Limerick marathon 2019

ooter

Strongly considering entering and training for this, just wondering if anyone who has ran it in the past can recommend accommodation for the night before the race, initial searches are not throwing up a lot of options?

Swashbuckler

ooter wrote: »

Strongly considering entering and training for this, just wondering if anyone who has ran it in the past can recommend accommodation for the night before the race, initial searches are not throwing up a lot of options?

Lots of options. Budget? Need parking? Want central? Coming from what direction?

ooter

Arriving by train from Dublin so somewhere near to train station and start/finish area.
Basically just looking for something decent to get the head down the night before, not looking for anything fancy.

Swashbuckler

ooter wrote: »

Arriving by train from Dublin so somewhere near to train station and start/finish area.
Basically just looking for something decent to get the head down the night before, not looking for anything fancy.

Most places probably won't let you book online this far in advance. But in terms of nearest hotels to the station you'd be looking at per square as the main one. There are two, one of which is high end and the other is "cheaper."

Into town but still not far from where you want to be the best value is probably somewhere like the George boutique, limerick city hotel is decent value too,.. Trouble with city centre is they can be quite expensive especially on a bank holiday and to get true value you'd want to be staying outside the city like Punches, South Court, Greenhills,Radisson.

Absolute hotel might be worth a look. About 15min walk from the station

kerrylad1

Limerick city hotel is €122(booking.com) for the Saturday night,before the marathon.5 minutes stroll from train station and the start line.

Supercell

Anyone have a discount code for the half?, got one in my email a while back but its expired now.

fatherted1969

Didnt like the route this year at all. Too much doubling back on myself in different spots.

panda100

ooter wrote: »

Arriving by train from Dublin so somewhere near to train station and start/finish area.
Basically just looking for something decent to get the head down the night before, not looking for anything fancy.

The closest you'll get to train station and start/finish area is the No. 1 Pery Square Hotel. Its probably more on the pricey side. A bit cheaper would be Perys Hotel on Glentworth street. The George Boutique Hotel on O'Connell Street is at the finish line and also has a fab Italian restaurant for some carb loading the night before.

6run28

Got a 10% discount code - may be of use to folks here

Make 2019 your year with a 10% discount off Regeneron Great Limerick Run. Use code FIT19 to register now. Discount ends MIDNIGHT 2nd January!

The Davestator

Hi folks - considering this due to an injury over the past two months.

Not mad about the doubling back aspects of the course, but does anyone have an elevation profile for this route? Or is this a new route this year?

healy1835

Don't think it's a new route this year. Here's last years....

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2677734087

The Davestator

healy1835 wrote: »

Don't think it's a new route this year. Here's last years....

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2677734087

Serious running! :eek:

Pretty flat by the looks of it, so I can forgive the out and backs.

healy1835

The Davestator wrote: »

Serious running! :eek:

Pretty flat by the looks of it, so I can forgive the out and backs.

the only parts that I can actually remember running back against people were in the Industrial Estate section about 10-15k (?) but that was pretty flat and then around the Gaelic Grounds now that was a tough stretch as there's a nasty climb about 24miles (and the 3hr pacer dropped me there )

Swashbuckler

healy1835 wrote:

the only parts that I can actually remember running back against people were in the Industrial Estate section about 10-15k (?) but that was pretty flat and then around the Gaelic Grounds now that was a tough stretch as there's a nasty climb about 24miles (and the 3hr pacer dropped me there )

And heading out towards Raheen past Old Crescent before looping back

healy1835

Swashbuckler wrote: »

And heading out towards Raheen past Old Crescent before looping back

I was in auto pilot for most of that race

Swashbuckler

healy1835 wrote:

I was in auto pilot for most of that race

Wrote that in a rush so sorry if it seemed abrupt. Haha. You were in the zone is how I'd put it. I would definitely not consider it an out and back course really but like you said the hardest part is definitely the down and back on Ennis road around mile 23 (or mile 10 for the half marathoners)

munsterbear

Signed up for this, hoping for my 1st Sub4. Now if I could just drop the weight......

Happy training everyone.

