dublin half marathon debacle

judeboy101

Anyone else a little bit miffed about todays events?

pconn062

Well if Facebook is anything to go by, lots of people are miffed. A big error of judgment it seems like but the usual rabble is out of Facebook frothing at the mouth about it, shouting about refunds only 90 minutes after the event. I feel sorry for the runners, it shouldn't have happened but if the reaction there is anything to go by it's going to be a nightmare for Jim Aughney and team.

what didn't go right then?

pconn062

glasso wrote: »

what didn't go right then?

Everything essentially. Bad planning in terms of traffic management, unable to cope with the numbers, unsuitable location due to high numbers, congestion, moving the start time on the morning of the event, starting the event while there were still people stuck on the M1, poor consultation with locals.

average_runner

How did they think it would hold more than the Phoenix park?

Only one way in sure

Pawwed Rig

Wife got the train out. Seems she was one of the lucky ones.

No water between the 3 mile and 9 mile mark seems a bit negligent on the organisers part if what I am hearing is right.

MoyVilla9

There was supposed to be a water station at mile 6. Ran by there to see no water and the tables folded down. That was, by far, the biggest issue for me. On top of that, the advertised lucozade station also wasn't there.

uck51js9zml2yt

Never knew it was on but from reading the Irish times report, how could anyone think new bridge house was a good venue.

I went there for the fingal festival in the summer. An hour to get from the M1 to the gate. It was less than 10 minutes back !

average_runner

Will have to refund all the runners.

ene

the one positive thing which was my saving grace was a lovely woman at around mile 9/10 standing outside her house with water jugs and glasses- i thought i was going delirious so she literally saved me!

Pawwed Rig

average_runner wrote: »

Will have to refund all the runners.

I doubt that would be even possible with all the will in the world. The money has been spent hosting the event. The entry cost would not allow for much in the way of left over cash. Giving a free entry credit next year may happen but will just mean an increase in the entry cost long term.

and still ricky villa

Really can't see it being held there again. I had aimed to be there for 8 but didn't get parked till 9:20. It was a rough route too. Anyone targeting this for full marathon prep won't have come away any wiser as to what their form is like for the full.
Guards had the roads closed early too so doubling back from Balbriggan wasn't an option. I used back roads along the route that were technically closed roads to get there.
How many cars were they expecting? Didn't seem like much parking on offer at the venue itself.
And to cap it all off we were sent back out the main gate for a nice long walk on a busy road to the car after finishing.
Nice medal but we earned it today in other ways than just running

Bananaleaf

ene wrote: »

the one positive thing which was my saving grace was a lovely woman at around mile 9/10 standing outside her house with water jugs and glasses- i thought i was going delirious so she literally saved me!

She was beautiful! As I was running past her daughter was there and she had run in for more water. Sadly I couldn't wait for her to come back as I was worried that if I stopped I wouldn't get going again. I missed that water station badly. Really needed it.

average_runner wrote: »

Will have to refund all the runners.

Oh come off it. There is no doubt that there was a huge cock-up but that is totally unreasonable to suggest. These things happen - there was so much about that race that was really good. And I know this won't go down well, but, there were a lot of people calling the traffic situation months ago, yet they still left themselves short on time to get there. If people didn't feel like they should have left their homes 3+ hrs before the race start to avoid the traffic, then fair enough. But why did those people sign up? They were all moaning that there were going to be major tailbacks yet they are here today, shocked and appalled at them. Digging up posts you (not you, figure of speech) made months ago as a 'told you so' reaction to you being late to the race is a bit silly in my opinon. I know I'm going to get slated for that but whatever - Jim Aughney is a brilliant organiser and he will be more devastated than any of us over what happened today.

clickerquicklic

I feel bad for the organisers because the Fingal 10k which I've done the last two years has been exceptionally well organised and the Frank Duffy this year, if I was a seasoned runner who did half marathons all the time I wouldn't be that annoyed, as a first half marathon for myself and others that wanted to practice going with pacers its a bit of a bummer. I'm certainly partly responsible for been late as I was waiting on an update and gambling that it wasn't going to go ahead till 10.30.

