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Rutland Water Marathon
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Comments
Good lord.
Dangerous cattle grids? They seemed fine to me.
I thought it was a great event. I might even go back and do it again.
Glad to hear you finished - jasshef
bloody hard course
runner 670
Fantastic course: Very undulating but no real hills.
I dont agree though that not anything could have been done about the cattle grids. All the gates could have been opened and it should have been enforced not to run over them.
The marathon is a challenge on any course but when you dont fully have your wits about you, you dont want to be racing over slippy metal.
The choice was a cattle grid or a gate, some were held open by supporters and some by matshalls, some were even left shut but at the end of the day no one was at an advantage and its what you should expect of a country marathon with livestock around.
If you want fast, hassle free marathons then go to the city
Oh yes, we had a conversation with the lads and lasses on that last water/energy drink stop and from what they were saying I think that it was supposed to be tasteless .... either that or it was the case of the Emporers new clothes !
"I dont agree though that not anything could have been done about the cattle grids. All the gates could have been opened and it should have been enforced not to run over them.
The marathon is a challenge on any course but when you dont fully have your wits about you, you dont want to be racing over slippy metal."
Are you having a laugh? Did you injure yourself?
It was an off road with bumpy slippy terrain, loose stones, nettles, spikey plants, traffic, aircraft doing aerobatics, water, sheep, shit, geese, dogs, bikes, children, hockey players (seriously!), plastic cups, gardeners, cattle grids and gates.
That's what makes it a fun and rewarding challenge.
Yes they should have swept all those leaves up too
I thought the cattle grids were OK if you approached them right. I found a good "three step" method and I think I ended up going over nearly all of them.
I think most people who can run 26.2 miles can manage a gate but if I wanted to do it all day long Id go for a walk in the fells.
Plus One for the "three step method"
It wasn't long ionto the event that I worked out that going across the grids was both safe and, more importantly, quicker than going through the gates.
Obviously quicker seemed less important as I dragged my sorry ar5e up the hill at 21
Strangely the more I think about the race, the more I'm proud of finishing it and finishing it with a decent time. I may well be back next year .....
Yep 3 step method for me as well.
In truth I quite looked forward to the cattle grids as an enforced slow down for a couple of seconds.
you definitely played a part in me not having my first ever DNF!
Jase
Haven't read everyones comments yet, on B'berry, but marshalls and supporters fab. Must be because I'm southern, but I'd class some of those ups and downs as hills, albeit short sharp ones. Kept passing a chap going up them and he'd fly past me going down them.
Tough course, but a laugh looking back at it now. Worst thing the day was that we went pie hunting to Melton Mowbray afterwards and couldn't find any of the buggers so had to have pizza instead!
I had a gripe about the organisation but I had no complaints about the course, which I thought was brilliant. The cattle grids surely weren't a problem for people, were they? I reckoned that each one cost me at most 2 seconds. Don't know how many there were in total, but probably not enough to seriously affect anyone's overall time. I must say that until the point during the first lap of the peninsula when my virusy thing started coming back to floor me, I was enjoying it as much as any marathon I've ever done. I was so disappointed to have to pull out at 17.5 miles, but discretion was the better part of valour.
Ralph, if you're reading this, it looks from your chip time as if you will have got your Boston qualifying time - congratulations! Drop me a PM.
Thanks to Ultra Kazzaaaaah for the company.
Hey MB, thanks to both of you for putting up with me!! Certainly that last 10k would have been hell on my own.
How's your back?
Blinking awful
Made me realise that I won't be running another Marathon in 2011.
Just going to do around 7-10 walking ones instead.
Hopefully I can get into London in 2012 and do that one as a one off.
I found this quite hard going having done a marathon the day before
I think the reason for the grumbles is that a lot of people entered thinking it would be a bit like a road marathon but perhaps a bit hilly as it is road marathon price. Infact it was more like your LDWA type event but without the cake!
I took it steady, walked most the hills, but that was always the plan, so didnt find them too bad. Infact, being tired from the day before I was often willing a hill to come along so I could have a little walk!
I think for the price they charged they def needed sports drinks or gels. Just water in cups is not adequate for a marathon. I carried my own stuff as I knew provision was going to be rubbish!
I would do it again, I knew what to expect as I have run round there before. I think people who were unhappy were unhappy because they didnt get what they expected. It wasnt a proper off road job like Fairlands Valley, it was inbetween that and a road one. I quite like that as I dont always want to be chasing times and it made a nice change from the flat track of the day before!
No problem with the cattle grids and didn't mind the hills, although I think that they could have been better described, as both are part and parcel of a stunning location.
