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Official Running Thread



Curious Orange

Punxsatawney Phil
Jul 5, 2003
10,220
On NSC for over two decades...
Seems like everyone had a a good Brighton Half, well done! I'm up weekend after next so have started to taper, and acquired a new watch which will hopefully be more reliable than my old one.

... and optimistic about a good result I've signed up for this series of 10k races over the summer.

http://www.yateley10kseries.info/
 




dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
55,382
Burgess Hill
Breaking news....appears the Brighton Half course was about 0.1 short of the required 13.1. Not been confirmed by an official source yet but all over several running forums.

If so, unforgivable on the part of the organisers - schoolboy error.
 


Nathan

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2010
3,788
Breaking news....appears the Brighton Half course was about 0.1 short of the required 13.1. Not been confirmed by an official source yet but all over several running forums.

If so, unforgivable on the part of the organisers - schoolboy error.

My watch said exactly 13.1 miles, and that is good enough for me!

But yes, it is bad if they got it wrong.
 


soistes

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
2,650
Brighton
Breaking news....appears the Brighton Half course was about 0.1 short of the required 13.1. Not been confirmed by an official source yet but all over several running forums.

If so, unforgivable on the part of the organisers - schoolboy error.

My watch was slightly short, but not by as much as that (13.07), so I just assumed it was ok. Sometimes when there are sharp turns and you reverse on yourself (like at Ovingdean) the watch takes a second to latch on to the change of direction and you lose a bit of distance in my experience. Would be very bad if they got it wrong. It's hardly as if it's a new race.
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
55,382
Burgess Hill
My watch said exactly 13.1 miles, and that is good enough for me!

But yes, it is bad if they got it wrong.

My watch was slightly short, but not by as much as that (13.07), so I just assumed it was ok. Sometimes when there are sharp turns and you reverse on yourself (like at Ovingdean) the watch takes a second to latch on to the change of direction and you lose a bit of distance in my experience. Would be very bad if they got it wrong. It's hardly as if it's a new race.

Watches aren't 100% accurate........any races like this (particularly given the size of the field and the cost) should be properly measured and UKA certified. I know it's not an issue for most of us casual joggers, but there will be people at the pointy end of the race that would have been using it for particular race/team qualification etc. If it's officially short their results would most likely not count (similar thing happened with the Manchester marathon last year)
 




soistes

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
2,650
Brighton
Watches aren't 100% accurate........any races like this (particularly given the size of the field and the cost) should be properly measured and UKA certified. I know it's not an issue for most of us casual joggers, but there will be people at the pointy end of the race that would have been using it for particular race/team qualification etc. If it's officially short their results would most likely not count (similar thing happened with the Manchester marathon last year)

Interestingly the results aren't yet up on the official runbritain site for people to claim their handicap (and they have the results of all the other major races run on Sunday)
http://www.runbritainrankings.com/results/resultslookup.aspx
under the Brighton Half it just says: "Brighton Half Marathon - Awaiting download version including gun times (RD Contacted)", so quite possibly there is a problem as you suggest
 


Sheebo

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2003
29,319
Did anyone else notice on Sunday how badly positioned the 12 mile marker was? knowing the course I was pretty sure it was a mistake, but for anyone out of town I'd imagine it gave them a bit of a fright as it was a good 12.3 miles into the run.

Anyway here is a link for an excellent 10k off road race I enjoyed last year. Good value for money and a challenging route starting and finishing near the Amex in Woodingdean.

http://brightonsports.co.uk/brighton-trailblazer-run

Yes I saw 11 and then thought 12 was taking its time - asked a bloke next to me who had a watch and he said we were on 12.1 - so never saw a 12 marker but some of my mates were saying it was wrong after.

Breaking news....appears the Brighton Half course was about 0.1 short of the required 13.1. Not been confirmed by an official source yet but all over several running forums.

If so, unforgivable on the part of the organisers - schoolboy error.