But hey no one died, personally I wouldn't except the money back even it was offered because I remember saying they must be making nothing on the Fingal race with the tee shirt and whatever else was in the goodie bag and any amount of drinks and fruit at the end.
They messed up and it seems that your only as good as your last race be it the organiser or the participant.

d7guy

I agree with everything said about the flaws in today's race ...traffic ,start times ,water stations lack of on course signage ,but you know what I really enjoyed the race itself , great crowds lovely people and a great bunch of runners great craic on the way around.
Just sorry for those that could 'nt or did 'nt make the race. I am sure the organisers are feeling pretty bad at the moment ..but hey let's not give them a kicking when their already down

Glencarraig

judeboy101 wrote: »

Anyone else a little bit miffed about todays events?

About 6500 or so people

Wishbone Ash

Glencarraig wrote: »

About 6500 or so people

.....and the thousands of 'locals' who couldn't get to and from Donabate, Portrane, Lusk, Rush, Skerries etc. for hours.

It was further exacerbated by the current closure of the Rush-Skerries road for water works.

solidasarock

Got the train and was there by 830 so I didnt have any traffic problems. Still.. putting the race somewhere the DART doesnt go to sucks.

Getting there early 90 minutes didnt help me when it came to actually getting to the start line. 10 minutes down some wooded paths from the finish area / bag drop off and very few signs showing you where to go and ZERO stewarts along the path to keep people moving.

I found the start at 10:10ish and didnt have time to stop and warm up. Just had to get going.


I dont think its fair to blame it all on the venue. I think the organizers did a extremely poor job too so there is plenty of blame to go around. No excuse for making the start line in the middle of nowhere with next to no directions or a few stewards along the path to point people the right way. I wish I took a photo of the 2 signs I found point to the start line that where right beside each other and point 2 different directions.

And no water stations for the majority of the race because I guess the water didn't show up was embarrassing. No water at the finish too until you got your bag was also bad and just exacerbated the lack of water stations on the course. I would have dont bad things to get my hands on some water near the end of the race and none at the finish was heart breaking until I rummaged though the gift bag (which wasnt even as good as the 10 miler bag!)

And obvious bad communication with locals. Never been on a race where so many cars tried to drive on the course.

I can forgive the late start. I could write it off as growing pain for a new venue. The rest I cant.


Was it a purely "we need a bigger venue" issue moving out of the phoenix park? TBH I do think doing the 10 miler and the half back to back in the park previous years made you kind of sick of the place so I was OK on paper with a change but clearly this wasn't the right change and I would hope they bring it back to the Park and move the 10 miler elsewhere.

And Ill be honest, all of todays issues aside, even if everything went well I wouldnt attend a race in this venue again. Its simply too damn awkward to get to. Obviously driviing isnt working and the DART doesn't even go there. For a "Dublin CITY half marathon" to be set so far out of the City you are smelling manure half the race just makes me think they tried to save a little too much money on the venue. I would gladly pay a higher price for a better venue and more staff.

The Muppet

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Oh come off it. There is no doubt that there was a huge cock-up but that is totally unreasonable to suggest. These things happen - there was so much about that race that was really good. And I know this won't go down well, but, there were a lot of people calling the traffic situation months ago, yet they still left themselves short on time to get there. If people didn't feel like they should have left their homes 3+ hrs before the race start to avoid the traffic, then fair enough. But why did those people sign up? They were all moaning that there were going to be major tailbacks yet they are here today, shocked and appalled at them. Digging up posts you (not you, figure of speech) made months ago as a 'told you so'reaction to you being late to the race is a bit silly in my opinon. I know I'm going to get slated for that but whatever - Jim Aughney is a brilliant organiser and he will be more devastated than any of us over what happened today.

These things don't just happen with proper planning . The question is if locals could see that chaos would ensue why couldn't the authorities involved in organizing the event.

