Dublin Marathon moves to lottery entries!

tunney

Entry to the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon lottery will be open from the 1st November to 30th November 2019 ONLY.

There will be a registration fee of €15 per lottery entry which will be fully refundable if the applicant is not successful and fully redeemable against entry fee if the applicant is successful. Registrants will learn their entry status via SMS and email between 3rd January to 10th January. Successful entrants will have until 31st January 2020 to redeem the offer.

Wonder will it affect popularity - having to wait until January to know if you can get in or not...

http://kbcdublinmarathon.ie/2020-entry-process/

RentDayBlues

Was going to sign up - I have no luck with lotteries :mad:

adrian522

There will be 22,500 places available for the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon, with a number of these places allocated to Athletics Ireland membership. Athletics Ireland members will qualify under the Good For Age standards and can apply on April 1st and must have a valid Athletics Ireland membership.

More info needed!

Stark

Not familiar with the "good for age standards". Anyone know what they are and what count as qualifying races?

bucketybuck

A better place for this question, what is the benefit to a lottery system as opposed to just "first come first served"?

Cona

17685 runners out of 22,500 entries this year. That seems above the normal percentage of no-shows on average. I know personally of quite a few entries that were going unused last week, was thinking to myself that demand was starting to level off.

Rmgblue

I cant see one. Creates a hype? Very disappointing. Everyone is still on their marathon buzz today - would be an ideal day to open up a general sale.

tHE vAGGABOND

You dont have bucket loads of people trying to apply on the same day and crashing the servers - as what happened last summer when they released more entries..

Also totally fair on everyone; regardless on level or ability

Nuttzz

So since 2016 I've run or volunteered DCM but the fairest way I can enter 2020 is via a lottery, thanks a lot.

Cona

bucketybuck wrote: »

A better place for this question, what is the benefit to a lottery system as opposed to just "first come first served"?

In a strange way it will attract more entrants. A lot of people like to brag that they got an entry for something that is completely sold out. Same thing use to happen with Kerry Way charity cycle. I remember people who never cycled in their lives signing up so that they could talk sh**e about getting in etc.

Same thing with the Ballycotton 10

Dudda

bucketybuck wrote: »

A better place for this question, what is the benefit to a lottery system as opposed to just "first come first served"?

You can charge everyone €100 rather than having it €70 for the first group of tickets, €80 for the second group and €90 for the remainder.


Minor point but you can't purchase a ticket as a Christmas Present now (even as a present to yourself) as they notify you in January.

diego_b

I wrote this on the Dublin marathon fb page but will put it here also.

Disappointing to hear this. Curious as to why a lottery is necessary for all given it’s the national championship so AAI clubs entrants should have a different entry system. If it’s not the national championship anymore then fair enough with the lottery for all. Hopefully the entries won’t be taken up by people who have no real interest in the training for the event but get sucked into the hype. Please ensure a transfer system is put in place to give those who really want an entry every chance to get one.

trihead

MAIN POINTS

There will be 22,500 places available for the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon, with a number of these places allocated to Athletics Ireland membership. Athletics Ireland members will qualify under the Good For Age standards and can apply on April 1st and must have a valid Athletics Ireland membership.

Lottery event open to the public from November 1st to Saturday 30th November at midnight via a public webpage which will be hosted by Eventmaster. This will be the only time period of which an application for entry to the KBC Dublin Marathon can be made.

Applicants will be obligated to enter all registrant information required to satisfy the 2020 event and will be charged €15 to enter. This fee will be refunded if not successful by the end of August 2020 or will be offset against entry fee if successful.

KBC Dublin Marathon to select successful lottery applications randomly but in a manner to ensure that the current balance of Irish and overseas runners and runners of all abilities is maintained.

Eventmaster will issue SMS to be sent to the successful applicants with a direct link to register for the event. Access link will direct the user to their registration page on the 2020 marathon event with the data from the lottery pre-populated – Name, email, gender, DOB, mobile will not be editable, ensuring that only the selected applicant can use that lottery link. Fee of €75 to enter (€90 less €15 already paid) + additional purchases and booking fee (€3) as normal. Successful applicants will have until MIDNIGHT 31st January to use the link. Email reminders will be issued.

Applicants who have been unsuccessful with will receive an email to inform them.
Any places not redeemed will be offered via lottery system to those originally unsuccessful from 4th February to 7th February 2020 with offers needing to be redeemed by 14th February.

