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Manchester Marathon 2016
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I definitely saw you then - didn't know that was you!
Hi all,well done to everyone. Hope you got what you wanted from the day. I had a good run and felt the stongest I have ever felt in the last 10k which was pleasing. 2:52:07 for me,pb by a massive 48 seconds.
Course was a good one and volunteers and spectators were super. I enjoyed the bit at 19-21miles with few spectators as London can get a bit noisey for me at times.
Sorry to hear about the baggage situation. Felt there may be some issues when I collected mine. Not much signage around race village about bag drop,toilets or where the start was and I didn't hear many announcements over a tannoy.
My garmin came out at 0.1 miles over but these things have a tendency to be slightly out. Although thought I read in a couple of places the start was meant to be 200m beyond the bridge which it wasn't?
Nice medal and t-shirt. Goody bag below average,uncooked pasta meal and beef jerky. Thought the beef jerky must have been a northern thing,so being a soft southerner sent mine home with Dad for the dogs.
Thanks to the people of Manchester but probably won't be back or recommend until someone else organises.
I would like to add that I thought the people of Manchester-particularly Altrincham where we stayed were fantastic. My family had a great time and everyone was friendly and helpful throughout the weekend. The issues that have been mentioned will have to be addressed and next year just might be the best year to do the race because they won't be making the same mistakes again surely? Doubt they will be so lucky with the weather though!
I'd have eaten your jerky, Dr H! I love that stuff. But yeah, I got the same pasta sauce in my goody bag for the Hampton Court half. Weird. If I want sauce I make my own. I'm not mixing up stuff out of a packet. Nasty.
Tom - yeah, folks in Manchester are generally very friendly. I experienced quite a bit of kindness, from the folks in the bag queue who loaned me their mobile to call my friend (who was waiting to pick me up - my mobile was in my bag, of course) to the lad who gave me his foil blanket and the spectators who cheered me on. I would say the folks up there are friendlier than Londoners but the atmosphere is quite similar to the Ealing half, where the crowd support is great too. No people dressed as Frank Sidebottom, though!
There is a statement on the website apologising for the bag pick up situation, just above the link to vote for them as your favourite marathon..... Beef jerky is a northern thing......North America that is
I have to admit I really enjoyed the whole experience. I have onl done 1 marathon before but have raced alot of other events both local races and big half marathons. I guess I have learnt from past experiences to not use the suggested carparks if possible as other events I havbe been to (oxford half springs to mind) have had the same issue and they had to delay the start !! I was also able to leave my bag elsewhere (another lesson I have learnt
). I think lots of big events have their pros and cons due to the amount of people and its just one of those things Ive learnt to deal with although I have to be honest the baggage did sound awful! Mile markers I noticed were out, again had this at other events, I wondered if the 19 mile marker was so far out as they just didnt have anywhere to secure it as it was a bity more rural ? As for the distance I over ran by 0.2 I seem to manage it in halfs too but at London I over ran by almost half a mile trying to get round people after being put the wrong pen for my time 
I am sure I will have some grumbles after London in 2 weeks ..... What a I doing ??!!!!
Best thing in the goody bag= Beef Jerky. Never had it before. Delicious and went very well with the beer I was drinking last night....
Regarding the GPS comments, a club mate of mine (47th, 3rd V45) who runs an absolute ton (also doing London and Belfast in next couple of weeks) said the course was slightly long because apparently it came in slightly short last year?
Everyone I spoke to got the same +0.2 reading, everyone. Now I know it's not an exact science but the consistency of everyone getting it wrong does point to a problem. And for me, the difference of sub-2:50 and over 2:50 is only a starting corral at Boston/London, but for some it's the GFA itself. Not cool.
Now time to focus on low-16 5,000, sub-34 10k, my 100 mile debut in 3 weeks......etc etc etc. Never ends! Keep on running folks!
One other thing! I spent the first 15 miles hearing people cheer 'COME ON DENNIS' and kept getting so confused. I mean, no one near me had a vest saying Dennis on it....
Then it dawned. HHH club vest is red and black hoops. Dennis the Menace. Club mates should've warned me! Lovely in hindsight to know they were cheering for me though!
Amazing support.
Ooh interesting Jack as yes the difference would have given me a sub 3.45 and insured a GFA at London if they change the times (at the moment a sub 3.50 was good enough, I ran 3.45.22) . I tend not to worry too much though as no point really
Sorry, but anyone who thinks a GPS watch is 100% accurate, and judges their pacing accordingly, is leaving far too much to chance. That's not the way these machines work.
