Parkrun..

66_Lad · 24-01-2016 3:43pm

who_ru wrote:

I did the Limerick park run yesterday and found the track too narrow along by the river, at one stage there were 3 walkers taking up the entire width of the trail, impossible to get past without shouting 'coming through'. Also on lap 4 there was a runner on the same stretch drifting left and right along that section, just couldn't get past. Agree about the hills, tough going, most park runs I've done have been largely flat. Wonder what the one in clarisford is like?

Clarisford is 5 laps all on good surface, track just about wide enough to make passing other runners ok. Little drag of about 50m on the lap, gradually unwinds and rest is flat. Nice parkrun from the one time I did it when passing through.

kookiebrew · 24-01-2016 7:21pm

who_ru wrote: »

I did the Limerick park run yesterday and found the track too narrow along by the river, at one stage there were 3 walkers taking up the entire width of the trail, impossible to get past without shouting 'coming through'.
Also on lap 4 there was a runner on the same stretch drifting left and right along that section, just couldn't get past.
Agree about the hills, tough going, most park runs I've done have been largely flat. Wonder what the one in clarisford is like?

Did Clarisford two weeks ago, nice course too, small hill near the end of each lap but nothing major, people were very friendly too which always helps. Although running past two walkers on the grass I almost slipped.

Considering it was the first parkrun in limerick little things like that were expected. I think once people get used to it and realise there will be runners coming up behind them they will start keeping in and listening out for them. I'd say it was the first run/walk for a lot of people there. It is quite narrow along the river bank though and I was the same kept saying sorry coming through, maybe if the organisers mention it before the race to keep in and not to block the path from people coming up behind them it will get better. I was expecting a lot more congestion at the narrow gate on the second loop but the walkers hadn't reached there when I hit it. I also think during the summer it will be worse too though, a lot of cyclists and walkers use that path when the weather is fine and the traffic will be coming from the opposite direction too. Will make for some funny falls i reckon.

bazkennedy · 24-01-2016 10:20pm

Must say I really enjoyed the Limerick Parkrun - my first parkrun and my first time running in a while. I struggled but it was good to get out running again.

I didn't mind the route as much (i used that track for my first c25k attempt a few years back). I did find it tough running past some group of walkers who took up the width of the track but hopefully as people get used to it, they'll be a bit more mindful of people coming along behind them

bazkennedy · 24-01-2016 10:21pm

Must say I really enjoyed the Limerick Parkrun - my first parkrun and my first time running in a while. I struggled but it was good to get out running again.

I didn't mind the route as much (i used that track for my first c25k attempt a few years back). I did find it tough running past some group of walkers who took up the width of the track but hopefully as people get used to it, they'll be a bit more mindful of people coming along behind them

lanod2407 · 25-01-2016 1:25pm

kookiebrew wrote: »

Great morning at limerick today, nice little course and a fine turnout, course slightly over 5k though so a pb will be hard although they did say they're gonna move the startline forward a bit, gonna make this a regular fortnightly thing too when I'm around limerick. Best of luck to everyone involved.

kookiebrew - why do you say the course is over 5k? What is that based on?

kookiebrew · 25-01-2016 2:27pm

lanod2407 wrote: »

kookiebrew - why do you say the course is over 5k? What is that based on?

I tracked the run on my watch as did others, when the race was over someone said to one of the organisers it was more than 5k, when I checked my watch it was over too. They agreed and said they were going to move the start line forward a bit.

Pawwed Rig · 25-01-2016 2:49pm

I have yet to do a parkrun where my garmin measured 5k exactly.
Looking at the maps it usually looked like the garmin cutting out sections. In Anne's for example the garmin cuts out the bridge section and has me running through the river.

Looking forward to the Limerick one next time I'm down that way.

edisonolmy · 25-01-2016 3:15pm

4 laps in Limerick means you are always going to have faster runners lapping slower ones. As long as people don't take up the whole path it should not be an issue. At Comber it's 4 laps but the problem is you have to cross the same bridge 8 times so have runners moving in both directions, as well as people lapping back markers. On New Year's it became quite congested due to larger numbers than usual.

How flat or otherwise is the course in Limerick?

lanod2407 · 25-01-2016 5:00pm

edisonolmy wrote: »

How flat or otherwise is the course in Limerick?

I find it relatively flat - a couple of small drags, but nothing significant. The finish is slightly uphill, which you'll feel if there's not enough juice left in the tank I'm sure!!

