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RunLiverpool Marathon 2011
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I have already commented on the race but i cant believe the negative press its being given. As a first marathon i thought it was brilliant and will only get better (i am not from liverpool if that helps people judgement of my assesment)
This was my 8th Marathon and was certainly up there in terms of enjoyment/course. I'll give my breakdown on the 8 i've done as this may help people wondering whether to run this marathon an idea
In my favorite order
1. Paris, lovely city, great course and pretty flat
2. London - Have done this twice and am down for this again next year. Great for crowd support but eve n this marathon has a bit i dont enjoy (after canary wharf, round the fish market)
3. Liverpool - Although at the time i didnt like sefton park i think it adds a nice change to course mixing up the city with parks etc, Also great crowd support.
4. Barcelona - Great course and again a flat - Couldnt appreciate the course to its fullest as i was ill that day
5. Shakepeare marathon, enjoyed the course but is quite hilly in parts and not much support along the course
6. Nottingham marathon, as this has an half event as well all city race was first half then off onto tracks, canals and massive lake (alot worse than sefton park)
7. Edinburgh - Really didnt like this course, not really in edinburgh your straight out and back along the coast.
As you can see there is only London that i have done more than once, this is only as you never know if you'd get in again so have to take chance when it comes.
Would i do Liverpool again - Yes defo, i thought it was brilliant, good course, marshalls were great, crowd was fantasic, gels, water and drinks a plenty. I will be looking for other marathons i can also do so may not be next year. I always thought the favorite order may match my running performance but it doesnt, liverpool was my PB with 3:39:45.
Thought the whole event was fairly well organised apart from the extreme delay at the start. There was more than plenty water stations, gels, etc. and the support all round the route were fantastic. My only complaint was I would prefer a technical training top rather than a t/shirt (would even pay extra) & there were no goody bags, only a few people handing out water, a banana, liptons tea & two guys handing out leaflets. All other events I have done, there is always a goody bag with shower gels, treats & general handy bits of nonsense......................
Wow - there are loads of comments on this isn't there?!
This was my eighth marathon and i have (so far) managed not to repeat any so my thoughts (comparing against other oens i have done) are as follows:
1. I thought the route was great. I had done three Liverpool halfs (halves?) so i was expecting to wind around Sefton Park (as somebody said before - the Holme Pierrepoint section of Nottingham at a similar stage makes Sefton Park look like paradise). I found it quite satisfying to see other people at different stages. I was also pleasantly surprised by the bit in the Wirral - that would be a nice run on its own. The finish is probably the best one i have done - last two miles downhill and in to finish under the Liver building! That is awesome (and much better than the waterfront finish of the last half i did which was into a cruel headwind!).
2. The support was fantastic. The run out of the tunnel deserves a special mention but also the sefton park crowd, the new brighton crowd and the people in birkenhead. It wasn't just the numbers either, they were so loud and enthusiastic. In terms of enthusiasm they beat London easily for me.
3. The stewards and drink stations were first class when i got to them. The people at the finish were similarly helpful. The tannoy at the start was rubbish (you've got to have teething problems though).
4. The charity who had a band on upper parliament street were legendary. I was just coming down form the massive city centre crowd and they were boosting people hitting the hill. They played "When the saints go marching in" when i was going past.
5. I have never seen so many jelly babies being offered at a marathon in my life! My favourite moment of the whole thing was seeing a dad ordering his young son to stand further away form his other young son when dishing them out so that people could take sweets off them more easily.
6. I didn't think the course was that hard but am glad people are saying it was as i was ten minutes over my target time.
7. In my previous seven marathons (including the hottest day on the planet at Mont St Michel), I don't think i have seen so many people stop to walk - some very early on. I think some of that was down to the delayed start so, as someone said earlier, i think you can take a bit of time off for that! (Nb. that does not appear to be the organisers fault and i'm not blaming them).
8. I really hope this grows as a race cos the people of Liverpool thoroughly demonstrated that they deserved it to be successful and appeared to like it taking place in their city. I think i'm going to make this my first repeater marathon in an effort to ensure it becomes a stayer in the race calendar.
Paul: My 'r' comment was just me being daft (it seems to take me about 48 hours post-marathon to get my mental facilities back). As I was typing my post, I couldn't decide if your username was Wilgoss or Wilgross, and couldn't be bothered to scroll back, that's all
Regarding the goody bag, I thoroughly enjoyed that box of Honey Shreddies later on that night! The only thing I would have changed about the bag was giving it to us first, because my hands were full by the time I got to it!
I'm undecided about doing this marathon again, purely because I like to travel to different places for runs (if I was more local, I think I'd more easily say 'yes'). However, I am sorely tempted to come back to support and do the Fab Four miler, if I'm not doing the marathon!!