If your "digging up old posts" comment is in reference to my post in the other thread you are very wrong. I wasn't late as I did exactly as you suggested and didn't enter .

tunney

Also routing the participants on half the road for lots and then having people run in traffic. In 18 years of doing road races - this was the worst organised in every way. Nothing to redeem it.

Testosterscone

The Muppet wrote: »

These things don't just happen with proper planning . The question is if locals could see that chaos would ensue why couldn't the authorities involved in organizing the event.

Just regards the planning should be noted that there were 2 crashes on the motorway on top of the roadworks etc which probably compounded beyond possible envisaged issues.

The Muppet

Testosterscone wrote: »

Just regards the planning should be noted that there were 2 crashes on the motorway on top of the roadworks etc which probably compounded beyond possible envisaged issues.

I wasn't aware of that, the problem was always going to be from the slip road of M1 to Newbridge House, its just too narrow to cater for such a volume of traffic arriving at the same time.

I wonder was any consideration given to running shuttle buses from some of the park and ride facilities and Swords ?

average_runner

Bananaleaf wrote: »

She was beautiful! As I was running past her daughter was there and she had run in for more water. Sadly I couldn't wait for her to come back as I was worried that if I stopped I wouldn't get going again. I missed that water station badly. Really needed it.



Oh come off it. There is no doubt that there was a huge cock-up but that is totally unreasonable to suggest. These things happen - there was so much about that race that was really good. And I know this won't go down well, but, there were a lot of people calling the traffic situation months ago, yet they still left themselves short on time to get there. If people didn't feel like they should have left their homes 3+ hrs before the race start to avoid the traffic, then fair enough. But why did those people sign up? They were all moaning that there were going to be major tailbacks yet they are here today, shocked and appalled at them. Digging up posts you (not you, figure of speech) made months ago as a 'told you so' reaction to you being late to the race is a bit silly in my opinon. I know I'm going to get slated for that but whatever - Jim Aughney is a brilliant organiser and he will be more devastated than any of us over what happened today.

Oh you come off it. People didn't get to race due to the traffic and then there was a lack of water stations.

They should be refunded as what they paid for wasn't provided.

triggermortis

The first I knew about any of this was when I was stopped by a Garda at Finnegans corner and told I couldn't go through Lusk, around midday today. Still managed to get to Santry for the kids swimming lessons at 12.30 - just!

average_runner

Testosterscone wrote: »

Just regards the planning should be noted that there were 2 crashes on the motorway on top of the roadworks etc which probably compounded beyond possible envisaged issues.

If there was roadworks, did the organisation mention the possible delays on their Facebook or Twitter?

Many ways of communication these days so no excuses.

tunney

triggermortis wrote: »

The first I knew about any of this was when I was stopped by a Garda at Finnegans corner and told I couldn't go through Lusk, around midday today. Still managed to get to Santry for the kids swimming lessons at 12.30 - just!

Missed all those signs the last few weeks?

Shaungoater

Pure madness. Having said that being from a neighbouring town I knew we it would be manic but never thought that bad. One road in, the other closed because of the race. I got the train there and back and was no hassle. Trains should of been communicated better and maybe extra put on and participants urged to park all gathered route and use them. Water stations were very poor

Bananaleaf

The Muppet wrote: »

These things don't just happen with proper planning . The question is if locals could see that chaos would ensue why couldn't the authorities involved in organizing the event.

If your "digging up old posts" comment is in reference to my post in the other thread you are very wrong. I wasn't late as I did exactly as you suggested and didn't enter .

I had seen your post and had thanked it even. It wasn't the reason I felt compelled to write a reply, but I admit it was on my mind. The real reason I wrote what I did was the person who posted after the race, complaining about having to race their way to their pacer group, but same person posted on boards.ie at 9:38am this morning saying they were still at home!

I get that there were definitely a percentage of people who were caught out with the traffic, but I also think there are a lot of people blaming the organisers for their own poor planning. I don't believe the person who was interviewed for the Irish Times article who says he was 3km from Newbridge House at 7:45am and missed the start. I left my home at 7am and I got to the start at just the right time - 8:30am. I was on the M1 exit, 3km from Newbridge House - exactly where the guy in the IT article says he was - at 8:10. So, how was he STILL there?? A bit off-topic now, but I think there are a lot of bandwagon hoppers today.

