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Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon anyone?
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Put 3:55 prediction and was in coral 3 , the 4h & 4:15 pacer were just behind me..didn't see the 4h pacer come past me (someone mentioned his balloon came off at the start) & the 4:15 pacer came past me on the prom but I couldn't stay with him, just nothing left...very frustrating seeing the balloon disappearing into the distance.
Pretty good for their first event, hope they can build on that next year and improve. Start was well organised & the finish was great (long run in !).
dwho68...just a check...are you looking at the time between the start and the first mat time given on the MyFinisher Center stats? That first mat was at 10 kilometres, not miles, the rest of the mats are labelled as miles. I too would be clocking 5:40ish for the first 10 "miles" if mis-read but actually it was around 9 minute pace.
I've just got a simple memory watch; press to record up to 50 splits; I didn't see all the mile markers (but then I never do), but my splits are fine, distance is good from my point of view too...that last mile took me 13 minutes...early on after the stadium climb I was feeling really good and was clocking 8:10s. Would love to run it again next year when I should be able to be more consistent.
Reading some of these posts makes it all clear, the 10 mile marker was on the wrong side of the road which is why we had to dodge cars at the bottom, it wasn't exactly a wall we had to cross more like a very high kerb--- I thought at the time it could have done with a ramp up and down it!,
good event though and the beer and concert at the end were great!!!
I was on the right side of the 10 mile marker but did wunder way the motorbike cop was a bit grumpy.
Other than a bit of confustion at the bag drop had a lot of fun. bonus being the 5 hour pacer was a very good mate known for years and got to say hello to the 5.15 pacer met at manchester earlier in the year.
Afraid had a calf problem for the second half and got beaten by a chuffing panda but the beer was nice.
I really enjoyed the 1/2 marathon. I found the course to be slightly harder than the BTR one but only at the start, there's a couple more hills. The 8am start did not agree with me though, I struggled from mile the outset and went 10 mins over my PB and 4 hellish blisters, probably payback for chickening out of the marathon! Promised myself Ill do the full hit next year.
The after party was excellent, we stayed and heard all the bands and had a good few drinks. Found this one to be very well organised and the medal was some serious bling! Weather was good too, all in all a great Sunday!
I was about to review but DanL sums it up for me.
It took me 4k to get going but really really enjoyed the course, concert and after party. I was very sore the next day but think it was from the 12 hours of drinking and the dancing!!!
I loved the race and smashed my marathon record with 3:14. My only complaints are that the 3:15 pace guy seemed to disappear (he had a balloon on him - maybe he got caught in the wind) and the lack of toilets at the start - but the route was superb
I ran a PB of 03:09:14. Nearly went the wrong way coming out of Stanley Park (think it was that park). I cant remember mile 10 flyover being any problem so I guess I did go the right way
Superb result dwho68! Looks like it was one of those days where a lot came together to deliver good times both on and off course.
Cake - I came up in the lift at James St with the panda! He was big mates with Captain America: http://i3.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/article7171044.ece/alternates/s615/mar7.jpg I've never run in costume - think I would die from the heat.
where do i start! i'll try and get through everything even though it wont be in any sort of order
1st off i thought the route was quite tough,nothing serious but after 26 miles them inclines do get to you, i got 3.49 in London a few eeks ago so was hoping for 3.45 here,that was my predicted time so i dont understand why i was in pen 4 and the 3.45 and 4hr pacers were in pen 3! That was my 1st gripe as i realised i just had to get my head down and try and run to the right pace without a garmin on. For some reason my race felt like it was over around half way,think the hills just took it out of me a bit but then i saw the 3.45 pacer and thought well if i can stay with these i'll be ok as they started 5 mins in front of me. unfortunately i didnt realise they were going way too fast!! by mile 24 my legs were running on empty and they went past me so i just kept digging in and to my surprise at about mile 25 and a half they'd stopped on the course and were shouting everyone through saying 3.45 this way! i thought the idea of a pacer was to go at an even pace? i went past them and then they finished in front of me just on the line,1 of them kept telling the other to slow down so they knew they were going too fast, i finished in 3.43 which was what a wanted and a new pb but i was shattered and the 3.45 pacers finished with nobody around them as all the 3.45 lot had dropped off as they finished in 3.37,surely thats way too quick for a pacer. Anyway,enough of the pacers, i was expecting rain around 1 but instead we got hot sun which wasnt welcomed at that stage, i didnt notice anything wrong with the 10 mile marker so im presuming i went the right way 
. Personally i thought the route was much better than the BTR one that started on the Wirral, as already stated i think better advertising could be done by the organisers, not much support on route til the end and people were walking about in front of you shopping in the city centre seemingly oblivious to what was going on. I thought the finish and start were great with the use of the echo arena but baggage needs looking at, a lot of messing about dropping it and collecting it. im sure there were some water stations missing and i only saw 2 lucozade stands, water stations should be better marked as you approach and as mentioned many times there was a serious lack of bands, not a band a mile as advertised!