The start and finish position was just nuts, really mad. The unexpected length of walk to the start meant that loads of people had to hang around for an extra ten mins in the rain while others missed the start (including my wife and daughter). And then we ran almost the whole of the water circumference but missed out Normanton church - the most spectacular sight for miles around (and the sight pictured all over the adverts/T-shirts) - which we started half a mile after and finished a quarter of a mile before. What an open goal missed - looking at the map it would appear easy to lose a few hundred metres from the peninsula circuit and start/finish at that brilliant location.
The mile markers were worse than useless and I don't know why they bothered. They said they'd be intermittent, they should have said they'd be inaccurate.
I thought the marshals were pleasant but ill-informed and I didn't much appreciate the guy saying "something like a mile to go" when it turned out to be less than half a mile.
And finally I think that while £30 isn't huge it isn't trivial and cups of water (I didn't see the energy sweets that were reportedly around and I don't believe in the 'elete' drink), paying for parking and fruit-of-the-loom style top don't quite cut it. I hope they do take this on board because it could be brilliant but it isn't yet.
- cattle grids: it's the countryside, lighten up folks! Also there was often a gate at the side ("for townies" as I heard one chap say!)
- mile markers: agree they seemed inaccurate
- marshalls/drinks station: plentiful and cheerful
- course: very scenic and quite varied so made for an interesting run, which was why I chose this one rather than a town race. 'Undulating" terrain was very tough going in the last few miles and I lost a lot of time and heart (legs still a little wobbly - heart recovered!)
-weather: perfect - the organisers even managed to secure a rainbow for us all to run through near the start - thanks guys!
Would recommend it and would run it again
I was a bit concerned that this wouldn't be suitable as a first marathon however having completed it I would recommend it, tough but great fun.
A nice mixture of athletes, die hards and fun runners. I got chatting to another runner which helped 4 miles flyby.
Good event set in a great location.
After the peninsula section it moved back onto roads with some gravel footpaths.
One odd path appeared to run between two gardens, this was very muddy and only wide enough for one person. If it was not for the fact that someone was behind me, I would have felt safer walking.
Thanks. I'm already thinking about next year and how to run it. This year my plan was to get some minutes in the bank on the (relatively) easy section through to the peninsula, knowing that the peninsula was going to add maybe 30-40 seconds per mile to the time, and then pick up the pace again afterwards. Not having actually done this last bit, though, I wasn't sure if this plan would have worked out.
I did a 'course inspection' of the peninsula on the Saturday (a very pleasant little stroll) but for some reason on the Sunday the track was distinctly muddier than the previous day (did it rain in the night?) and my chosen footwear was not ideal, I was slithering all over the place.
I don't think the provisions were 'rubbish' - they clearly stated there would be water, and most folk are capable of deducing that they need to bring their own food or energy drink if they need it
They also said there would be cattle grids and that it was off road - it wasn't on closed roads, so there were always going to be sheep and cyclists - it was on a beautiful country cycle trail on a gorgeous day so it's hardly surprising there were folk out
I wonder if we should contact the organisers and ask them to pave the course and paint a blue racing line on it
The walk to the start was the only bit that got to me, but they'll know for next year. I really enjoyed it.
me too, loved it!
and nice to meet you debbo
What a brilliant race - it was perfect conditions for me, cold and clear and as someone else posted there was even a rainbow.! The picturesque view of the water made the miles fly by - I even got rather used to the cattle grids and saw them as part of the challenge - having said this I was quite worried about falling, I hope no one did.
I will definitely do this next year and also really enjoyed exploring the local town of Stamford after - what a nice part of the world!
Nice to meet John and Margaret on the peninsula, perhaps see you next time?
Hi All,
My 5th marathon this year and I am sorry but I have to say it was the worst organised marathon, I ran the Snowdon marathon the week before and if the organisers want advise on how to organise a marathon give them a ring as the Snowdon is by far the best organised on a much more difficult course. The Rutland Water marathon stated a 15 minute walk to the start (try 30mins), I could not understand why there where more water stations at the start then none between 14 and 19 mile markers. I am glad other people picked up on the mile markers as I thought my watch was playing up!! Other marathons I have ran all give out energy drinks/energy bars at water stations and some (not all) bottled water for you £30 entry fee. Was also disappointed they didn’t put some portaloos at the start, all the people had to wait a while at the public ones (30mins from start). I also don’t understand the 9am start, possible 10 maybe better and may attracted more spectators. A long walk to the start is never a good moral booster and that really needs looking at. The big thing for me now is where are the Results?? Why are they not on the website, again every marathon I have run have the results on the web site the next day or either the same night! Where can we obtain race photos from as there where cameras around the course?? Had no complaints about the t shirt and medal but I do now wonder if the course was more than 26.2miles with the conflicting mile markers???? The course does have a few hills which stated on an email I got but the terrain does make it a little more fun so hardly think its fair to blame the organisers on a few patches of mud!
ResultSorry fat feet but wont be running this one again!
Phil
runwithphil.co.uk