Ratoath Half Marathon

Bluesquare

Morning . Anyone signed up for this ? Looking forward to it !

Running Fool

Bluesquare wrote: »

Morning . Anyone signed up for this ? Looking forward to it !

I'm in. Gonna be tight but hoping I might make a a sub 1.30. Asked on Facebook and there's pacers so will start with the 1.30 one. Also seems fairly flat also. Anybody know the course?

Wubble Wubble

Signed up. Course doesn't look too bad at all. 1:30 will be too much of a jump for me however (from PB 1:37) so I'll have to come up with a different strategy.

Sheep1978

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Signed up. Course doesn't look too bad at all. 1:30 will be too much of a jump for me however (from PB 1:37) so I'll have to come up with a different strategy.

similar to yourself J. Think I'll target 1.34.59 from the start. Maybe see how the body is around 9 miles and if there's anything in the tank to push on

Damo 2k9

Heard great things about this race, signed up and will see how things pan out with injury.

Ruarl Runner

Am living out that neck of the woods and very familiar with the roads.... Am really looking forward to this event.

Have looked at the Relive map on the Ratoath AC facebook page - so the route sees the runners leave Fairyhouse and downhill towards Dunboyne where they turn left after a mile to Caulstown and left again at the T Junction at the end of that road towards Kilbride where the runners will then pass Sweeneys Pub (almost at half way) from memory there is a slight uphill (more of a gentle pull) and from here it's a straight road towards Ratoath, runners will turn left again before Ratoath village onto Glascarn Lane and follow this road onto the Fairyhouse Road and left at the T Junction back towards Fairyhouse Racecourse where the runners will complete a circuit of Fairyhouse (on tarmac) before finishing under the Grandstand.

It's a nice single loop route and almost entirely flat with only a slight uphill when leaving the village of Kilbride (at Sweeneys Pub) heading towards Ratoath - Only 1 or 2 pulls on the Kilbride Road but I wouldn't call them hills in any shape or form IMO. The lap of Fairyhouse racecourse for the last 2 miles to the finish line will also be nice, it is on the ambulance track and has a nice tarmac surface.

I see they have also just posted race details & number collections on their FB page also.

Hedgehoggy

Running Fool wrote: »

I'm in. Gonna be tight but hoping I might make a a sub 1.30. Asked on Facebook and there's pacers so will start with the 1.30 one. Also seems fairly flat also. Anybody know the course?

Do you know what pacing groups there will be? Couldnt find this info... TIA

Running Fool

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Do you know what pacing groups there will be? Couldnt find this info... TIA

I'd asked on Facebook and they said they'll have pacers from 1.30 to 2.15, details coming soon.

Ruarl Runner

I contacted one of the guys in Ratoath Athletic Club and he said they have pacers at 1hr30, 1hr40, 1hr50, 2hr & 2hr15

I asked about the water stations - it’s in cups and there are 4 water stations along the route!

skyblue46

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Signed up. Course doesn't look too bad at all. 1:30 will be too much of a jump for me however (from PB 1:37) so I'll have to come up with a different strategy.

Sheep1978 wrote: »

similar to yourself J. Think I'll target 1.34.59 from the start. Maybe see how the body is around 9 miles and if there's anything in the tank to push on

I'm in the same boat. 1:30 is a bit much at the moment so trying to come up with a plan. That plan might involve the 1:30 pacers followed by a crash and burn 3 or 4 miles! :pac:

fletch

I created a gpx (attached) of what I think is the route based on the relive video...looks very flat

Running Fool

Weather looks promising for Saturday!

Bluesquare

fletch wrote: »

I created a gpx (attached) of what I think is the route based on the relive video...looks very flat

Thanks - I can't see it ! Do I need to do something special ?

Sheep1978

Collected number and top yesterday from Run hub. 3 people giving them out ( I presume from Rathoath AC) were really nice and friendly and full of chat. Fair play to them. Hopefully a sign of good things to come on Sat

skyblue46

fletch wrote: »

I created a gpx (attached) of what I think is the route based on the relive video...looks very flat

That's brilliant thanks. It's amazing the detail, even down to capturing an Aer Lingus plane directly over Fairyhouse racecourse!!