It does sound like a lot of moaning and complaints but i think most things can be tweaked and this could really turn into a special marathon IF the organisers listen to the runners. Not sure if i'll be back next year as i have an eye on Edinburgh but never say never,well done everyone on a really good day
wow!! that message seems a whole lot bigger now! good luck to anyone who makes it to the end of it
Good review Boothy! The half course had a good few bands but not 1 per mile. However any small screw ups like this on the half were more than made up for at the end with the concert and a free beer!
for me it was a big disappointment - after London and Boston i knew it was not going to be able to match them but for a city marathon and a Rock N' Roll organised one it was a real let down. Start was good and quickly got into my stride - was out at near front of pen 1 so one of the first out. The big selling point of music etc was instantly let down by Matthew Street - no bands as promised and still loads of rubbish piled up from the night before outside Cavern etc. Not sure if they cleaned it up for later runners but could not believe it, trying to showcase the city and that was there. Flew up to the footy grounds which was fine but still amazed by lack of music - had only heard one by this point. On the way back down we passed a dead cat in the middle of the road - nice - then at the 10 mile point being near the front we had no marshals and just all crossed the flyover towards the 10 mile marker. Then came across the road with no marshals watching the side roads and was confronted with a number of buses pulling out into the road - one pulled out right in front of me and i ran into it being unable to stop!! Ended up with a disappointing 3.20 when i wanted about 3.05 but i suppose three in 7 weeks was asking too much.
Was simply amazed by the lack of people out supporting and the lack of bands considering this was a rock n' roll marathon, many just seemed to be setting up or some packing up! Course was more undulating than i thought it would be and this did not help after the big two in April.
I really wanted this to be a good race given i was born in the area but Liverpool just to me seemed to fail to support it properly. Many who still live there are saying they did not even know it was on or they may have come and watched.
Nice medal though
Cripes Andy,,,bad day at the office or what? Up until about 10 weeks out I was blissfully unaware that Liverpool were putting anything on this year - still believing that they'd gone "anti-marathon" after cancelling the previous version. I'm living on the Wirral, not far off the city, and it wasn't well known that the race was running. I had almost a counter day out to you; loved the course itself (you must've looked at the elevation profile before kick off?) it isn't the flattest but I liked it a lot more than Manchester which seemed "monotone" in comparison. I saw loads of people on course, mind you I was almost an hour behind you, they came out of their houses and gave support with gusto; I was cheered; high fived; videoed; photographed, and if I gave them a wave they loved it. The organisers definitely have a few things to sort out, but I'll be back again. You are right; I don't have a better piece of bling in the cabinet and I have medals from London, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Berlin... (ouch! the better half just swiped me for "showing off" - again)
Andy that's sounds like a very familiar experience, I'd forgotten about the broken glass and bin bags on Matthew Street though!
Andy - I did London & Boston too. How did the course profile compare to Boston?
I had entered this race but had to pull out due to injury. Sound like one to do for the future though - if only for the fantastic medal and beer at the end
Lowrez
My OH tried to convince me the cat was sleeping!! I asked him if he would sleep in the gutter with a few thousand runners thudding past!
You all need to go to Xpec Xavers - it was Karen's hat!
I never saw the cat. The pacers were all over the place. saw the 4 hour marathon pacer doing 8:30 min/mile for the first 4 miles. Mind it did not help me as my legs fell off along the sea front. That was a very long 4 miles.
Who said Liverpool was flat?! Anyway, will just have to enter another race and get the infamous sub 4 hour.
i only did the half but thought it was a great event and brilliant day out.preferred the slight tweeks to the btr route.ended up beating my btr time from last year by 20 seconds and got my 2nd best ever half time.definate potential in the half route for good times.sounds like a few more bands and the baggage area to be better organised and youv got one of the best race events in the uk.good to feel welcome at the end of the race and not puched out the exit door asap.
heaviest medal iv picked up in the uk.hope more rock n roll races get pencilled in for england and the uk as the event beats all others
Loved it, from start to finish, yeah there are a few quibbles but as has been mentioned a few tweaks here and there after listening to the runners from this year should sort that out.
