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Reading Half Marathon
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Must go and find a bin bag for tomorrow morning!! MMmmmmmm....... where can I empty this lot then?........
Just wanted to wish you all good luck and see some of you there
Hopefully this weekends weather is going to copy last weekend's: Saturday was very wet and windy, Sunday was dry and sunny and a little breezy.
See you all tomorrow and in case I don't, have a good one.
Just purchased a HRM so I have a new toy to play with for tomorrow.
Echoing your thoughts Murf - fingers crossed for no rain!!
Ah well, time for bed.
Good luck to all
I hope you all did really well, went for a run sat night but couldnt justify doing the race in the state i was in after 2 miles easy running!
My time - a winderful 1,55:40 secs!!!!!!!
Yipeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
Gill came in at 2.23 and is well pleased with her time too.
Gud to meet you all last night, hope to meet again.
What were your times?
2:12 with loo break so 20 mins off PB
However, when the race finally got on the way I had a nice jog arround Reading, helping a friend to beat 2 hours. We did it in 1:55:46, so no pb for me, but I still got my nice medal.
The support was really great in Reading, but for me it was the first and last time there. I will stick to the smaller, better organised races.
Iv posted my other commentson garys fiasco thred
Managed a decent 10 miles at 69 mins but down hill (not literally) from there! Thanks to the magical Venom for being a decent companion for the first 7 miles (despite the fact that you left me on my own!)
Managed 1:56 so quite happy with that. Even happier that I beat my PB at the 10 mile mark! Looking forward to next years race.
PS Nice Medal!
bit of detective work to find out reason for delay - feel that my lot can be justified now, so happy - police/firemen whod volunteered to be marshals didn't all turn up, hence we had to grab people out of other jobs like the tent, helpdesk etc, to be new marshals, as soon as they found out the marshals were missing, thats annoying because surely if you make a commitment to help at a race like that, then you actually bother to turn up! I turned up and Id dropped out anyway, so Im sure they could have been there in time as well...
That's all OK then.
Not good enough I'm afraid. A significant number of volunteers simply didn't turn up? What agreements were in place for these volunteers to turn up? How were they managed and prepared for the event? Do the police volunteer (unpaid) to do this sort of work? What were the contingencies in place for a failure?
It all smacks of poor management and inadequate planning I'm afraid.
Anyway, I'll say no more till I hear the official explanation from Sweatshop and the police.
I take it Sweatshop will be offering some explanation?
Andy
"not good enough" - it is my opinion, not an official answer, not even an answer from anyone remotely involved in the organisation of the race, just me expressing how i feel, and if i cant do that then forget these forums, because there is no freedom of speech.
Im sure there will be some official response, but for petes sake please dont interpret my personal posts in this way. i give up!
If marshalls don't turn up, that could well be because it was badly organised, and because problems weren't anticipated, and because there was no plan B - so I don't see how Sweatshop are off the hook.
Far from it.
Andy
Jon (being strangely assertive today!)
I on the other hand, were able to drop my bag off without queuing (with 20 mins to go to official start), have a lovely lad hand me the medal and say well done. Pitied the poor women who was mobbed for her blankets and then were able to pick up my bag without queuing. Not bad for a mid field finish. Yes, there was room for improvement but so has my PB.
This race had nothing compared to the Nike 10k debacle. Now there was a bad race.
I think organising a race through a major town like this must be incredibly difficult. But this is why I feel frustrated by the way it was handled. Either we don't do it at all because the logistics are too diffucult, or we decide to do it, and make sure that every possible forseeable problem is covered, with a contingency to deal with last minute glitches.
I've no doubt that Whitley Wood can be a tough place to organise a race so you either don't include a place like that in the route, or you treat it as a separate task with special treatment (leafletting, posters, extra marshals, extra liaison with police etc.)
It just comes down to the quality of your organisation. Let's face it, Sweatshop is a retailer, and just because they sell running gear, it doesn't mean that they know anything about how to organise a major sporting event. It really has to be a council and police operation, with dedicated planners, equipment and staff.
It deserves to succeed, as it does get a lot of crowd support. I'd like to see the local press support it better too.
Andy
however, ecstatic at end of race with a PB smashing 1:29:45!! (beat old one by 3:45)
Cheers, to jon and venom, who without knowing it helped me a lot by running past me at mile 3, which tweaked me to up my pace (trying to keep those blue shirts from getting more than 50 yards ahead). ta guys!!
cheers,
smileyElfStyle