Refund option opens from June 2nd to June 15th, 2020. A refund of 70% of the entry fee will be returned once your application has been accepted. The refund will be available on “Manage My Bookings” from your entry confirmation link. This will be the only opportunity to avail of a refund for 2020.

Any unallocated numbers to be offered to any unsuccessful lottery applicants on July 1st -July 7th, 2020 with offers needing to be redeemed by14th July.

Refund issued of €15 to those that were unsuccessful.

Source - https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/athletics/dublin-marathon-entries-to-be-decided-on-lottery-basis-from-next-year-38641404.html

average_runner

tunney wrote: »

Wonder will it affect popularity - having to wait until January to know if you can get in or not...

http://kbcdublinmarathon.ie/2020-entry-process/

In fairness I wouldn't decide on till April/May if i was running Dublin.
Won't be doing it next year.

Volunteers and club members should have first call on the entries

tunney

I wonder the ratio of Irish to non Irish runners....

Krusty_Clown

Worth mentioning that they have also introduced a refund option (70%), which is definitely warranted, given the early entry close:

Refund option opens from June 2nd to June 15th, 2020. A refund of 70% of the entry fee will be returned once your application has been accepted. The refund will be available on “Manage My Bookings” from your entry confirmation link. This will be the only opportunity to avail of a refund for 2020.

Unknownability

Whenever somebody criticizes the organizers of the DCM the first rebuttal is that it's run by volunteers and only one full time employee.

Well they have made things a 100 times more complicated for the volunteers and for what reason? So in theory you give €15 in November and they'll hold it until possibly the middle of July?

Surely the easiest thing for a group of volunteers is have the maximum amount of tickets sold as early as possible. Ticket sales start the 1st of November and sell out the 15th of November the volunteers can now forget about ticket sales and concentrate on other aspects.

morceli

Stark wrote: »

Not familiar with the "good for age standards". Anyone know what they are and what count as qualifying races?

Don't see any mention of them , but they need to make the standards available soon. In my opinion they need to be a lot slower then the GFA for London as every club runner should be able to enter if they want.

KSU

Stark wrote: »

Not familiar with the "good for age standards". Anyone know what they are and what count as qualifying races?

Don't think they have been announced here but used in plenty of marathons.

Here are the Boston numbers

https://www.baa.org/2019-boston-marathon-qualifier-acceptances

Similarly London are here

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/how-to-enter/good-age-entry/

Would imagine they will be in line with this general ball park

Can't imagine they will be too strict on the races for criteria given how few are AIMS certified in Ireland so Imagine the likes of Limerick, Longford, Belfast, Galway, Connemara, Cork, Derry, Dingle and Tralee probably be taken.

Possible they could accept MCI but I wouldn't be banking on it.

morceli

Unknownability wrote: »

Whenever somebody criticizes the organizers of the DCM the first rebuttal is that it's run by volunteers and only one full time employee.

Well they have made things a 100 times more complicated for the volunteers and for what reason? So in theory you give €15 in November and they'll hold it until possibly the middle of July?

Surely the easiest thing for a group of volunteers is have the maximum amount of tickets sold as early as possible. Ticket sales start the 1st of November and sell out the 15th of November the volunteers can now forget about ticket sales and concentrate on other aspects.

Fairly sure it will be a paid company doing this part for them.

mloc123

This is a strange decision? I know the race is popular now... but it sells out in weeks, not hours.

bucketybuck

Dudda wrote: »

You can charge everyone €100 rather than having it €70 for the first group of tickets, €80 for the second group and €90 for the remainder.

But you could just do that anyway?

€100 each, first come first served, 70% refund in July if you need it. Job done and everybody knows where they stand as it is a totally impartial system, if you really want a place then get in there early and get one.

I can't see what a lottery system gets them except a load of extra admin.

KSU

bucketybuck wrote: »

But you could just do that anyway?

€100 each, first come first served, 70% refund in July if you need it. Job done and everybody knows where they stand as it is a totally impartial system, if you really want a place then get in there early and get one.

I can't see what a lottery system gets them except a load of extra admin.

You would think that but unfortunately the amount of negative PR they get from people who don't sign up in time and b!tch and moan that sells out too early

The one benefit is people have an opt out in Jan before transfers later in the year.

bucketybuck

KSU wrote: »

You would think that but unfortunately the amount of negative PR they get from people who don't sign up in time and b!tch and moan that sells out too early

The one benefit is people have an opt out in Jan before transfers later in the year.

