The Sussex Beacon Half-Marathon

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Comments

  • I saw the same idiot at about the same stages as you. I know that he didn't overtake me at any stage as it would have been memorable if he had done so.

     I've got a feeling he might've been running to advertise the Superheros race at the end of May but that's no excuse for cheating!  The rest of us worked damned hard to finish the race and he belittles the whole thing by cheating...

     Anybody hear how the guy that collapsed along the seafront was?

  • Only my 2nd half marathon and finished in 1:37:27 which I was amazed by - felt great the whole way around and actually enjoyed the climbs, was merrily springing up them! Am training for the Paris marathon and it's nice to see all the hours work producing results. Also wore new, expensive, trainers for the first time and am sure they helped a bit too.

    Wolfgang - the official time is from when the clock starts at the start of the race to when you finish - chip time is when you actually cross the line..that's the one for your record books. Shame they don't show you your position by chip time on the results - had to hack the data into a spreadsheet to find out my 'real' position!

    Distance was definitely out too I though - I measured 13:35 or so on the Garmin and also thought it was caused by the 1st first mile marker being further out.

    Really well organised race. 

  • enjoyed the race ,best time i have run in four years BUT the course was long and this has robbed a lot of people of a pb. my garmin was reading 13.23 i stopped in the finish area and stopped 4 other garmin wearers all the distances were between 13.16 to 13.25 can they all be wrong ????. i have been running ten years so i think i run a ok race line. last week done bramley and it was spot on. the goodie bag was rubbish,the marshalls were great. weather was ideal for a decent time. sorry for 22 quid i just expect the course to be the right distance
  • My Garmin read 13.27 miles.
  • My Garmin read 13.20

    Did anyone run from the front of the pack - and then run in clear space for most of the race? It might be interesting to compare a front runner's reading with a pack runner's. I started from the middle of the field and did a lot of weaving to find clear space, I could have easily added on that extra .1 of a mile myself - especially as I ran very wide at points, up onto the pavement etc, to aviod the bottle-neck corners. As Garmins become more accurate I imagine they'll produce figures that vary to official lengths - and the more indiviudal runners will produce differing distances, perhaps?

    Running at the front, in clear space, taking a 'true line' around the course may produce a Garmin reading closer to 13.1? 

    Although I will add that the early mile-markers were out by my Garmin and I doubt I could have added the extra distance that quickly. So perhaps a combination of the two - me not taking the shortest route and a slight over-measurment? 

    Either way - anyone run it all in clear space with a Garmin reading to share?

  •       I had a great day despite the inconsiderate runners who start well forward of their expected time.

          The edible contents of the goody bag were much appreciated at the finish along with the bananas

          on offer.

          As for Garmins, if you compare the wide difference between Garmin users on the same course

          the variance can be amazing.

          I think due to the that fact that a reading is only taken every 100m there must be some clever 

          estimation going on to take into account running straight versus weaving through crowds!

      

          

       

      

       

           

       

  • No bananas when I finished in 2.12.18. They either didn't have enough like the medals last year or some people too more than one.
  •       

        mmm bananas....

        i was so hungry that i even ate the muesli straight from the sachet, it was rather dry!

      

  • My garmin read 13.28, but it definitely lost signal quite a bit during the first 3 miles between the buildings.

    I was so determined to make it up the first hill (and I did) that I kind of died after 10.5 miles! Still, I enjoyed it way more than last year (I was right at the back then), and got a 4 min PB as well. 2.45 - still slow, but better than 3.07 last year!

    There was a girl being taken away by ambulance at the top of the cliffs when I went past - hope she was OK.

    As for people cheating - my brother noticed quite a few cheats last year - it's really quite easy on that course. But what's the point? I could have quite easily cut a few miles off last year as I was by myself, but who are you cheating?

    Anyway, thinking of doing Hastings now as part of FLM training. At least that has decent downhill bits!

    Oh, and I'm a bit miffed about not getting a medal this year. My collection has a gap now!
  • Only my second half marathon, so I enjoyed the run, achieved a pb of 1.52.13, which has made me very happyimage ran a fairly steady pace most of the way round, now looking forward to Sunday's Roding Valley Half, which is apparently "hilly"image Must admit I prefer a decent medal! for the memories!
  • My Garmin was out from the first mile marker.

    Was also confused by 'Big Head Pinstripe Man' we overtook him twice and he was walking! If you do cheat you are only kidding yourself!

    No bananas for post 2hr runners image(

    Hope the guy on the seafront was ok, he didn't look great.  

  • sleepy Jo - my husband said the same thing. Thou did finish in about 3 hours because we saw him walking the last mile at 12.28pm. He was 7mins in front of me at between 7 & 8 miles.

  • Sazza - You should be very proud of your time. It has taken me nearly 4 years to go from 2.27 to 2.12. Your next half will be a sub 2.30. What start are you on at FLM?
  • Thanks Tracey! I'm on the red start (running for Asthma UK)

    I'd love to think my next half will be sub 2.30, but with only 3 weeks to go, I seriously doubt it! My next major milestone will be not walking. I missed about 6 weeks of training in Dec/Jan due to a foot injury, but I'm still determined to do FLM, even if I have to walk half of it!

    As for the stripey shirted bloke - come to think of it, I'm sure he passed me at around 2 miles, then I didn't see him again, but he finished after me. I'm sure I would have remembered passing him!

    I've got to say I was pretty impressed by the ladder carriers though.

    I remember there being complaints about the mile markers last year - they're all on existing lamposts, etc. so are bound to be slightly out. My garmin said 0.98 at the 1 mile marker.
  • as always a great atmosphere, on an excellent flat course.

     Unfortunately, the organisers, let down the runners this year.

