't want to get into a whole charitable debate but a sweeping statement like most of them are not trustworthy is just wrong. anyway gone of topic good luck in run Wednesday and if its possible try and enjoy it

starWave

safetyboy wrote: »

went home at lunch and still no packs, if they don t arrive i'm down 207€ I will be seeking legal advise

My friends race pack didn't arrive in the post, so I got a spare one for them from lifestyle sports. If you can make it to lifestyle sports tomorrow, they will probably sort you out.

starWave

safetyboy wrote: »

How much goes to charity? as you know charity's in Ireland are not the most trustworthy. If its sold out how can they give out more packs?

Sold out means there's a max number of people allowed to do the race. They have spare packs in case any go missing in the post. It's just a matter of reassigning a number to a participant.

safetyboy

cool i will try that, cheers.

The Black Oil

I'm doing the Dublin one, as a newbie to running in an event. Haven't had any issues with registration and got the pack in the post. I saw the documentary about Mark Pollock recently, it was very good. I can understand that people are a little skeptical of charities, though if you see the doc I think the rationale behind the charity goes beyond just the nature of his injury - i.e. to do what other charities in this area are not focusing on, research rather than care/advocacy. Anyway...

viperlogic

In latest email from RITD

What happens if I chose to have my run pack posted but it hasn’t arrived?


If you chose to have your pack posted and it isn’t with you by tomorrow then don’t worry. Just bring your confirmation email to the information desk at the Clarion Hotel between 6:30pm and 7:30pm and we’ll sort it out. But you MUST bring your confirmation email. If you didn’t choose to have your pack posted then you should have picked it up by now.

DubOnHoliday

Looks like the weather is on our side for the Dublin event....

http://www.accuweather.com/en/ie/dublin/207931/hourly-weather-forecast/207931?hour=19

Mostly clear between 8 and 9 with 0% chance of rain, although it will be cool.
Ideal conditions really.

MrMacPhisto

God help anybody running sub 40 10km in Dublin. Congestion!

skittles8710

Won't be doing this one again! It's a joke walkers 5 a breast on Oliver Plunkett street swerving on slippy footpaths to avoid them. No consideration for people actually running the thing.

Stewarding and support pretty poor too.

devondudley

That was a fun walk, why did they let most of the walkers to go up the front at the start, 250 walking for jamie wall should have started at the back, the route was too narrow for 80% of it, won't be doing that again

SomeFool

Called a halt to my evening at the 5k mark for my own safety , fella running near me had a close call on a manhole cover very early on, paving in cork is lethal when wet and the congestion was far worse than previous years.

In defense of the event it is a massive charity focused occasion, the many flashing lights are a great spectacle, and there are better places than a twisty congested circuit to be running PB's. It's a great event if someone is starting out and looking for a first 5/10k at a friendly pace/atmosphere.

safetyboy

Mess of an event, when you got space was good fun. ringsend park single file??

groovyg

safetyboy wrote: »

Mess of an event, when you got space was good fun. ringsend park single file??

The Run in the Dark race is a charity event and I am surprised people take them seriously, if you were going for a time its really not the race to do. A park run would be a safer bet!

If you are looking for some decent 5/10ks look at the bhaa website in Cork or to the local clubs that organise races. I've only done the BHAA races in Dublin and I really enjoyed them. Over the winter months they do cross country and then move on to the roads and their popularity has been growing year on year, the races organised are a great way to keep you fit over the winter months.

You can set up a team related to the area you work in e.g IT, Engineering, Civil Serivce, Gardaí, Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Teachers etc etc so if you are interested in doing some races with your work colleagues over the winter months this could be an option.

skittles8710

groovyg wrote: »

The Run in the Dark race is a charity event and I am surprised people take them seriously, if you were going for a time its really not the race to do. A park run would be a safer bet!

If you are looking for some decent 5/10ks look at the bhaa website in Cork or to the local clubs that organise races. I've only done the BHAA races in Dublin and I really enjoyed them. Over the winter months they do cross country and then move on to the roads and their popularity has been growing year on year, the races organised are a great way to keep you fit over the winter months.