Yes it was a tough course but by no means "too tough for a city marathon".
Not enough toilets? There were loads at the start - I'm pretty sure, from memory, that you don't get a better runner:toilet ratio in London.
The delay at the start was unfortunate but to suggest that it affected people's times (with perhaps the exception of the chap with diabetes) is laughable. If you spent those 50 minutes running around Bhead Park, maybe, but if like me you chilled out and chatted with those around you, no, not at all.
It's also interesting to note that Chester also suffered from a delayed start on Sunday for the same reasons, as did Brighton in it's first year. I did a half marathon in Austin, Texas, early last year which goes back years. It's a fairly big race there, in a big running city, and they too had to delay the start by 45 minutes due to traffic on the course. It was really cold then and really not ideal to be standing around in, but I still managed a PB then, as I did in Liverpool on Sunday.
I've done 26 marathons and ultras and I'm not particularly a fan of road marathons compared to off-road stuff (something I need to work on as I'm doing the 10 in 10 next year!) but this is up there with the best races I've done. I thought the tunnel was brilliant and the drama of exiting the cool, quiet darkness of the tunnel into the light and the noise from the drummers and the crowd there was absolutely incredible. I'll remember that moment for a long time.
The situation at the finish was fine - it's not uncommon to get your stuff in bits and bobs - afterall, all that stuff gets delivered separately and in bulk - who wants to sort all of that into bags, and remember that you'd need bags with small t-shirts, bags with medium, etc. I thought the volunteers at the finish were great - one lady actually draped a foil blanket around my shoulders and tied it on for me! Incredible service
The baggage was exactly where the info pack said it would be - yes, I too was looking for the lorries, but it took about 20 seconds to see the bags, and the cadets were great - one asked to see my number and scurried off to get my bag. Another was told off by someone more senior for having his hands in his pockets
So.. top event, fabulous enthusiastic support both from the public and from marshalls. Yes, there are always some knobheads here and there who are self-centered, such as those who insisted on driving across/onto the course, but it goes both ways - some runners can be total twats too!
Just a small thing re the finish....It's not so much that I minded getting the stuff in "bits and bobs", but it just would have made sense to hand out the carrier bags BEFORE the other stuff so you could put the other things in it. It's far easier to put things into a bag right away than trying to hang on to them all until you are given a bag.....and it's not like everyone is thinking straight either, at that point.
Only a minor niggle though, not a huge issue, and one that would be really easily resolved I would have thought.
Oh, and does anyone else find the t-shirt is a bit smelly, or is it just me?
Perhaps I should've taken it off by now...
A women who gave me my bag helped me cause I was in a right muddle - and I think was looking a bit dazed and confused - she took all my stuff and put in my bag for me. I wanted to hug her and have a big cry.
LOL at the Army Cadet getting told off for having his hands in his pockets !!
I know...I turned down all food and drinks on offer as I didn't want any, and I didn't want to take them just because they were free!
The lady giving the t-shirt was very kind. I didn't know whether to get small or medium, so she gave me one of each! I guess there was probably a lot left over if people dropped out in advance and did not finish.
Just on the end of the race. I've done Liverpool half the last couple of years and it was a lot better set up than the half was in 2010 and 2011 With the exception of the bag being the last in line I think it was pretty much spot on.
Did have a slight problem with picking my race bag up after the race. But I was slightly flaked out so might have been I wasn't seeing the sign's and walked round the car park they where all stored in as missed the entrance.
Signed up for Manchester one before Liverpool - bit over-confident of me! In the last few miles I was regretting that a bit, now looking forward to it - especially as I'll be able to walk to and from the start/finish.
Have just signed up for the Stockport10 also....and got Wilmslow1/2 next March - onwards and upwards. One day I hope to go to one of these glamorous marathons abroad somewhere...
Massive thanks to Alan, the RunLiverpool crew and all the spectators. Fabulous atmosphere.
Better PA/repeaters at the start would have been very helpful in communicating reasons/length of the delay. As for the delay itself, well stuff happens and hopefully next time it won't happen (as someone upthread commented almost exactly the same thing happened at the inaugural Brighton marathon).
As a first time visitor to Liverpool I enjoyed the course, got to see the skyline during the first part and I enjoyed the novelty of running through the tunnel (although if it could be fitted with aircon in time for the next one that would be lovely), drumming group at the top were fab as was the support. I actually enjoyed the Sefton park bits as I like to look out at other people going round the course. Downhill finish and massive crowds rounded off the course really nicely.