Apologies for assuming you were at the race when I read your post - that was presumptious of me and I was wrong. Your instincts were good. I enjoyed the day but won't be returning to NH for a race of any size.

Van.Bosch

Ironically the space/setup after the race (excluding car park exit) was lively, really nice area and vibe despite the shambles.

Bananaleaf

average_runner wrote: »

Oh you come off it. People didn't get to race due to the traffic and then there was a lack of water stations.

They should be refunded as what they paid for wasn't provided.

People who didn't get to race should be refunded. Absolutely, I agree with you there.

The water station thing was a mess up - you are right and yes, this could have been very dangerous IF it was a really hot day. But it's September. In Ireland. I get that you're annoyed. I had a ****ty day myself - I was 20mins behind my predicted time - I was gasping for a drink for ages and when I crossed the line I was so dizzy I had to sit with a medic and rest before meeting back with my group. But, if we are all to get refunds, where do you think the organisers are going to get the money from?

ene

I think a discount code for next year should be given- a gesture like that would settle a lot of the grumblings

fatherted1969

Think the numbers read like 6555 started out of 9300 runners. That's more than people just rocking up to the start line with a few minutes to spare. Don't think looking for refunds is unreasonable at all. Only 2 water stations as well that by all accounts weren't stocked with enough water for everyone.

Bananaleaf

I'm sorry - I know this isn't the point of the thread (or maybe it counts as part of the debacle) but - where are the results? I know we got texts, but are they not showing up online this year?

Also, I know I'm the one defending the organisers yet I'm pointing this out now, but ..... the tracker was also not set up. My friends were trying to track me but I was showing up as not being in the system and upon completion my number was showing a different name - turns out it was still the tracker from last year!!!!

The Muppet

The tracker was working . I was tracking some of the locals . I think the link on the offical race page linked to the 2016 race as its address ended in 2016. If they had manually changed the address to end in 2017 they would have been able to track you.

average_runner

Bananaleaf wrote: »

People who didn't get to race should be refunded. Absolutely, I agree with you there.

The water station thing was a mess up - you are right and yes, this could have been very dangerous IF it was a really hot day. But it's September. In Ireland. I get that you're annoyed. I had a ****ty day myself - I was 20mins behind my predicted time - I was gasping for a drink for ages and when I crossed the line I was so dizzy I had to sit with a medic and rest before meeting back with my group. But, if we are all to get refunds, where do you think the organisers are going to get the money from?

First of all I didn't race it so not annoyed for myself. I am annoyed that day messed up an important race for a lot of people's marathon in Oct.

The organisers have made a big profit over the years so May be use some of that.

Bananaleaf

average_runner wrote: »

First of all I didn't race it so not annoyed for myself. I am annoyed that day messed up an important race for a lot of people's marathon in Oct.

Fair point. I hadn't considered that.

28064212

average_runner wrote: »

The organisers have made a big profit over the years so May be use some of that.

Really? That sounds highly unlikely given the low cost of entry and high cost of putting a fully regulated and measured race on in Dublin. Source?

El Caballo

28064212 wrote: »

Really? That sounds highly unlikely given the low cost of entry and high cost of putting a fully regulated and measured race on in Dublin. Source?

I thought the same. I heard that closing the roads in Dublin on Marathon day costs over €500k alone and that's only a tiny part of the overall organisation. The race series is also a non-profit entity which ploughs all it's money back into athletics through grassroots to elite level of the sport. I'm pretty sure they would have some sort of contingency fund but would imagine a huge amount of that would've been eaten up when they lost their main sponsor a couple of years ago.

average_runner

28064212 wrote: »

Really? That sounds highly unlikely given the low cost of entry and high cost of putting a fully regulated and measured race on in Dublin. Source?

There is no way they are running these events and marathon at a lost.