You can set up a team related to the area you work in e.g IT, Engineering, Civil Serivce, Gardaí, Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Teachers etc etc so if you are interested in doing some races with your work colleagues over the winter months this could be an option.

Just because it's a charity event doesn't mean you can excuse really poor organisation. If they are going to accept entries of circa 2,000 people and have "run" In the title then they need to make sure people can run it without high risk of injury and ask walkers to give right of way. I've run plenty of other charity races and all were really enjoyable and had none of the issues RITD has

viperlogic

I knew what to expect as had done it previous years and based on that taught it was one of the better organized ones. If it was your first time then I can see why some are possibly disappointed. But remember, they had 2.5K people on a dark 2.5K loop. Organizers can't be blamed for the walkers and start etc as the MC did ask for those running fast times to be towards the front etc, its up to the crowd to move but it was clear none did. Also on the website and emails it asked participants to enter via certain streets depending on speed so that they be some what in a suitable position at the start, again I didn't see this happening. Also I passed many marshals who were calling out for walkers to move to one side to allow the runners through.

Anyways, I enjoyed it and bagged a top 10 spot in the 10K. As above its not a race/run you can go full out due to the turns, obstacles, and slippy surface. Only lap I went fast was the first one as hit the crowds at south mall on the second lap and then onwards so just pulled back and enjoyed the fun. No point risking an fall/injury.

All the red flashing lights bobbing up and down along the river was a great sight

viperlogic

Looking at the results they should make some amendments as you can see some people didn't do all the laps eg alot of 5Kers only did one lap instead of 2! Least this year they had a lap mat so they can easily resolve that.

Toto Wolfcastle

I did it in Dublin and I was very far back at the start so I didn't see what was going on at the front but my husband said that there were a lot of walkers at the front. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't going for any time in particular. I just wanted to finish it. It was a bit annoying at the start trying to dodge people (particularly the five abreast walkers) but after that it was fine. I can see why it would be annoying for anyone with a particular goal in mind.

opus

groovyg wrote: »

The Run in the Dark race is a charity event and I am surprised people take them seriously, if you were going for a time its really not the race to do. A park run would be a safer bet!

If you are looking for some decent 5/10ks look at the bhaa website in Cork or to the local clubs that organise races. I've only done the BHAA races in Dublin and I really enjoyed them. Over the winter months they do cross country and then move on to the roads and their popularity has been growing year on year, the races organised are a great way to keep you fit over the winter months.

You can set up a team related to the area you work in e.g IT, Engineering, Civil Serivce, Gardaí, Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Teachers etc etc so if you are interested in doing some races with your work colleagues over the winter months this could be an option.

Agree totally with this, if you're going to something like the Run in the Dark expecting anything different then it's just going to be an exercise in frustration! Reminds me of the person who posted they were going to try for a PB in the Darkness into Light run this year/last year (putting aside the facts that it wasn't actually 5k & wasn't timed either ).

Personally I had a nice jog (well after the initial few mins of walking) around with a friend of mine who was doing her 2nd ever 10k & really enjoyed the evening.

groovyg

skittles8710 wrote: »

Just because it's a charity event doesn't mean you can excuse really poor organisation. If they are going to accept entries of circa 2,000 people and have "run" In the title then they need to make sure people can run it without high risk of injury and ask walkers to give right of way. I've run plenty of other charity races and all were really enjoyable and had none of the issues RITD has

I'm not excusing the poor organisation but look at the course in Cork, for the 5/10k it was very tight and twisty, add 2000+ runners to the mix and you are going to have bottlenecks. Like for the 10k runners/walkers had to do 4 laps which would have meant you were lapping/running around people. As for walkers at the front what can you do about them? Introduce waves for different times? The majority of races I've done where they are in place, you'll always find walkers/joggers who slot themselves in at the front.
Its a fun run/walk for charity and should not be taken seriously, if people are looking for a time in a particular distance there are plenty of decent races on in Munster.