Poacher - totally agree in almost all circumstances (especially on the track, mine goes nuts on there). But then you'd expect variety in the readings no? When EVERYONE is reporting the same thing?
Well done everybody.
Really enjoyed the race in so many ways. I was fortunate to have virtually no problems with organisation. The weather was fantastic and I really stepped up my preparation for this one and reaped the benefit with 3:24:13 which was a 20 minute PB.
By the way... too many stories to respond to all. But well done everyone. Dr H seems to be playing down his/her 48s PB. But when you're already sub-3hrs, then taking about a minute off is surely as impressive as taking several minutes off a 4hr PB.
JJ, well done on the pb and your support to this thread.
Unlucky Hellas. I personally saw two fallers. Neither looked hurt enough to stop. Hope you're OK.
And everyone else... well done!
Only race where my GPS was right was Frankfurt Ironman, virtually impossible to run the line that was measured in any running race. Where was the start anyway? Which mat?
That said, in cycling they messed up recently on a 100tt and somebody lost a title...GPS data forced a remeasure.
I lurk on this thread but don't think I've posted anything before (I'm usually on P&D thread). Just had a few thoughts about the course length.
My GPS showed almost an extra 250m at the end. I didn't think anything of it at the time as you expect a few inaccuracies.
I only thought of it more when someone mentioned the times at the halfway point. Checking my GPS data, it was exactly 21.1km at the time given at the halfway timing mat, which meant my GPS was 250m out for the rest of the course. I was running alone and made a conscious effort to take the shortest line. My GPS trace doesn't show any anomalies. I just checked the race licence and the course measurement certificate was done on 15 October 2015, when the finish was at MUFC, which means the course may not be certified for the new finish. Given the other issues on the day I don't have much faith in the organisers.
Here's the link to the race licence:
http://www.greatermanchestermarathon.com/files/3314/4776/0563/2016_Race_licence_and_Measurement_Certificate.pdf
I don't know about the distance but what I will say is that, from the turn where you could see the finish line until the finish line itself, it seemed to go on forever. I felt like I was running for ages and the finish wasn't getting any bigger, like one of those dreams where you're trying to run away from something but you're stuck in one place!
Just noticed on the course map that the start is shown 100-200m down the road from where it actually started. Having said that they could've easily moved the finish up the road the same distance, which you can't really tell from the course map.
Good point Ian.
Congratulations everyone one such great performances and results. Everyone who made it to the start line (especially those with injuries or problems with traffic!) are winners in my eyes!
For my first marathon, it couldn't really have went any better to be honest. I was pretty confident that I could break 3:30, but always had an eye on 3:20. Ended up feeling quite strong at the end and came over in 3:16 and something.....very very happy and man did that non alcoholic beer taste good when I got to the end!
I thought the exact same thing, especially as I was giving it a bit of an extra kick to finish hard, I started to really worry and think I was going to cramp up and the people who I was passing would end up passing me out again and I would have felt like a right pillock!
Regards the event itself, overall mostly positive for me. Thankfully I avoided the baggage situation, but my friend was lost to it for 90 minutes, and I couldnt contact him (his phone was in the bag!) so I was checking medical tents and everywhere I could to make sure he hadn't encountered any trouble! Thankfully he was ok. Surely they cant get it so wrong next time, bags should be one of the easier things to organise in all honesty!
Great support all the way around, the noise at the finishing straight was brilliant.
Hopefully will be back next year!
Agreed on the Erdinger too. I'm a beer snob and wasn't expecting much but itnwas absolutely fantastic! Wanted another one after the baggage debacle but couldn't see anywhere to buy one.
Well done to everyone (including those who didn't manage to finish for whatever reason).
I was very pleased with my run - my 8th marathon and the first time I've managed to run a more-or-less even pace. Finished in 3:10:17 for a PB by 19 minutes. Fastest mile was 6:50 and slowest 7:39.
I managed to avoid the baggage situation as I was one of the luck ones with a number over 13000 (no idea how they allocated the numbers). As I walked in and collected my bag in seconds I commented on how I felt like a VIP looking at the others in their massive queue. Really hope they can get that sorted for next year, it's totally unaccepatble.
Regarding the distance, it measured exactly 26.50 miles on my Garmin. I expected this from past experience but the fly in the oitment was that from the 25 mile marker I knew I needed to run under 7:30 pace for the 1.2 miles to get under 3:10. I comfortably achieved this pace but was 17s over the 3:10. I'm hoping London don't change the MV40 GFA time down from 3:15 to 3:10!