My mate messaged me this - I assumed he was taking the piss. So my 1-55 will not be valid :angry:

Just did a nice 10 miler recovery run - felt good :)
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
55,382
Burgess Hill
Interestingly the results aren't yet up on the official runbritain site for people to claim their handicap (and they have the results of all the other major races run on Sunday)
http://www.runbritainrankings.com/results/resultslookup.aspx
under the Brighton Half it just says: "Brighton Half Marathon - Awaiting download version including gun times (RD Contacted)", so quite possibly there is a problem as you suggest

Possibly....would normally be up by now for a chip-timed event. Stewards Enquiry.................

Seem to recall the course being wrong a few years ago too - but too long.........unforgivable really. It's not that difficult. Just measure it FFS.
 




Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
37,295
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade




Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
37,295
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
Thought so........to get it wrong once is bad..............twice ??

Shocking quite frankly. I'm quite torn with the organisation of the Brighton Half. The kids' race was excellent but having seen the spectator pinch points, massive toilet queues and numerous late starters this year from another perspective you have to wonder how professional they are.
 




soistes

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
2,650
Brighton
Shocking quite frankly. I'm quite torn with the organisation of the Brighton Half. The kids' race was excellent but having seen the spectator pinch points, massive toilet queues and numerous late starters this year from another perspective you have to wonder how professional they are.

Getting the course length wrong (if they indeed have) is inexcusable. I also agree that there were points where the route narrowed too much between spectators and there was not enough room for all the runners.

On the other stuff, I'm not so sure - a lot of the pre-start hassle seemed to be due to people not getting there in time. On all the publicity the organisers sent out in advance, they made it clear that people should ideally drop their bags off by 8 am, and be in their respective start pens by 8.30. They also pointed out that the baggage drop was a bit of a way along Madeira Drive, by Duke's mound. I got there by 8.15 in the end, but had no trouble dropping my bag, queueing for about 10 mins for the toilet, and getting to the start pen with 15 minutes to spare. It was clear, however, that a lot of people were still arriving at the west end of Madeira Drive at around 8.50, in which case it was hardly surprising that they were going to be starting the race late. The start itself was slow and congested, as was much of the first stretch around the Old Steine, but again a lot of that seemed to be less to do with the organisers and more to do with the usual business of slow runners ridiculously over-estimating their pace, and starting in a pen too far forward and getting in the way.
 


Simgull

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2013
1,669
Hove
Shocking quite frankly. I'm quite torn with the organisation of the Brighton Half. The kids' race was excellent but having seen the spectator pinch points, massive toilet queues and numerous late starters this year from another perspective you have to wonder how professional they are.

Agree it all seemed a bit chaotic and frankly over crowded at the start- the bad weather does nt help as no one wants to arrive early and hang around and people go to the bag drop at the last minute ...which was a long way from the start.

Great to hear the feedback on the kids race- all volunteers from The Run Squad- I know they really enjoyed it too. I think it's the third year they've run it. I'll pass your comments on to them.
 


soistes

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
2,650
Brighton
Brighton Half have just tweeted in response to a query about the short course rumour, "not sure where this has come from, but nothing in it"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 




Greg Bobkin

Silver Seagull
May 22, 2012
15,973
Shocking quite frankly. I'm quite torn with the organisation of the Brighton Half. The kids' race was excellent but having seen the spectator pinch points, massive toilet queues and numerous late starters this year from another perspective you have to wonder how professional they are.

The cost of it puts me off – or rather how much it's gone up over time. It was £8 in 2003. EIGHT QUID!

That and people moaning that they didn't get a t-shirt!
 


Nathan

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2010
3,788
Few negative points I would make about the event.
1 - get more toilets, you can never have enough!
2 - more space needed to actually run, was very crowded and had no chance of running the pace I wanted to at the start. (as it goes this was probably a good thing)
3 - bag drop too far away from the start.

However, I did enjoy the day and the above were just minor irritations that could have been sorted.
 


Sheebo

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2003
29,319
Brighton Half have just tweeted in response to a query about the short course rumour, "not sure where this has come from, but nothing in it"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Phew :thumbsup:
 








patchamalbion

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2009
6,019
brighton
Not really sure what to expect from Bath Half now.
Went out Thursday and ran the full distance in 1.39.20 which is under all of my race day targets. Just going to enjoy it and see what I can do!
 


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