Hills make you faster!!!!

chrislad · 25-01-2016 5:12pm

lanod2407 wrote: »

I find it relatively flat - a couple of small drags, but nothing significant. The finish is slightly uphill, which you'll feel if there's not enough juice left in the tank I'm sure!!

Agreed. There's a very slight uphill, though nothing of significance. The worst drag is probably at the end of each lap, just at the Tierney Building after you come out of the forest lane on the 1st, 2nd laps, and after the bridge on the 3rd and 4th, there's an uphill before a significant downhill. Overall though, it's fairly flat, with nothing major to report.

Downtime · 26-01-2016 9:16am

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I have yet to do a parkrun where my garmin measured 5k exactly.
Looking at the maps it usually looked like the garmin cutting out sections. In Anne's for example the garmin cuts out the bridge section and has me running through the river.

I'm always 4.8 k or so for St Anne's. GPS will never be 100% accurate and it is quite a tree lined course.

Good article here on why this is https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/21443922-Why-is-GPS-data-sometimes-inaccurate-

opus · 26-01-2016 12:03pm

We're not too bad Garmin-wise in Tramore Valley as no real tight turns. Basically two laps and just need to have the finish line ~25 meters beyond the start point so tailor made for a 5k

rodneyTrotter. · 26-01-2016 1:03pm

Malahide often reads 2.9 or 3miles , never 3.1m

Fr Collins is 3.1miles for sure

edisonolmy · 26-01-2016 2:51pm

I measured Fr Collins 100m long the one time I did it. Also achieved a PB that day.

I measure Stormont long every single time, because it is long. We really need to sort that out.

Darkglasses · 26-01-2016 4:05pm

I measure Johnstown a bit on the short side every time, but I'd say it's more because my GPS receiver is chopping off the full length of corners.

davedanon · 26-01-2016 4:09pm

Most (i've done malahide, marlay, tymon) measure closely enough. If any parkrun measured <3miles i'd be seriously concerned.

spurscormac · 26-01-2016 4:15pm

To those trying to rely on their watch or phone to measure distance accurately, they won't.
They will be within ~5% accuracy, which could be anything from 2.945 to 3.255 miles.

Also, if you look closely any map of a route you've done, it will be a little bit off, especially lapped routes, where you know you're running in almost the exact same place.
Take my last parkrun in Galway a couple of weeks ago.

There's lots of corners, but when you zoom in on the route mapped, there's quite a bit of variation in the recorded location, especially the turn towards the bottom right of the course - I take the exact same route every time, yet it differs by a few yards in what was marked.

edisonolmy · 26-01-2016 5:10pm

Stormont was short when we ran the trial run. They reckoned it was about 150m short. We felt we better lengthen it and then measure it again. Better making it shorter and allowing people to beat their `long' times, than have it too short and have to make it longer meaning people would have PBs they couldn't beat.

We're still about 100m long, but hope to sort this soon.

dintbo · 26-01-2016 5:20pm

+1 to Johnstown measuring a little short but it also suggests I run on water on each if the three laps. I'd reckon it's pretty bang on.

plodder · 26-01-2016 5:21pm

Most of the ones I know of were all measured with a wheel which is a lot more accurate than GPS. Having said that, sometimes if courses need to be changed at short notice they might end up being out a little (hopefully on the long side).

lanod2407 · 26-01-2016 8:49pm

spurscormac wrote: »

To those trying to rely on their watch or phone to measure distance accurately, they won't.
They will be within ~5% accuracy, which could be anything from 2.945 to 3.255 miles.

Also, if you look closely any map of a route you've done, it will be a little bit off, especially lapped routes, where you know you're running in almost the exact same place.
Take my last parkrun in Galway a couple of weeks ago.

There's lots of corners, but when you zoom in on the route mapped, there's quite a bit of variation in the recorded location, especially the turn towards the bottom right of the course - I take the exact same route every time, yet it differs by a few yards in what was marked.

Great post - people are inclined to think that their GPS gadgets are 100% accurate, which is not necessarily the case.
Also, a race distance is measured as the shortest route that a runner will take on a course, so if you're running bends / corners wide it's likely that the distance is going to be slightly over.
GPS forces race organisers to ensure that distances are correct, but the downside is that everyone's got "the real distance" on their wrist!!
Years ago road racers assumed the distance was OK, and if it was long we thought we'd had a bad day; if short, we thought we were on fire!!!!