A couple of mile markers seemed to me to be out by exactly half a mile! 19 miles was at 19.5 and there was a 22 mile marker at 22 miles then another at 22.5 that still said 22. Bizzare!
Hi guys,
The course distance was accurate.
GPS watches work via satellites to measure distance and in simple terms estimate the distance covered. Because all GPS watches work the same way via the same satellite is why everybody measured the course long.
This is a very common issue for certain courses.
Enclosed is information re GPS watches:
http://www.runnersworld.com/for-begi...te-on-race-day
http://www.runnersworld.com/gps-watc...g-your-mileage
The second, and more common, type is measurement error: Each time a satellite
tries to pick up your location, it can be slightly off. When your watch or phone
tries to measure the distance between the last two pings, the line will be
longer than what you actually just ran. These tiny errors add up the more miles
you go.
Hi all, some great results posted. Hope those with injuries recover well.
I got home in 3:30:12. 13 seconds outside my goal but a 1 hour 7 minute PB compared to my debut marathon. So very happy.
I was on for sub 3:30 till 23 miles then cramp started to slow me. Had to stop twice in the last half mile when both hamstrings fully locked on me. I don't think my finish line photos will be pretty!
Out of interest my garmin measured 26.37. Seems perfectly within the margin of error for inaccuracies and race weaving. Plus unlike London there is no racing line to follow. However the certification with the Old Trafford finish is worrying especially considering the other organisational failures.
The toilet situation in the village pre race was woeful, and the baggage both before and after shambolic. I don't blame the people on the ground, they did their best, but the planning and an apparent lack of leadership let them down.
However I thought the course was good (bar the odd dodgy mile marker). Water and gel stations plentiful and well manned. Great support from both the volunteers and the crowds and the weather nigh on perfect. Plus i really enjoyed the free beer at the end - despite the lack of alcohol!
So a mixed bag for me and I'd be hesitant before signing up for Manchester again till they iron out the logistical issues.
As a fellow beer snob, wheat beers are actually the only type of non alcoholic ones that taste remotely nice (in my opinion) so I sort of knew what to expect, but it tasted great! I managed to coax a second one out of one of the young lads serving without too much hassle so I could enjoy that at more of a leisurely pace while hanging around.
Ian - Looking back at the information it says the timing mat would be at 13.1 miles, so I'm not sure if the 21km stated in the results was just an approximation. Who knows if it was right given the location of the mile markers?
Pete - I agree that GPS watches are not completely accurate but that does not mean the course length was accurate either. Given that the official course measurement was based on a different course, the mile markers were all in the wrong spot and the start was in a different position to shown on the course map I don't really have much faith in the official course measurement. Certainly I think it warrants questioning.
I've only run 2 previous races with my GPS (half marathons) and it measured 20m and 30m long in those cases. I know this doesn't mean GPS measurement has this level of precision but it I don't think it will always measure long as you suggest.
You're right in saying that there are plenty of opportunities for GPS watches to measure 'incorrectly' and also for runners to run off the optimum line. But to boldly state that the course distance was accurate is a bit too categorical I think - even if it turns out to be true. Of course, GPS watches are not accurate to the millimetre, and anyone clocking 12.3 or even 12.4m should not jump to any conclusion because that is normal.
But there have been plenty of cases where it's been shown that mistakes in course layout (e.g. not laying out cones to exact follow the route that was measured many months or years previously). So you definitely cannot say that Manchester didn't suffer from that yesterday.
Indeed last year's course was, according to a very good source, probably laid out a bit short. And I mean that came from a very good source! (also I got it short on my watch last year, which I thought was a bit unusual at the time and there were threads on here about it).
If HA found the certification based on last year's course (which was presumably accurately measured, just probably not accurately laid out) - then I trust that the organisers did follow procedure to adjust for the course changes for this year.
My watch put my half marathon at 2:05:12 whilst my race stats on the results page say 2:05:38. Very little difference at this point.
My watch puts the 26.2 mile point at 4:24:38, whist my race stats show 4:26:41 (my watch recorded 26.42 miles).
Therefore, it does seem that the course was long. I understand GPS drift and not running the race line, but I think the fact that the first half shows only a little difference and the second half shows a lot more shows that the course wasn't the exact distance it should have been. For me, it makes no difference - it was my first marathon, I didn't run it quickly and I wasn't going for a GFA. For others, I can see that this could be a big issue.