The people who don't sign up in time will still not have signed up in time, you still need to sign up in November, so they will still end up bitching.

And for those unsure whether they really want to take part or not is there really much difference between November and January? Enough of a difference to make this all worthwhile?

911sc

I have not put my 2019 race number in the bin yet.... may become useful next year

justdoit

Re. GFA places, am I reading correctly that these will only be open to Athletics Ireland members ie not overseas runners? This is very different to the marathon majors where the qualifying standards are openly the target for many people's other races...

KSU

bucketybuck wrote: »

The people who don't sign up in time will still not have signed up in time, you still need to sign up in November, so they will still end up bitching.

And for those unsure whether they really want to take part or not is there really much difference between November and January? Enough of a difference to make this all worthwhile?

Very too they certainly won't be able to win but my guess is less excuses about having the full amount in time it's only 15e to reserve.

The amount of people that sign up post marathon while the buzz is still around in November though see's alot of people change there mind after 4-6 weeks to be fair.

You will always get people complaining but they do seem to take things on board and try improve year on year to be fair to them.

KSU

justdoit wrote: »

Re. GFA places, am I reading correctly that these will only be open to Athletics Ireland members ie not overseas runners? This is very different to the marathon majors where the qualifying standards are openly the target for many people's other races...

GFA are for UK based in London marathon.

justdoit

KSU wrote: »

GFA are for UK based in London marathon.

Ah, my mistake. I thought they were open to all. i believe Boston (BQ) is international?

I'll enter the lottery regardless. Even with demand outstripping supply, chances are certainly higher than London's ballot.

bigslice

I would not be surprised if the large number of No shows on Sunday caught them by surprise but this lottery based system was very likely outlined last spring after the quick sell out and rubber stamped by the additional resale in July which crashed the system.

They had committed to it and may have anticipated a large sell out on day of release this year.

What has been surprising is that the detail seems to be drip fed all morning rather than been very clear and covering all areas for entry.

Another year on old system with transfer system may have been better advised.

Lot of disgruntled people about.

The goodwill from Sunday seems to have evaporated very quickly.

wpd

the fact it is only €15 to enter lottery is going to mean a lot of people do it just in case
think it should be full price to enter lottery

they dont seem to be holding places for charity fund raiser runners which i think London does

In any case i think this is disappointing for previous runners not to get a better chance

TheW1zard

Ill definitely be entering for 15eur and probably wont run it next year..
I might run it sure, but at least id have a choice

nannerby

Hopefully aai move the national champs lots of good marathons around the country im sure they would be happy to host it.

solidasarock

Not sure I trust the organisation that lets a drug cheat set the course record because "woops, we didnt notice that when he was invited" do a lottery.

Corrupt asshats probably just doing it to gouge a extra €20 out of every entry and boost 3rd party tour providers that will sell you a bib for 2x the price

Techless

Apart from the lottery angle, the price going up from 70 to 90?

Plumbthedepths

Going to head down the route of London, charity entries based on raising banana's money and taking all the fun of training instead stressing over fundraising target.

OOnegative

It’s like that neighbour down the road who suddenly gets ideas about themselves because they inherited a bit of money.....

DCM is not London, Berlin or Boston nor will it ever be. They had a fantastic product but have ruined it by this move.

beertons

Another lottery I wont win a prize in.

adrian522

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Going to head down the route of London, charity entries based on raising banana's money and taking all the fun of training instead stressing over fundraising target.

do you have a source for this? All I've seen is that they are using a lottery system to distirubute the entries?

OOnegative wrote: »

It’s like that neighbour down the road who suddenly gets ideas about themselves because they inherited a bit of money.....

DCM is not London, Berlin or Boston nor will it ever be. They had a fantastic product but have ruined it by this move.

In what sense has it been ruined? By using a lottery system it takes out the possibility of people missing out due to websites crashing due to excessive demand when entries go on sale.

Plumbthedepths

adrian522 wrote: »

do you have a source for this? All I've seen is that they are using a lottery system to distirubute the entries?

Call it intuition, the charity places for the likes of London, Berlin are sold by the organisers at a significantly higher price than general entry. Do you think Dublin will be an exception?

adrian522

I imagine most entries would go via the lottery and AI championship. I'm sure there will be some charity entries but I don't think it will be anything like London.

solidasarock

adrian522 wrote: »

In what sense has it been ruined? By using a lottery system it takes out the possibility of people missing out due to websites crashing due to excessive demand when entries go on sale.