Agree about the rubbish on Matthew St, however to be honest and I don't know why but that made me laugh more than anything, not sure what could be done about a dead cat showing up and if Liverpool being 'undulating' came as a surprise then a little pre-planning on your own behalf would have got rid of any topographical (made up word??) assumptions, Everton Brow isn't named that for nothing?
Crowds will increase through more awareness but I'd like to say the quality of the support (including the unfortunates from the local hostels trying to hand out water on Netherfield Rd) made up for the quantity, don't think I've smiled that much for such a long time in ages, and the narrow run in at the finish was exhillarating.
Always loved the idea of cake at the end of a race pretty good but having a beer as soon as you pick up your bag was inspired, and then finishing it off with a gig in the sunshine just topped the day off perfectly.
One problem I do have is that my official time is nowhere to be found, I am in conversation with them to sort that out so fingers crossed that'll happen shortly.
Oh yeah, and what a medal!!!
i dont know what happened with the pacers but as i said in an earlier post the 3.45 ones finished in 3.37 and were up and down with their pace all way through, BUT i believe they were literally thrown in quite late from local running clubs like liverpool running club and penny lane striders etc and just volunteered their services irrelevant of any experience in pacing so again i think really we have to blame the organisers and not necessarlily all the blame on the pacers, hopefully as i said the organisers will take all this on board and will be better prepared next year instead of leaving everything til so late.
All in all, that was one of the best days running I've ever had.
Much preferred the course to the BTR route, although that's probably something to do with 2011 being the worst days running I've ever had... It was pretty undulating but that was to be expected, and running past Anfield was a definite personal highlight. Sefton Park didn't seem to last as long this time either. I also really struggled during the last 4 miles, it seems to become a real mental battle when the route is stretched out in front of you with no real change of scenery.
Same minor issues as a few other people - I was pretty disappointed by both the lack of music & spectators in some areas, although as Nick said the quality of support was excellent.
The finish area was brilliant. I had no problems getting my bag, and the pint of Cobra was one of the best I've ever had.
Not to doubt you Boothy, but I passed the 3.45 pacer (green balloon) as we went past Goodison. I opened out a fairly big gap on them before struggling late on, but definitely wasn't overtaken again, and I finished in 3.43. I then saw the guys with the balloon arrive in the concert area after I got there.
3 45 pacers finished in 3 45, I was with them for most of the race and they were excellent, constantly shouting encouragement to everyone, handing out gels, and they never shut up.
I thought the course was excellent with some decent hills, especially St Domingo and Parliament St testing the legs, plenty of good views of the city, Mathew St could have been cleaned up though, The parks and the football grounds, and the Pier Head. Support was a bit sparse but lots of cheering and encouragment from those that did turn out, the finish crowd was excellent and lifted me in to a pb. Finish area could'nt be faulted, out of the sun in the cool arena then a free pint and a concert, loads of food and beer on sale and proper toilets in the albert dock at start and in the arena at finish.
Loved it...I think this is one of the best.
is that 3.45 chip time or 3.45 gun time tho? my gun time was 3.47 and they finished a minute or so in front of me which wouldve been 3.45, however they started well in front of me, 2 pens in front and my chip time was 3.43. so their chip times must've been about 3.37/3.38 and they did say that as they went past me about mile 25 and a half. one was shouting at the other to slow down as they'd gone too quick and did actually say they were on for 3.37. They were definately the same pacers as yours weren't they?? 2 liverpool lads,bright orange t shirts and if i remember one was quite tall with very short hair. I remember going through sefton park they had a group of around 20 people around them and when i saw them on the prom there was maybe 1 or 2 left with them and they were shouting back down the prom to tell people to keep going. Did you get their names or possibly bib numbers of your photos if they were near you then you could see their official times
ADG and Paul and the 3.45 pacers,massive apologies! clearly the answer is in my last post,they probably did finish in 3.45!! it was me misjudging it as i started behind them on the course,then i caught them then they went past me,then they stopped,then they went past me again right at the end so yes they probably were spot on,so again,massive apologies!