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Blackpool People's Marathon
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I was rather suspicious that it was something like that after noticing that this year's GNW half results and the Blackpool Marathon results have been removed from PO10 rankings.
To see the 2011 race cancelled as well did point to the permit thing......
So what exactly will be the problems encountered by running in an ARC certified/insured event?
Dinda
Its a Shame On and Off,On again then Off again its like musical chairs???
I did the mararthon 4 years ago when I though it was the last one
do not worry there a loads of other races you can do
Michael (Dinda) The marathon 4 years ago was never the last, just 2009 was muted as being the last. Several events on the Fylde Coast will dissapear over the next few months, Blackpool in April being the main one which has become more and more difficult to organise. 2010 was one of the best with a descent entry, good medical back up, good Insurance cover and a North of England/UKA certified course measurement certificate. Maybe someone out there would like a shot at taking this event on. I personally am cutting back, better things in life to get on with, a poorly wife to look after will take preference from now onand I need the 20/24 hours a week over 8/9 months put into Blackpool for other things.
Thank you
Ron McAndrew
Great shame, Ron - and thanks for all the races in the past. I personally have never had a bad day at Balckpool (well, I've run pretty badly, but that wasn't down to organisation!). I think it's very poor that UKA have taken the stance on not recognising times at UK races where they don't sell their insurance.
Hope Mrs Ron makes a speedy recovery - all the best.
thanks for all the races you have put on I would have to say the best one for me was my first mararthon in 2004 when I ran 22 miles non stop
I wish you and your family good luck and hope she is ok and keep up the Golf
Thanks Andy, yes UKA can be a funny bunch sometimes. I opted out of the admin of the sport several years ago after many changes, some good, but some very bad in my opinion. Jenni will not get better she has MS and it's getting quite bad now. See you all soon. Good luck everyone in the sport we all love
Ron
give Jenni my best
Yes, I did mean Po10, but they are told which races to include by UKA. They're not recognising parkrun performances this year apparently, nor any others without UKA permits. It's to "encourage organisers" to run under UKA permits apparently... And presumably to "encourage" them to buy their insurance.
Seem to recall they (as the AAA) had a similar attempt to get rid of the old pro fell races years ago by banning people who ran in them.
It would be a bit odd for parkruns to now not be recognised by PO10 when UKA issued a statement giving parkrun their full backing just last week.
I wonder how much UKA make out of the insurance arrangements? Not that much I would imagine. 20% commissions? A small road race maybe pays a premium of £50-100. Is it really worth them getting sniffy about?
Andy - most of them are multi terrain, but a few are not - the all tarmac ones seem to be okay...Kingston, Finsbury, Middlesbrough and South Manchester appear on mine as 5k - not sure about Bradford as I havent entered that one, since the time was slow!
I think it makes sense though because even Leeds has some non tarmac bits, bit annoying for me though because that and Greenwich are my pb courses by quite a long way
Andy - I don't think people `purchase' UKA insurance. You just charge the unattached levy (and actually pass it on to the UKA) which is £2 per runner. It's a very modest amount for the £20m worth of cover you get.
Another point about only having UKA permitted races count in the rankings is we all know where we stand and we don't have the debates we've had on here about removing short (2008) races and unpermitted races where the course accuracy certificate was not displayed on the day as it should be if you want to know for sure before you toe the line you're going to be running the full distance. I did say again and again (much to many peoples' annoyance) that an unpermitted race brought up all sorts of problems.
I feel for people who have had good performances removed from the rankings, but hopefully if this race does happen again, someone with a reliable track record will take it over.
As sorry as I am for people who have done the race and had their times removed I think it's only right that the Po10 rankings are all from certified race which have to meet minimum standards.
I enjoy doing parkruns, but I've never thought they should be included on rankings as they fall outside some the standards e.g no course certificate and the Cardiff one was 30m short until they remeasured it. I've done a couple where the start/finish has been decided on the morning due to severe ice etc. So there's no way to know that any of them are accurate and so should not be included in rankings.
It's good to see Po10 getting stricter with the races they are including it makes it a fairer playing field for all and we when looking at the results more likely to believe some of the amazing times posted. Good on UKA I say.
And as to buying insurance, are UKA permits free or do races pay for them?
Under UKA you buy a licence based on the number of entries to the race. My licence fee for Freckleton has increased this year to (I think) £320 from £260 because I've taken another 50 entries. UKA clubs are automaatically insured by UKA so if a UKA club stages a race that is only for club runners then no licence fee is payable.
Races still charge a minimum of £2 extra to unattached runners but only part of this goes to UKA or ARC. The rest stays with the race.
Both UKA and ARC have very similar standards. No surprise really as ARC bnased their standards on UKA standards.
So it seems odd that PO10 won't recognise Non-UKA races if the standards are the same.
I've run some ARC races that were better organised than some UKA races but I'll get a ranking for the UKA one but not the better ARC race.