Running Fool

skyblue46 wrote: »

That's brilliant thanks. It's amazing the detail, even down to capturing an Aer Lingus plane directly over Fairyhouse racecourse!!

How do we view these? Not working for me.

Thanks

skyblue46

Running Fool wrote: »

How do we view these? Not working for me.

Thanks

If you have an Android phone you can get GPX Viewer from Play Store, download Fletch's gpx file and open it using GPX Viewer. I'm sure Apple have a similar viewer in their store.

fletch

skyblue46 wrote: »

That's brilliant thanks. It's amazing the detail, even down to capturing an Aer Lingus plane directly over Fairyhouse racecourse!!

Ha I've never seen that before on Google Maps.

fletch

Top class race from start to finish. Really well organised...Rain stopped just before the start. A lovely flat route although that last loop around the racing track seemed to go on forever! I generally give all my t-shirts away nowadays but I'll be keeping this one...love the fit and the colour scheme. Great atmosphere after with the pumping music. Great goodie bag and a starbar Mmmm. Not that I'm into these things but it's a quality medal too. Fantastic location too, no issues with parking. I'd say it could become a popular one.
One area for improvement is the short coned off section along the Ratoath Road. It's a bit narrow...fine if you are running on your own but I was in a group of about 15 runners and it was a bit tight with traffic.
Well done Ratoath AC...great job

GOOSEPAUL

Loved every second of it. Great course, the volunteers were excellent. I thought the loop of fairyhouse would never end. Will defiantly be back next year.

mr_edge_to_you

Fair play to ye doing the half.

Hats off to the folks behind Ratoath AC.

I did the 5k. They had a Couch to 5k program running since mid July culminating the 5k which I signed up for (been 19 years since I last ran a mile). 3 coached sessions each week with coaches/leaders running with participants - no one was ever on their own. Fantastic support throughout the program and they were there again during the race. One of the coaches even kept coming back to run the last few metres with C25k’ers. Very satisfying!

Their grass track in Ratoath village is also extremely well maintained and was lovely to train on for the last 8 weeks.

While heading home I could see the road looked a bit tight for the half-m runners where they were lined with the cones but I would imagine if they can get buy-in and support from the locals I’m sure they would be able to push that a bit there.

Wish them well into the future!

walshb

Did the 5k today. Lovely day for it. Very fair/decent course..

Running Fool

Great race. PB wasn't there for me today but was happy overall with a strong run.
Good flat course and really well organised. Struggled with the lap around Fairyhouse at the end but overall loved it. Would definitely recommend!

coogy

Ran this yesterday, my first half marathon race.
Finished in 1:37:53, delighted with that time.
I agree with the comments about having to run within the cones along the stretch of the Fairyhouse Rd. Other than that, a very well organised race. Well done to the organisers!

coogy

fletch wrote: »

Ha I've never seen that before on Google Maps.

Haha, I noticed that last week. My first thought was "hang on, why is there a passenger begin the middle of Fairyhouse race course?"
Then I saw it again a the penny dropped!

skyblue46

The total absence of sandwiches might mean it'll be Tullamore or Charleville for me next year :pac:

fletch

skyblue46 wrote: »

The total absence of sandwiches might mean it'll be Tullamore or Charleville for me next year :pac:

There was a van serving tea/coffee and sandwiches (at a cost)....I did kind of think with it being a club race that there might have been some home baking. But there was lots of fruit and water and chocolate so I'm not complaining

Sheep1978

Great course and volunteers that I encountered were all friendly etc so big kudos on that. Only slight thing for me, as mentioned above, was the limited space on the stretch from mile 10-11. Only room for 1 person and, although I didn't need to personally, anyone trying to overtake another runner was in a dangerous spot with traffic. Not sure what, if anything, could be done to alleviate it for next year.

Hedgehoggy

Really enjoyed the race - very well organised and nice course

coogy wrote: »

Ran this yesterday, my first half marathon race.
Finished in 1:37:53, delighted with that time.
I agree with the comments about having to run within the cones along the stretch of the Fairyhouse Rd. Other than that, a very well organised race. Well done to the organisers!

Well done on your time coogy!!!!