Killerz · 26-01-2016 9:26pm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I have yet to do a parkrun where my garmin measured 5k exactly.
Looking at the maps it usually looked like the garmin cutting out sections. In Anne's for example the garmin cuts out the bridge section and has me running through the river.

Looking forward to the Limerick one next time I'm down that way.

Downtime wrote: »

I'm always 4.8 k or so for St Anne's. GPS will never be 100% accurate and it is quite a tree lined course.

Good article here on why this is https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/21443922-Why-is-GPS-data-sometimes-inaccurate-

plodder wrote: »

Most of the ones I know of were all measured with a wheel which is a lot more accurate than GPS. Having said that, sometimes if courses need to be changed at short notice they might end up being out a little (hopefully on the long side).

I'm just after regaining access to boards after being locked out due to that ddos attack, so thought I'd chime in. I normally record 4.95k or so on my Garmin for St Anne's parkrun but any time I look at the route on Garmin connect it clearly is not the actual route that I ran. The trees are a big factor for us.

Ours is measured with a proper measuring wheel and in fact is slightly over 5k to allow for a margin of error.

For what it's worth, a mapmyrun of the Anne's course comes out at 5k.

The Black Oil · 26-01-2016 10:13pm

I started Malahide recently. I can't count :pac: as I estimated that maybe 200 people were at it, when it was actually more than double that.

Anyway, my Garmin Forerunner put the distance at 4.86km.

davedanon · 26-01-2016 10:14pm

Why is boards posting everything twice?

Why is boards posting everything twice?

ger664 · 26-01-2016 10:37pm

Don't use quick reply

Amigaman · 27-01-2016 1:22am

To back up what was Said - from the parkrun Wiki ... "Our routes, should be as accurately measured as possible. Our parkrunners want to know exactly what distance they are travelling, so they can compare their own performances. We need to be sure the course is 5k so that we can calculate age grading and (ultimately) be able to sensibly compare one event with another.

While maps may be used to identify suitable courses, they should not be used as the final basis for measurement - it is virtually impossible to get the accuracy we need from a map. Likewise, GPS devices are not accurate enough for our purposes. The only approved way to measure a course is with a Surveyor’s Measuring Wheel."
http://wiki.parkrun.info/index.php/General_Principles

All parkruns are measured with a properly calibrated jones counter variances creep in when you a/ dont start from the front / b dont run the smae line measured for the course and c/ general GPS waywardness which is always made worse by Trees ,DCrainmaker has a good article on this , but I'm too tired to find it for you :-(
hope this reassures all on boards that all possible steps are taken to ensure that when you are at a parkrun you have some comfort that thought has been given to the accuracy of the distance...

Amigaman · 27-01-2016 4:34pm

Just a quick heads up new parkruns in Belmullet ( Erris ) Dungloe and Kilrush ( Vandeleur ) - this will bring current total to 48
https://www.facebook.com/Vandeleur-parkrun-874534705978078/
https://www.facebook.com/Dungloe-parkrun-1560304744259507/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/Erris-parkrun-441559356049028/?fref=ts

No start dates just yet

Happy days

Neady83 · 27-01-2016 4:55pm

The Kilrush (Vandeleur) parkrun has been running as an Operation Transformation 5km run/walk for the past 3 weeks and will run for the duration of OT. My guess is that it will kick off as an official parkrun following the wrapping up of OT.

Sunny Dayz · 27-01-2016 5:05pm

Parkrun Letterkenny to start next weekend (6th Feb).
http://www.parkrun.ie/letterkenny/

Husband said last night perhaps we could go to Donegal that weekend to visit his folks. Will have to talk nicely to him and convince him to go to Letterkenny Sat morn...

Sunny Dayz · 27-01-2016 5:08pm

Neady83 wrote: »

The Kilrush (Vandeleur) parkrun has been running as an Operation Transformation 5km run/walk for the past 3 weeks and will run for the duration of OT. My guess is that it will kick off as an official parkrun following the wrapping up of OT.

That's a good idea, get people to do OT run and then hopefully many of them will stay on afterwards when Parkrun starts up.

My local Parkrun has been small enough since it started. Huge crowds now since OT have their run in conjunction. I just hope that when OT finishes up that many of these people will stay coming to Parkrun as it's great to see a big crowd out!

Parkrun..

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