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Birmingham & Black Country Half-Marathon
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Hello stranger, this not your cup of tea then ;-)
Hello stranger, this not your cup of tea then ;-)
Good luck though Andy - All the best in organsing it :-)
I can tell from your photo you have done Himley haven't you...........a very familar water feature.......
But can I get out to 13.1 in a month?
Will I need two cars? one at the start one at the finish?
We'll need to know as we'll have kids there watching/waiting.
I think the race ends in the same place, the 10k people sort of join us in Dudley somehow.
By boat?
...did you get the pic I sent to your phone the other night?
Feeling a bit guilty as I dont think I'll be doing this now :-)
Mike - Lots of Civvies, fishermen, people walking dogs, could be a very crowded start, after all the rain very muddy too.
I'm still up for this and I'll be able to get at least 4 - 5 adults in my campervan so if someone wants to follow me to the start then drive me back I can take a load back to the start.
I run parts of the canal on a regular basis, it is not PB terrain and nice and wet/muddy in patches, although nice and flat of course !
It'll be a laugh - lets do it!
Emma, alright for us guys (most of the time )but please please please run with someone as there are some very shady charactors on the canals at night. But as above I am not near the city center so cannot run with you.
Rich, same here.
As to the race - if we can have some more details like start finish points etc then I'm all for it. I can't raise £50 but I'll go as far as £15 if he wants to make the effort. Just give me a start/finish somewater between and at the end and I'll be fine with it.
As this event is in its first year the most important thing is having runners to take part. Thanks to those of you who are being such good sports and signing up.
The entry list has grown larger than expected and I am in contact with local officials to discuss logistics. This all started as a bit of fun among friends but it seems that loads more people out there are keen to have a half marathon in Birmingham!
The event is not affiliated with any athletics body but there will be volunteer race marshals in attendance, as well as drinks stations and first aiders. There will also be someone following the back of the race in case anyone has to drop out.
The race takes place along the canal towpath - this provides us with a road-like surface without the need to shut off roads or dodge traffic. However this does not leave much room for overtaking which is why entries are limited to just 50.
The course is flat and the terrain is good for the most part. There are some bumpy bits and some narrow stretches, plus the Tunnel, so this is not pb territory. We will also have to look out for walkers/cyclists/fishermen.
The Tunnel is a bit of a problem but I have a solution. There is plenty of headroom but it is quite narrow, so we will have to go steady here. I suggest that runners bring a torch labelled with their race number on. I will have these taken down to the tunnel and handed to you as you go in. Someone will then collect them as you exit and take them to the finish line to be collected with your gear.
I had set a target of £50 sponorship per runner - this was back when I thought I would have about 10 runners taking part. Now we have 40 and counting, so if any of us can raise even a small amount it will go a long way. Some runners have offered to donate whatever amount they feel is reasonable, which is very gratefully received.
There is no commitment to raise or donate anything - what I want more than anything is to have people there on the day who are up for something a bit different.
It would be nice to see all of you in the pub afterwards to get to know each other and hear what you have to say about the race. The race will end at Brindley Place, just off Broad Street. There are plenty of pubs round here and if the weather is nice we can sit outside one of them and rehydrate together.
Friends and family are very welcome too and it would be very nice to have them at the finish line to cheer us all on and add to the atmosphere.
As the event is point-to-point you are all presented the difficulty of transporting your kit. I am working on a way round this - I will have one of our volunteers collect your kit at the start in Wolverhampton and drive it down to the finish line in Birmingham.
Due to confusion with the RW site I have cocked up the 10k a bit and not many people have been able to enter. This makes things easier though - I will be able to drive the 10k runners from the half marathon start in Wolverhampton to the 10k start line...I'll also give details for you people to get there yourselves, in case you don't want to trust my driving! The idea is that the 10k ends in the same place as the half marathon at roughly the same time so it will start an hour later.
Thanks for taking an interest in the race. It seems there have been many discussions about a Birmingham race in the past few years and hopefully this is one step towards having a full scale one.
Race packs are being put together and full details will be posted online shortly.
I am happy to receive comments/queries by phone/email.
Regards,
Andy Karran
07734 433 505
here
its a lot of the same people that post here - but there are always runs in sutton park being orgainised and we're all a friendly lot.