Good for age ???

Cartman

Sub 3 hours for male 18-40 year olds ?

Anybody else think this is somewhat cr@p ? Did it not use to be a much more reasonable 3:15 ? Boston qualification is around that time..

Maybe they want to let more lard arsed antique dealers in ?

[Deleted User]

if you get in GFA do you get to start ahead of the masses or not

cougie

n007 - you go to the green start which is a lot less crowded than the others. And you see Nell McAndrew. Still go at 9.45 though - no sneaky head starts !

[Deleted User]

so the bulk of crowds are behind - helps get off quickly

nell... mmmmmmm

candy ollier

if you can do 3.15 then 3.00 is do-able, i think

its a bit off that they didn't change the female one too last year though... sexist pigs

candy ollier

although if you are up for 3.00 in the red start you wont have many crowds to worry about!

cougie

Candy - how did ya doooo ?

[Deleted User]

its all a mystery to me this stuff..red starts etc. I am running my first marathon in 3 weeks and reckon i can get to sub 3 easily to October

do some starts start before others? dont people just lie about their likely times?

Cartman

It probably just a "bag of grapefruits" on my part, but I suspect that it is, statistically speaking at least, the most difficult GFA to get (men 18-40).

You basically have to be in the top 2% of runners in the race and that includes all the elites (male and female) and all the other sub 3'ers over 40..

candy ollier

3.28 - but i was going to get a 3.15 GFA in the autumn anyway, so i guess it'll have to be a 3.00 instead

no problem!?

[Deleted User]

n007 - they all start at the same time but green start is less crowded than the other two. and you have to prove that you've done sub 3 (ie give them a copy of the result) to get a GFA place.

candy ollier

n007 its just an flm thing... they have three start points to handle the crowds

cougie

V good - we weren't far apart then - 3.24 for me. Yeah - Sub 3 for me too in the Autumn !

(er can we not just do a fast half and tell them to double that ?)

[Deleted User]

ok i think i get it so by qualifiying you havent got to work your way through 30000 people running slower than you?

Thats what put me off this year,.

Cartman

I'm currently on 3:21 and aiming for 3:10 this year. Perhaps if I eat more bacon butts and talk rubbish to a news paper I might get in !!! Hoorah... running has never been so easy ;-)

candy ollier

that's ot how it works, mr bond

each start also has 'pens' such that runners are banded, fastest at the start

so you run with people of equal ability

...except of course the W***ers who lie about their expected times to get to the front

candy ollier

cartman - get a cheap charity place - i got in for &750 this year, which wouldn't be difficult

i can give you details of some cheap ones

[Deleted User]

worth a go then

candy i seem to recall that you are doing an ironman this year

is it feasible to do an IM and marathon within a few months of eachother

or stupid?

[Deleted User]

n007 - if you are planning on giving GFA a go remember to check the cut off date. they haven't been announced for this year yet but were very early october last year. it might make a difference as to which marathon you decide to go for.

Cartman

thanks candy, me thinks I will need a charity place next year, and 750 sovs does not sound too difficult to raise..

This will be my 4th attempt to get in..

[Deleted User]

I didn't see any policing of those pens, candy. If you wanted to jump the queue it looked pretty easy. (I had to work out a predicted time based on 1/2M time)

ip(FeS2)

Wierdly, the GFA is already up on the london marathon site !!!- THe dates match with next year, so I'm hoping this is final numbers.

http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/entry_info/goodforage.htm

Please give details and proof of performance (which must have been achieved in 2003 or 2004). You must provide proof of this performance i.e. a photocopy of your results slip and your age. The closing date for receipt of letters applying for GFA entries is 10th October 2004.

If your performance is accepted by our scrutinisers you will be sent a guaranteed entry form which must be returned by 24th October 2004.


MEN 18 - 40 2:45-3:00 WOMEN 18 - 49 3:15 -3:45
MEN 41 - 59 sub 3:15 WOMEN 50 - 54 sub 4:00
MEN 60 - 64 sub 3:30 WOMEN 55 - 59 sub 4:15
MEN 65 - 69 sub 4:00 WOMEN 60 - 64 sub 4:30
MEN 70+ sub 5:00 WOMEN 65 - 69 sub 5:30
WOMEN 70+ sub 6:30

[Deleted User]

wow - so they haven't changed the womens GFA time.....

ip(FeS2)

-- Apparently not :-) That makes my race strategy for lake V much simpler( and hopefully less painful).

I have to admit I think the women's time is a bit generous, but watching it on the TV, there are so few women coming in in sub4, perhaps it isn't.

candy ollier

Cardboard box - there are martials on the entrances, so if you are supposed to be in pen 6 they wont let you in pen 2

but allocations go on predicted times, so a 5.30 marathoner could claim to be a 3.15 marathoner to get near the front

hence my comment about W***ers (of course misguided novices might misjudge, and that's fine, but I was annoyed to overtake lines of club runners happily jogging along at about 9:00 or 10:00 pace well into the race on sunday, so they had obviously deliberately lied to get to the front)

[Deleted User]

in pen 4, blue start I might have missed the marshalls but I sure saw all the bin liners which would obscure runners numbers and didn't see anyone asked to lift the liner to see their pen no.
I'm sure nearly everyone went to their alloted pen and would not want to encourage anybody to get a flyer.

candy ollier

they were making people lift up their bin liners at the red start (i had to for pen 3)

although if you have a computer the numbers would be easy to forge!!

[Deleted User]

ah - hope I haven't dropped any marshalls init!

Cartman

any idea how they come up with these GFA times ???

[Deleted User]

Read all this with great interest - well done everyone for Sunday! I'm doing my first marathon (Cardiff) on Oct 3rd and hoped to get a GFA time for next years FLM. Is there going to be enough time to get results to them before Oct 10th? Does it have to be written or do they accept the results off the website? Failing that, would a GFA time stand for the following year?
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Hi Everyone

Can anyone help please with these GFA times thingeys.

I'm living in hope (probably foolishly), but it does state on the website that to qualify in my category for GFA, women need to run "equal to or faster than 3.15 - 3.45"

Does this mean sub 3.45 or does bang on 3.45 also count? I'm asking because my chip time for Sunday's FLM was 3.45.52 and wondered if this counted as "equal to"

If anyone knows, I'd like to know, be it good or bad news for my entry next year.

Cheers
Sarah :0)