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Why do we do it to ourselves?
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LB
It's London - I have to say and admit, it is the biggest and best party i've witnessed and that we've been part of
It's one big fun run party carnival
would we do it again,? of course we would, - for fun from the back - or chasing sub 4 hours from the front behind wheelchairs
what London marahon is NOT - to my mind,
a true marathon -
people can look up and say " I've run FLM "
My big question is, how many rural lonely hilly HUMID or COLD marathons would they manage like
Luton ( 3 laps ) - Abingdon October 19 - Leicester - Bungay - Taunton - Wolverhampton - Draycote water 5 laps - Gloucester ( 3 laps ) etc, etc
they are the real marathons, the real stamina jobs
Does this acceptance thing look like a Willie Wonka Golden ticket??
Yeah but didn't it take her about 5.5 hours to get 20 miles? I mean, most people could walk 20 miles in that time...I've got a Golden Bond place this year.
I didn't apply for the ballot because I thought I wouldnt be old enough to run it. But I will be 18 for 3 days on the day
Running for VICTA got to raise £950 but its a charity that I connect to so it shouldnt be too hard to get the cash.
Aiming for a time of around 4 hours aswell
Gosh, you lot have been busy......
Let's open up a can of worms..
I see on here that several people have had multiple random acceptances through the ballot. Would it not be fairer to say "if you got through the ballot last year, then really it's someone elses go" this / next year?
I thought the idea of two marathons over a weekend was very interesting and it had occurred to me too, but I can imagine someone saying "well that one wasn't as good as yesterday" and Londoners would probably scream if they had to walk the three yards for their Frappucino at Pret a Manger because they couldn't get a bus.
I hope you do get the cash, Jsoh. I think people are feeling the squeeze more than they care to admit though!
And what's all this "I've been rejected from the ballot so now I'll have to use my club place" nonsense?
How many places do you want, people? Some of us only have the ballot! I've also heard elsewhere "I've got a place, but I don't know if I really want it so I might defer it till next year"....
Hmmmmmm.....
The thing that annoys me about Golden Bond places (no offence if you get one) and indeed any of these things where you need to raise £2000 to walk great wall of china/kilamanjara/cycle India is how much of that £2000 does your charity actually end up seeing?
The FLM is probably less of an offender than others but a Golden Bond place is several hundred quid, and the pasta party, free vest, massages, pre and post race hospitality, etc. don't come for free. You do a foreign marathon and you see adverts like raise £1000 and get a free flight, etc.
I'd be surprised if more than half actually ends up directly supporting the charity you're running for.
I'm all in favour of people raising £2000 for charity, but there are plenty of ways to do that where 100% of your donation goes to help the charity.
R
I didn't realise it had taken her that long.
Richard - Hear hear.
Liverbird - My running club tells anyone who wants a club place must enter the ballot, then when the ballot rejections are known, the names of these people are put in a hat to draw out who gets the two club places for FLM. Hope that makes sense. However, when I got the club place in 2006, there were just two people rejected from the ballot and these got our club places. At my club, the club places are only available for those whoget rejected in the ballot - we have a few fast people who get in by right for either a Championship place of a GFA.
I think raising £1000, £1500 or more for a Golden Bond place would stress me out more than the marathon training itself. And with the "credit crunch" and inflation being what it is, I would expect some people may struggle to raise their target this year.
Mr Bump - re club place. Same at mine - we get 3 places allocated, but not sure how many of the members get rejected from the ballot - still will be slightly better odds in the club draw of course !
Why is it nonsense? If you're unsuccessful in the ballot,some people get a second chance through their running club. The fact they're out there running with a club and pay their yearly subs for the pleasure, should give them every right for a second chance through this way.
And if someone is successful in the ballot one year, why should they step aside and not enter the following year? I just don't get it, it's not the only marathon out there, so your chances of running a marathon are still extremely easy.
And I'm one who may not run next year, and may defer. The fact is, I apply every year like everyone else, I actually bequeath my money so pay anyway, and will have to pay again even if I defer. Why should I mess up my consecutive applications just to please others?
Your posts smack of sour grapes for not getting in.
Humpf. I've heard about four ballot entries from my club so far, and none of us are in.
Does anyone have any insider info about what the actual odds of getting a ballot place this year are? The general concensus was that it was about 1 in 5 in previous years (based on the number of people applying for places and the number available). However, I think that a lot more people applied for places this year with the new online entry system, so the odds will be a lot worse this year.
Because there are limited places and as you say there are other marathons out there...thats the point! if you get in via the ballot one year why not go run a marathon somewhere else the next. You are at a buffet, there is a limited amount of chocolate pudding but loads of fruit salad....would you honestly take a double helping of chocolate pudding forcing people further down the queue to miss out and have to take the fruit salad?
I have entered the ballot unsuccessfully for 3 years now (which is nothing compared to some out there) I have run other marathons but I would quite like to run my countries main one. I think it is understandable that I get annoyed by people who run it on the ballot year after year, I don't do the national lottery but I have to do the FLM lottery because thats the system they use whether I think it is the right one or not. I have the club ballot to go still so I am still in with a chance, slim but better than some. If I don't get in I'll probably just take the fruit salad!
But it seems the only ones who share this view are those who are still stamping their feet from the fact they got a rejection letter.
I have been unsuccessful before this year but wouldn't have dreamt of telling others 'You've had your go, now piss off and don't apply again'
5 times reject in a row for me. Found out this morning. Pretty gutted to be honest as I thought I'd be lucky this year. Mostly gutted because I do run other races, and I do support my local meets. And frustrated too. I'm about 15 mins too slow for GFA but thought that 3:15 would mean that I wouldn't fall in with the majority of applications and so that might count for something. (That is a realistic time for me and not just a tatic to bag a place). And mostly I just wanted to bag a good time at London, like people have said, because it's like the world cup of Marathons.
