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People who walk the Marathon
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Not quite comfortable with that myself, as only a small portion of money that people are raising for charity is actually going to the charity, and the rest is ploughed into the FLM. But the FLM has always been portrayed in the media as a small elite race followed by a giant Blue Peter parade, so they are at least being consistent.
I think a golden bond place costs a charity somewhare between £200 and £500 each.
Mayebee they should set the entry fee at £200? There's a thought!
I think you are all too obsessed with FLM.
If you want to run a real marathon, try the Cornish or Snowdonia or Isle of Wight.
If you want a fast time run Dublin or Abingdon.
I also think it's important to support races within the area that you live, so run your local marathon and show everybody that you are a real marathon runner not a once a year FLM entrant (providing you get in of course!!)
I'll just sneak off now.......
Well - okay, Kingston as well, but I was planning on doing that too
If FLM is you local, I think you should have a priority entry.
Kingston is just too late for a GFA attempt so I'm going down to Cardiff - which is a shame as I like the route, I do it regularly in training.
Please tell me.......
What about Wolverhampton, isn't that a faster course?
I did look at Wolverhampton - two weeks earlier as I recall which isn't good for me considering I've sat on me bum for two months since London!
Do you think thats because the faster people are generally getting slower or because there a more people who are slower (and didn't used to enter) entering hence bringing the average down.
If its the second then surely thats good because you don't have to be good to give it a go and get more active but if it that the faster people no longer go so fast or don't take part than thats bad.
Wonder which it is? I'd go for the former but for no good reason.
After all it's clubs that keep running alive!!
BTW-I do many races each year and very few are mass participation. I don't really like the huge events, but like most have done them to experience the atmosphere.
I agree there are lots of marathons that could and should have support.
When it began, the LM helped improve distance running in the UK, but this effect has now worn off even though the number of participants has increased. One reason is that people's lifestyle have changed even in the short span of 20 years and the goal of running 'fast' has been replaced by more wider concerns about health and fitness. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I remember when I started running you just went out and ran as far and as fast you could. I know lots of guys who come down to my club having completed the London in the 3:10-30 range on that sort of 'simple' training. A few years later they were all running 2:30-40. That doesn't seem to happen anymore.
Times change.
& proud to represent those clubs in races too.
I was a time keeper at an athletics meeting last week for Area Championships (schools)and it was so disappointing to see the poor number of entrants in the longer distance events. Two of the events didn't take place because there were no competitors, yet they was on the programme-the steeple chase and 3000 metres.
Even more of a shame when you think these youngsters are the future of athletics and possibly road/country racing!
Tulips-I wouldn't say you are any less eligible to have a place in the marathon. I just personally feel clubs should get more of a shout!
Like Shades says you can belong to a club without having to go to their training nights. Last summer I never got chance to go to mine, but I wore my club vest with pride at races.
Everyone's cool with that though - I turn up to help out with race marshalling etc when possible still and get a lot of benefit from it. I try to make the Sunday long runs even though I can't make the sessions in the week.
The race calendar would be pretty poor if it just consisted of FLM, GNR, Silverstone half marathon and the British 10k.
The people who keep `bog standard' distance running going throughout the year by entering races of 200-400 competitors deserve a better chance of running the No.1 running event of the year than other people.
Sorry if that offends but that is my honest opinion.
I've finished now.
Cheers.
Last year I took part in a local 10k - about 800 entrants - and guess what !
Looking to do the race in 50 - 55 mins I took up a place about 2/3rds from the front
of the pack. It took about 30 secs to cross the start line but for the first 1/2 mile I couldn't run at training pace let alone race pace. Being a smallish race no road closures were in force so runners were limited to 1/2 a road, a path and a strip of grass - a hill thrown in as well also slowed people down. There was no way to get past the slower runners without cutting up or barging past others.
Then after about 7k, I started to come across those that had gone off to fast and were slowing down. By 8k people were walking...2 or 3 abreast chating away.. forcing anyone who wanted to get past into the middle of the road. At this time we were being told to keep left by the marshals where theres no path, just road.
The moral of the story.. even in a small race if you want a PB..be a selfish a***hole and start from the front and force others to go round you.
P.S. finished in 55'42"
At the GNR and Reading (and, no doubt at lots of other large-entry races, but those are the only ones I've done) there is some attempt to zone racers according to predicted finishing time. Nobody seems to take a blind bit of notice. I'm doing GNR again this year, expect at best to barely crack 2 hours, and I will BE one of the selfish @aseholes standing as near the front as I can. Last year I played by the rules, started at the 2:20 board, and spent the entire race overtaking people who were just mucking around. I'd willingly defend anyone's right to enter a high-profile event like the GNR and spend the entire time slowly congo-ing back and forth across the road - their entrance fee is as good as mine - but not if they start in front of me and spoil my prospects of getting a PB, because that's why I'm there (actually, it's not, but let's not get bogged down with accuracy) and my entrance fee is as good as theirs.
I'll do the same at Reading now that I know they rank finishing times according to clock rather than chip times.
I was going to say I'd had no bother at small local races, but that's only because last year I did the muddy MTs for fun rather than for a time, so being bottlenecked crossing fields and going over stiles didn't matter. This autumn, with existing PBs for the off-road races over eccentric distances hanging over my head, I might feel differently.
I got far more enjoyment from FLM this year when I was able to run it all than I did last year when I walked all of the last 8 miles and big chunks of the previous 4 miles because I hadn't trained properly for the distance. That was despite starting in Pen 9 and having to pass people all the way to the finish.