In relation to hotel, we booked Castletroy Park, hopefully it won't be tough to get into city with road closures etc.

chrislad

munsterbear wrote: »

Signed up for this, hoping for my 1st Sub4. Now if I could just drop the weight......

Happy training everyone.

In relation to hotel, we booked Castletroy Park, hopefully it won't be tough to get into city with road closures etc.

Nah, you should be fine. I don't think there's full road closures at the Castletroy Park, but may be further down nearer to UL. Anyway, unlikely to be closed until after the marathon starts, as I think it's 7 or 8 miles from the start.

munsterbear

Originally ran the marathon here in 2015,with the legendary goodie bag...... Wart cream and tiny bag of jellies. After getting the goodie bag at the Raheny 5 Miler on Sunday, I really hope things have improved.....

shotgunmcos

Must have passed the "7 weeks to go" sign a dozen times over the weekend! How is everyone getting on?

Marathon plan interrupted for 2 weeks with illness but healthy again and hoping to gets solid few weeks together for my first marathon in years.

Great to see a folk out putting in the miles around the city in all weather recently

Anyone know how congested the riverbank gets on the day? Is it closed for the marathon or do you have dog walkers to navigate?

OOnegative

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Anyone know how congested the riverbank gets on the day? Is it closed for the marathon or do you have dog walkers to navigate?

It was relatively fine in 2017 when I done it, was with the 3.15 pacers and got bit tight with group of 20 of us or so but didn’t really affect anyone’s running. Few walkers out alright but they gave way with a few gentle shouts.

healy1835

I nearly came a cropper on the 'Living Bridge'? through UL last year, surface wasn't great.

Limpy

Did any marathoners hit traffic in the race. Mainly the start of the half marathon going up Edward Street. I was watching and it looked like 3:10ish paced runners came on behind the start of the half.

OOnegative

Limpy wrote: »

Did any marathoners hit traffic in the race. Mainly the start of the half marathon going up Edward Street. I was watching and it looked like 3:10ish paced runners came on behind the start of the half.

In 2017 I hit the half roughly 14/15 miles into the full, for 3/4 miles I was dodging half runners and being told I was running in the wrong place. Don’t know if this has been sorted since but not ideal then.

browne_rob5

OOnegative wrote: »

In 2017 I hit the half roughly 14/15 miles into the full, for 3/4 miles I was dodging half runners and being told I was running in the wrong place. Don’t know if this has been sorted since but not ideal then.

I ran 3:09 in 2017 and this happened me too. I was annoyed when it was happening as I didn't expect it but there was still plenty of room to get through the crowd in fairness. Once the crowd thinned out I started using the half marathon runners as targets.

Limpy

From what I saw there was 2 routes up Edward Street. From where the peoples park is. On the right side of the barriers was the half start. Marathon runners to the left. Not sure when they merged but when they did you would have the out and back section to dodge the half starters towards dooradoyle bypass.

I only did the 6 mile but we had to dodge runners 4 abrest from the half and marathon.

shotgunmcos

Organisers email out today. I noticed 2 minor changes in the route from last year...
http://www.greatlimerickrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/RGLR-2019-Marathon-Route-New.pdf

They seem to have removed the out and back bit from the main UL Gate down to the bus stop (A deceptive drag) and added

1. Extended the turnaround up past vistakon around 7m. This adds a few meters elevation and you start going up a small incline here
2. Another small out and back at mile 9 just before you head across the UL campus from the Library to the Living Bridge

Cartman78

On the verge of signing up for the half-marathon, anyone on here done it before?



Have heard generally favorable reviews of the course over the years I think

Swashbuckler

Cartman78 wrote:

On the verge of signing up for the half-marathon, anyone on here done it before?

Yeah it's a decent race. Good atmosphere around the city. It's one I'd consider if I was planning a half marathon around that timeframe. There's good and bad. There are elements of the route I'm not a huge fan of. It's certainly not as quick as Charleville but it's a decent enough route to target a pb. All in all worth considering for sure

Limpy

Its a pricey one, considering no money goes back into athletics locally. At least with Charleville North Cork are producing runners.

deisedude

Limpy wrote: »

Its a pricey one, considering no money goes back into athletics locally. At least with Charleville North Cork are producing runners.