And finally a bit gutted because London is in fact my local marathon and so won't involve the expense or time of work that other big city races such as Edinburgh or Paris have in the past.
Perhaps a little bit of sour grapes here too but I would be interested to see if the ratio of applicants to non-runners has gone up this year with the introduction of the online ballot farse.
But looking on the bright side, at least I am guaranteed a place in the first VLM.
And for the record, I will be applying again the year after. Why shouldn't I?
I will apply again next year if I don't run it this, and the year after that and get my guaranteed place in 2012, if thats what it takes, I'll run other things I would normally do as well but once I have run it I won't need anyone to tell me to 'piss off and don't apply again' I just won't apply! I can do that, its been a long time since I felt ill after too much chocolate pud ingestion. Still doesn't make swallowing the pill this year less bitter.
I am sure running FLM will be a great experience and one lots of people should have the opportunity of experiencing, I am sure my not entering the ballot after I have run it will make little or no difference to other peoples chances but it won't hurt. However the reason I won't run it multiple times is more selfish than magnanimous. London for me is a box to tick, the first marathon I became aware of as a child, but life is too short to run it more than once, other places to run and things to train for.
Chillblue, if you're that worried about getting your chocolate pudding, get there early and get to the front of the queue, I'd be more than happy with fruit salad
Can you not train for and run these marathons before doing London? You'll get in eventually through th five strikes rule, which is pretty fair is it not?
Instead of moaning at those who apply year after year, why not moan at those who applied on a whim while they were watching the race at home, who have no intention of running it? Are you the sort of person who buys a lottery ticket, wins a tenner, then doesn't buy another one so somebody else can win some?
People moaning about runners wanting to enter a race more than once, I just don't get it.
I can understand where people are coming from with the once you've run it that should be it, but then again the odds of getting in are about 1 in 5 i imagine, so people are not running it year in and year out but just once every five years or so.
I just want to run it once (in all honesty the expense to me of two nights in a hotel and getting to London would cost as much as running in Paris or Rotterdam) to say I have run it. I'll run others in the mean time.
For those that haven't run a marathon before and London was their first then trust me, after 26.2 miles of running crossing the line in Nottingham was just as satisfying as London would be for me. Maybe the crowds were not as big on the route round but there were a few spectators and in the second half when the 1000 or so marathon runners has thinned out a bit, the small crowd are not cheering on the masses who are running. They're just cheering you on as you're the only one running past.
It's the price you pay for wanting to enter the most popular marathon in the country. I'm not in and the ballot seems unfair but what would be a better system?
People who raise the most money for charity?
Have a qualifying time?
First come, first served?
The 15,000 who bid the most money get the places?
Locals only?
The bottom line is the ballot is a fair system, anyone who wants to enter puts an entry in and then they pick people at random.
I really wanted to enter and am pretty annoyed I didn't get in as i've been training for it since January. However much a system where overweight plodders get first dibs on places seems a good idea for a system, its not really fair.
R
I have no problem with people apply year after year..after all thats what I am doing. I only have a problem with people who run it year after year and point out to people who don't have a place that there are plenty of other marathons out there. The thing with the ballot is it doesn't represent a queue in anyway!
I do train and run other marathons, I am not sitting in at home waiting for the day I get to run london. As I said I will just keep entering year on year and sometime between now and 2012 I will get to run it. Is it fair..not entirely but I can live with it. I agree that entering with no intention of running is worse.
Read up I don't do the lottery
I don't understand why people want to run the FLM over and over again. Don't people ever get sick of chocolate pudding?
I haven't run FLM before, but I still don't see the issue with it despite previous rejection, if people love a certain experience, why wouldn't they want to do it again? Besides, they're only guaranteed to run it again if they get GFA or run for charity. In all honesty, I doubt I'll run it again for a while after I do it, marathon training takes a lot out of the body and I can't see me putting myself through it every year, so shorter races are where my future lies.
If people want to enter the ballot again and again, I say good luck to them as long as they're actually prepared to run it.
Yep - no problem with people enterring the ballot again and again in the hope of getting in. Good luck to them, after all it's a lottery.
Shame on those who get a place with no intention of running eg...
- couldn't do it as they knew they weren't going to be around;
- entering in a fit of enthusiasm on marathon day, and now, looking at it raining outside, think it looks like hard work;
- deliberately to transfer their entry to 2009.
Muppets one and all. You've got a place now run it. You wanted it badly enough to enter it.
Just as an aside - I wonder how many starters will be at Greenwich next year, what the average time will be and what ratio of starters to finishers will be? I wonder...
Hi,
I received my rejection magazine this morning, and I was surprised just how disappointed I was. Bad week generally and this on the mat first thing.
Was considering Edinburgh, but I will give myself a couple of days thinking time before rushing to sign up. I have the Hasting Marathon in December and that was my goal anyway, but still downhearted. I'd rather just get a letter saying bug off, than a mag full of pictures of people running the flm.
Fish and chips for tea, me thinks.
Yep - the missus felt the same. She felt that a simple letter would be better rather than a big glossy expensive mag - purely in cost terms, seeing as its charidee mate.
Fishfingers for me tonight. Maybe some chocolate pudding if someones not got there first with the intention of saving it til later - because you never know when you'd like some chocolate pudding. Maybe not now, but maybe in a few hours...!
Ironchimp - If someone has had four rejects on the trot but can't run next year, should they not enter the ballot and then have to start the five rejects rule all over again just because you didn't get a place? Of course not,they apply and defer if they get a place, common sense. But of course, you wouldn't do that would you?
And what does it matter what time people finish in as long as they run it?