In terms of the difficulty of the course, I've run flatter (Brighton, London, Hastings), but also much hillier (Beachy Head, Greensand). I ran a PB at Liverpool by 9 minutes (over my Brighton time earlier this year), but that's on the back of a solid bank of Ironman training. I've heard it suggested that this is a +10 minute course which sounds reasonable for a finger in the air estimate.
Although I wasn't planning on using the Gatorade I was very glad it was there, I'd gone through my 750ml of electrolyte (plus gulps of water) by the time the first Gatorade station arrived as it was a lot hotter than I'd expected. I think this might be a reason for so much cramping (lots of sweating), I finished a little behind Cougie whose face was covered in salty lines where the sweat had dried out.
Will I be back? To Liverpool certainly, as I only saw some of what it has to offer. For next year's marathon I don't know yet, but only because I want to bag a GFA time for Boston. If I can't do that in the Spring then I'll need something before September which will probably compromise an early October effort.
So, we decided to simply hand out the additional items as you progressed through the finish funnel. The bag at the end was to ensure people simply didn't fill up the bag with stuff they want (as they have done in the Half Marathon).
Anyway, with a bit of time to plan properly for 2012 we should be able to get everything in bag including the T shirt.
Hope that clears things up??
Belatedly posting after the fun that was Sunday.
Nice meeting up with a few prior to the start and having a little chat. Good to hear Mrs Warkie is quicker than Warkie at the mara, as well as 10k.
Really good meeting up and chatting/drinking with a few afterwards. The point of this running lark is to get fit so you can meet and drink. All about balance. However I believe next time we should meet up in a bungalow, stairs after a marathon and not good. Scouse Elvis, any updates on your next road mara?
From a personal point of view the race was not great, 1:33 through half, 3:21 finish. Upper Parliment was not fun at all. Leaving the tunnel was truely amazing and I blame then for my pain on Upper Parliment, as I ran much to quickly between the two points.
Just a few observations;
The delay at the start was very frustrating, however the organisers can not be blamed for idiots. The PA worked fine in the park but not to the pens. I would assume (probably wrongly) that is was decided it was not necessary to link the far pens to the PA, as basicaly runners would get called to the pens 10 mins prior to start, gun would go and everyone would be away.
I found that Sefton park dragged, mentally I was gone by that stage anyway, every turn I just kept hoping to hit the exit. Maybe local knowledge actually made it worse.
I never knew my home city was so undulating.
The people on both sides of the river were amazing and I would like to thank them all. The organised entertainment was also a great help.
I believe the City of Liverpool and the RunLiverpool team are victims of their own success. People quote VLM and GNR and this one being Big City Marathons. Well we all hope Liverpool will be one day, but this was the first marathon for 18 years and the first one organised by RunLiverpool. The fact people expect so much more is a compliment.
This will seem like an odd complaint but I actually felt there were too many water stations, again maybe my mind and the fact we were looping in Sefton Park but they seemed to be coming thick and fast. I can assure you it was not because I was running so quickly between them either.
At the end I also had to stop to put a bottl ein one pocket, a recovery drink in the other a banana in my mouth and hold the blanket and tee shirt in my hand so I could be given the bag to put them all in. I assumed (rightly from Alans' post above) the bag came last to stop people taking extra. Putting everying in the bag and handing each a runner a single bag (as Alan says they plan too) will solve this minor issue.
I wasn't impressed when I saw where the bags were stored, but I was very impressed once I got close. The cadets we very helpful shouting in advance so my bag was waiting ready for me when I got to my section.
Ah yes, in hindsight, the bag at the end does make sense. Kind of. To stop the unscrupulous scallies from taking lots of each item, just because they mistakenly think they are "free". At the time though, to a befuddled brain in the rain, with all the endorphins and emotion of a 26.2 miler in the bag, it did (and still does imho) seem daft to subject the finisher to an enforced game of "don't drop the cabbage" (or whatever it used to be called on Crackerjack!).
I'd be happy to keep the items seperate; don't need the bags made up, as occasionally some people will get one without a t-shirt in it (unless, Alan, you can personally guarantee 100% quality control?) Pros & cons of doing it either way. And sad that human nature allows some of the selfish few to "steal" items not their due from slower runners behind them who get to the funnel to find that all the t-shirts have gone...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ZAZ03s7vg
Alan I am sure I have mentioned this before but Barcelona Marathon and Half Marathon give out the tee shirt before the race. You need to go to the expo to registor for the race, pick up number, chip etc and at the same time you get given a shirt in the size you put on your appliction form.
The HM doesn't have an expo as such, they just use a sports hall approx a mile from the start where you go to get your stuff.
I know this would require additional work/staff/volunteers and also the use of a place/hall and thus obviously more costs. At least it would stop idiots trying to get other peoples stuff for free.
As they are technical tees a lot of people then use them for the race, which is a very impressive sight.