I'm signed up because its suits my training schedule for Cork full but the half is an outrageous price

Swashbuckler

deisedude wrote:

I'm signed up because its suits my training schedule for Cork full but the half is an outrageous price

Yep and you'll hear a lot of debate here locally about that exact topic. It's the reason a lot of people refuse to run it.

Cartman78

Signed up for the half last night...it'll be my first time doing this distance in Limerick - did the marathon the first year and the 6 miler for the last few years so kinda looking forward to it even though I'm not really in great running form at the minute.


I'm assuming there will be pacers?

Tipptatlers

Pacemakers at at 1hr 30mins, 1hr 40 mins, 1hr 50mins, 2 hrs and 2hrs 10mins.

It's on outrageous price for a half. I'll be doing it myself as I live in Limerick but if it was further a field I'd think twice.

Cartman78

Tipptatlers wrote: »

Pacemakers at at 1hr 30mins, 1hr 40 mins, 1hr 50mins, 2 hrs and 2hrs 10mins.

It's on outrageous price for a half. I'll be doing it myself as I live in Limerick but if it was further a field I'd think twice.

Agreed - I was actually lucky enough to get a complimentary entry through a very tenuous connection with one of the sponsors....other than that I probably wouldn't be doing it tbh.


Anyway, training is tipping along ok actually for me at the minute, did 22.5 km yesterday and felt grand so hopefully I can avoid injury and illness over the next few weeks.


Will be aiming for a sub 90 mins if all goes well, PB currently at 93 mins from late last year

munsterbear

Pacers for the full will be available at 3hrs, 3hrs 15mins, 3 hrs 30 mins, 3 hrs 45 mins, 4hrs, 4 hrs 30 mins and 5hrs.

As much as I'd love to pop in with the 3hrs 45 mins, I'll have to be realistic and go for 4hrs.

Though I'd be happy with 3:59:59..... haha

ger664

munsterbear wrote: »

Pacers for the full will be available at 3hrs, 3hrs 15mins, 3 hrs 30 mins, 3 hrs 45 mins, 4hrs, 4 hrs 30 mins and 5hrs.

As much as I'd love to pop in with the 3hrs 45 mins, I'll have to be realistic and go for 4hrs.

Though I'd be happy with 3:59:30..... haha

If you on my bus thats the eta

munsterbear

Lovely work!

shotgunmcos

12 days to go...

Many here doing it?

Cartman78

Yep...not long to go now...training actually going ok for a change lately.

This isn't my target race at all really, might go out with the 1:30 pacers in the half and see how long I can hold on.

munsterbear

shotgunmcos wrote:

Many here doing it?

shotgunmcos wrote:

12 days to go...

Down for the marathon, friend too.

Wife and two other friends for the half.

deisedude

shotgunmcos wrote: »

12 days to go...

Many here doing it?

Signed up for the half myself

Swashbuckler

shotgunmcos wrote:

Many here doing it?

We have a team in for the relay marathon which should be a bit of craic

opus

shotgunmcos wrote: »

12 days to go...

Many here doing it?

Yup, all part of my penance for giving Comrades another go in June

Tipptatlers

Anyone know if they mile markers are up yet?

healy1835

In for the Half....looking forward to it.

Swashbuckler

Tipptatlers wrote:

Anyone know if they mile markers are up yet?

Nope not that I have noticed.

Limerick91

Miles are all marked on the road. Saw them over the weekend

Tipptatlers

Nice one. Will run the first 8 miles of the half tomorrow.

shotgunmcos

Tipptatlers wrote: »

Anyone know if they mile markers are up yet?

Most of them are. Some need to be redone.

Mile 20 on O Connell Avenue is beside the footpath under parked cars.
Mile 2 likewise on the other side of the same road. So either parking is restricted or markers need to move

Mile 16 at the Roundabout entering Dooradoyle is on the opposite side of the road but I assume barriers/small white road arrows will navigate..

I noticed a "halfway" but no mile 13

All the Half Marathon markers are there.

Tipptatlers

Cheers, Did the full in 2015. The half in 2014 and 2016. In for the half again this year. Looking forward to it