Marathon now reaching max numbers etc

average_runner

El Caballo wrote: »

I thought the same. I heard that closing the roads in Dublin on Marathon day costs over €500k alone and that's only a tiny part of the overall organisation. The race series is also a non-profit entity which ploughs all it's money back into athletics through grassroots to elite level of the sport. I'm pretty sure they would have some sort of contingency fund but would imagine a huge amount of that would've been eaten up when they lost their main sponsor a couple of years ago.

On a bank holiday it costs that much but moving to a Sunday is cheaper as no overtime in it for the gardai

28064212

28064212 wrote: »

Source?

average_runner wrote: »

There is no way...

So... no :rolleyes:

The organisers 100% made a balls-up of today, but lets not resort to spouting nonsense

AdpRo

Almost 3k people didn't show up today and there still wasn't enough water or banana 's for all the finishers, sums the whole thing up really.

ligerdub

How much was the race, €20? That's very good value imo.

I know it was a massive balls up and it was a major inconvenience but the €20 won't make all that much difference to you, whereas the organisers forgoing income of about €180,000 is significant to say the least.

It might be best (even financially) for everyone to just say "yellow card to the organisers" but go no further about it. The €20 you get back might well come back out of your pocket with the likely increases over the next few years as an insurance policy should this happen again. It's not like they can afford to absorb these things.

If you were unable to get to the start line due to the logistical problems then fair enough get your money back or a discount or something.

carltonleon

Surely the near 2800 (apparently) people who did not get a chance to actually run deserve a refund?

ligerdub

carltonleon wrote: »

Surely the near 2800 (apparently) people who did not get a chance to actually run deserve a refund?

I said as much.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

AdpRo wrote: »

Almost 3k people didn't show up today and there still wasn't enough water or banana 's for all the finishers, sums the whole thing up really.

carltonleon wrote: »

Surely the near 2800 (apparently) people who did not get a chance to actually run deserve a refund?

Not necessarily, you would normally expect around 10% DNS, do they deserve a refund? No.
I paced today and it was far from ideal in terms of setup and traffic management but the amount of vitoral being spouted on social media you would swear the organisers killed someone!

Singer

tunney wrote: »

Also routing the participants on half the road for lots and then having people run in traffic. In 18 years of doing road races - this was the worst organised in every way. Nothing to redeem it.

Huh? The roads that had traffic on them had cones separating them from the traffic and were totally fine to run on. Anything else would have been some limited local access, and other than a single race-related motorbike there was nothing on those roads when I was running.

liam7831

Someone has to get on to Joe about this

Singer

The Muppet wrote: »

The tracker was working . I was tracking some of the locals . I think the link on the offical race page linked to the 2016 race as its address ended in 2016. If they had manually changed the address to end in 2017 they would have been able to track you.

The official twitter/facebook was sloppy - they stated numerous times that there were pacers up until 2:00 when there were actually pacers up until 2:30, and the race tracker on the website pointing to last year's tracker too. The tracker and tracking app worked fine, as always, and the pacers worked well, as always.

Singer

Bananaleaf wrote: »

I'm sorry - I know this isn't the point of the thread (or maybe it counts as part of the debacle) but - where are the results? I know we got texts, but are they not showing up online this year?

Also, I know I'm the one defending the organisers yet I'm pointing this out now, but ..... the tracker was also not set up. My friends were trying to track me but I was showing up as not being in the system and upon completion my number was showing a different name - turns out it was still the tracker from last year!!!!

Provisional results are here: http://track.rtrt.me/e/TDL-DUBLINHALF-2017

The website directed folks to last year's tracker, but the tracker app etc. worked fine.

Wishbone Ash

triggermortis wrote: »

The first I knew about any of this was when I was stopped by a Garda at Finnegans corner and told I couldn't go through Lusk, around midday today...

Jesus you'll have to open your eyes when your out and about NCD on your bike.

Signage was in place for the past few weeks and it has been a major topic of conversation in McNSCC as all club rides today have had to be altered.