If that is the issue I got a mad idea that would fix it.

What if they used a better website this year instead.



Clearly the website isnt whats driving this move,

Plumbthedepths

adrian522 wrote: »

I imagine most entries would go via the lottery and AI championship. I'm sure there will be some charity entries but I don't think it will be anything like London.

I don't share your optimism.

OOnegative

adrian522 wrote: »

In what sense has it been ruined? By using a lottery system it takes out the possibility of people missing out due to websites crashing due to excessive demand when entries go on sale.

Because I prefer the first come, first served idea as being the fairest way of entering. I know you feel differently & I ain’t going to sway you on it. Dublin always gave EVERYONE a chance of entering, with GFA etc that’s no longer the case.

Murph_D

KSU wrote: »

GFA are for UK based in London marathon.

Where are you hearing this, L? All the official announcement says is:

There will be 22,500 places available for the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon, with a number of these places allocated to Athletics Ireland membership. Athletics Ireland members will qualify under the Good For Age standards and can apply on April 1st and must have a valid Athletics Ireland membership.

http://kbcdublinmarathon.ie/2020-entry-process/

ISOP

adrian522 wrote: »

do you have a source for this? All I've seen is that they are using a lottery system to distirubute the entries?



In what sense has it been ruined? By using a lottery system it takes out the possibility of people missing out due to websites crashing due to excessive demand when entries go on sale.

if you were serious about doing DCM you would sign up when general entries went on sale like every year, there was no problems doing it that way

adrian522

OOnegative wrote: »

Because I prefer the first come, first served idea as being the fairest way of entering. I know you feel differently & I ain’t going to sway you on it. Dublin always gave EVERYONE a chance of entering, with GFA etc that’s no longer the case.

You may have a preference but that hardly amounts to the race being ruined.

Surely the lottery does give EVERYONE a chance of entering. They only have so many entries they have to limit it some way.

When it was first come first served it was constant complaints about it selling out too soon.

They released additional entries and introduced a refund system for people who can't run. More complaints about how this was done.

They change to a lottery system and the complaints are about them not using the previous system, from what i can see they can't win no matter what they do.

OOnegative

adrian522 wrote: »

You may have a preference but that hardly amounts to the race being ruined.

Surely the lottery does give EVERYONE a chance of entering. They only have so many entries they have to limit it some way.

When it was first come first server it was constant complaints about it selling out too soon.

They released additional entries and introduced a refund system for people who can't run. More complaints about how this was done.

They change to a lottery system and the complaints are about them not using the previous system, from what i can see they can't win no matter what they do.

We have to moan about something A, we are Irish after all!!!

Bananaleaf

TheW1zard wrote: »

Ill definitely be entering for 15eur and probably wont run it next year..
I might run it sure, but at least id have a choice

TheW1zard this isn't directed at you personally, but this, in my opinion, is the problem with it being just the €15 to enter.

Listened to a podcast interview with Jim Aughney where he was asked about the potential rise of the number to 30,000 participants. He cited logistical problems as a reason for being reluctant to do so. Things such as the wait those numbers would cause in the expo for number collection. But, another thing he said has me thinking. He said that it isn't as simple as just saying to the council and the gardai that they want to open it up to 30k participants. They'd have to prove they were able.

Presumably they would also have to prove the demand was there. Maybe the ballot is part of a wider plan to gauge interest with the possibility of expanding DCM?

I'm sure someone more experienced than me (not hard, ha) will know

ultrapercy

adrian522 wrote: »

do you have a source for this? All I've seen is that they are using a lottery system to distirubute the entries?



In what sense has it been ruined? By using a lottery system it takes out the possibility of people missing out due to websites crashing due to excessive demand when entries go on sale.

My club had 72 in the race this year mostly in age categories representing teams and figthing for individual medals too. That number is likely to be greatly reduced from now on replaced by batmen and wonderwomen vloging their way around the course on instagram. Anyone who watches the hideous spectacle that is the London Marathon on BBC will know whats coming. Dublins compeditive atmosphere will be diluted and it will loose a lot of the club championship feel it had.

morceli

I don't actually have a problem with a ballot but just think that all club runners should be guaranteed an entry if they want to run.