    Whoever decided, to sacrifice a medal, for a lousy, poor quality, t-shirt, that

    won't survive 3 washes, should be ashamed of themselves.

    And as for the 'goody bag' - what a p*ss poor joke, that was.

    £22 for a sub standard t-shirt and a museli bar, is no where near good enough.

    Bring back the medals for next year.... or start losing entries.

  • I remember passing pinstripe man twice... both times he was walking, and I do remember thinking the second time that I didn't remember him getting back past me - it didn't even occur to me that he might have cheated, I mean what is the point.... the only person you are cheating is yourself! Although there were times that it was an appealing thought - especially on all that evil zigzagging at the end image

    Seriously though - I'd rather give up than cheat - how can there be any sense of satisfaction in that!

    I liked the bag part of the goody bag, and it was better than many others i've had before, but like others i'd prefer a medal to the t-shirt.

    Was anyone else tempted to jump onto the ladder and let the nice firemen carry you to the finish image

    Anyone got any suggestions for a flattish HM March / April / May time?

  • Cara - If you do a longer run this weekend you could do Lydd half marathon on the 8th March, it is flat.
  • Although I didn't wear my Garmin, I am interested in the comments about the course length, as I did the same time as 2 years ago and yet I felt I was running faster. Also the course map on the website indicates about 13.4 miles.

    Anyway I have emailed the organisers to see whether they used a surveyors wheel to measure the route.

  • This was my first half marathon. I was anxious at the start, as my training had not gone well with a knee injury which meant I did very little training in recent months. The run itself was suprisingly enjoyable. I always enjoy running along the beach and there was a good atmosphere throughout. I will definately be doing this next year.

     I also found the mile markers to be off. I took the first mile very slowly as I had no clue what my level of fitness was and was suprised at how fast it went. I would have like more drinks stations as well, I definately didn't get enough fluids and will be bringing a bottle with me next year.

  • Southdowns man, My garmin registered 13.4 too, but it could have been a rather dubious wiggly route taken by me. Be interested to hear what they say...
  • SJ, I have spoken to the organisers and they maintain the course distance was 13.1 miles. However this does not, of course, mean that this was the distance covered by individual runners, so I am quite content to knock a minute or two off my time!
  • I agree Southdownsman, my garmin was set for 13.1 and my time at the 13.1 mark point was about a min and a half faster than my chip time! I am going with my garmin, if it's that much out then how can we ever trust our garmins again!!!!! I think races are often out, the 5k race for life last year was under 5k, I wasn't very popular pointing it out to my friends who all thought they had record breaking times! image)
  • My Garmin (which is a 305) measured 13.2. Courses are always measured with the optimum line around the course so that it is not underestimated. I definitely prefer to have run slightly longer than the course being short. I expect I did pick up the extra 0.1 mile over the full stretch by my line around the course and running round people so i'm not that concerned... I did however gain the extra 0.1 over the first mile so either this was a little long, or I went off course most early on image
  • This was my first Half Marathon and before Sunday, the longest I had run was 9 miles.  Should I be disappointed with a time of 2hr 36mins?? I have since felt really deflated and my motivation for the London Marathon has completely gone. I honestly thought I would have done better.  Does anyone have any tips for me as to how to run a little faster without burning myself out? I also found that I needed to stop for the toilet twice.  There was me thinking, drinking 2 bottles of Lucozade Sport would keep me going for longer but I felt sick from it going around my stomach and constantly needing the toilet!!! I know I completed the course and I should be so proud of myself, but I cant help thinking that I didnt do very well!!

     I was also very disappointed with no medal to show for my massive effort!! image

  • DW, you can't expect to run a fast half marathon time without putting in the distance which means regular runs of 10 miles and more. Don't worry about speed, enduance is the key. Try gels rather than drinks, particularly on a cold day. Any first time is a learning experience, just stick with it. Running is 90% mental and, provided you have the motivation, you'll be ok even if it takes a while to reach your potential.
  • keep at it Dawn - you did great........you learn by experience.......your first half marathon?

    don't beat yourself up.......enter another Half, and next time, you'll be a little wiser, regarding

    your fuel intake etc. It's a learning process.

    Enter more pre-London races, and soak up the race day atmosphere, beofre the big one on 26th Apr.

     and yes....the organisers of Brighton should be ashamed of themselves,

    for the lack of finishers medals.....a big letdown.

    The t-shirt is fit for wiping down my windows, and little else.

  • This is the third time I've done this race and the first time for a few years. I might be a bit biased because I got a 5 min PB but I thought it was a great race and well organised.

     I’ve only recently got a Garmin so I don’t yet put my faith in it to the extent that others do, but as all the Garmins seem to have given different results then it must be possible that the organisers had it right. Mine showed 13.2 but most of the difference was from the first mile or two when I was going wide on corners and trying to overtake people.  I think a goody bag should be a snack or two, some leaflets that you don’t read, and a medal / t-shirt /souvenir that doesn’t break the bank – particularly if it is a charity event. Ticked all the boxes for me. Definitely back next year 
  • Dawn - I did my first marathon in 2.27 and did go a loo. Your time was good for a first half marathon and if you can avoid the loo stops you will be much faster. I use SIS Go gels and I used 2 on Sunday and 5 miles & 10 miles and I carried a small 250ml bottle of water. In the winter you can get away with drinking less water. I can understand that you used Lucozade Sports drinks as that is what they give you at FLM. If I drink too much before the start a race I would have to stop to go a loo just like you. Maybe try gels out on your long run and take a bit of cash with you as you can always pop into a shop and buy water if you run out.
  • Thanks guys - all your responses have really helped. 

     I have been put off using the gels as I heard they can make you sick? Maybe I will give these a try on my next long run??

     Thanks again xxx image

  • I have just signed up for the Hastings Half Marathon in March - so lets see how I do in that! x

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