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PROVISIONAL Helphire Bath Half-Marathon
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Comments
Hilly, RD - sorry to hear you had to pull out. Hope you're feeling better.
It was good to meet all the people who came over to say Hi. I enjoyed seeing the race from another angle - it's the first time I've realised that some runner come back into a fairly empty field - it's usually pretty crowded when I get there! A fairly exhausting day, though - much easier to run it, I think.
Happy running.
http://staff.bath.ac.uk/ccsgtm/bath2005/bath2005.htm
Well done Race Director and all your willing crew
BB - Thanks for the supportive hug - and congrats to BD, make up for last year's disappointment.
Stace - great to meet up with you and UFM. How's your shoulder and UFM's knee this morning.
LLL - I saw you finish and went to the funnel to meet up with you but couldn't find you anywhere.
Undulating - please pass big hugs to MrsU - hope she's OK. With any luck I'll see you at Frenchay. I've started a sub-group within the club - Hogweed Hobblers!
Also a big 'well done' to the organisers. I wasn't there last year but heard the horror stories. It's good to see when organisers take the comments on board and actually DO something about them. From my own perspective I would make a couple of comments - firstly, the starting time markers were in minutes as opposed to hours:minutes. I heard a lot of confused comments about this and I know from talking to some of the earlier finishers that people were definitely lining up in the wrong places. One 1:18 finisher told me he overtook several people with hooded coats who were clearly in the wrong place. On the other hand, it was almost impossible to get out of the Rec before the gun went off. Perhaps an earlier call to the start would be more appropriate next year.
I wasn't keen on the fill your own goody bag at the end, sort out the organisation as this is a great race.
Also RodgerDodge I agree with the comments about placing at the start, it was clear that many people had no idea where they should stand. A complete mix of walkers, fun-runners and racers all together where I was.
If this race continues at this scale or (presumably) gets busier then they will have to start segregating based on speed, not just when you turn up at the start.
Don't get greedy by increasing the number of places again, sort out the problems which you had. Reading the reviews there are many people who are now saying they may not run this again. This would be a shame, but I can see where they are coming from.
R.D...
My Shoulder and knee are sore this morning.
UFM's knee proved to be a mystery. It took us nearly an hour to help her limp back to the car (after running 1:39), but by 6.00pm
she had no sign of any thing??? What makes me mad is that she went out for a fast 5 miler with swim coach last night!
My time (would you believe it?) is exactly the same as Bristol Half last yera... to the second!
Should have put a bet on...1:47:11
Pleased with that although I felt it was a personal best as i think that Bath is a much tougher race than Bristol (more drag hills).
Was good to see the other Forumites just before the start for a pre race photo, I don't know who had the camera but I woud love a copy.
Hilly...
Both UFM and I are gutted you had to pull out and hope you are ok for the Elite line-up at FLM!
I have never ran this race before and did think that a small bottle of water at the end would have been nice and why did one of the officials suddenly decide that no more bannanas were to be given out because too many people wanted them????
What were they there for then?
I must say all in all I enjoyed the event as a whole right from the " forumite meeting" right through to the "feeling like sh*t" in the pub at the end.
Well done Bath Half If I can get in I'll deffo be back next year!
Stace.
{:o)¬<
Not saying I didn't enjoy it, but there was a lot which could have been done better.
Aidan
Pressed start/stop as I went under flag so pretty sure my time is correct, there was a bit of a queue before I was "chipped"
The 'fill you own bag' thing was slightly bizarre especially as my hands were too sweaty to open my bag.
Everything else was pretty damn good; not really missing the t-shirt either since last year's version lasted all of about three washes!
Liked the 10k markers as well!
In other races I've done using Championship Chips my times tend to be spot on (give a take a sec). Still get the impression there are probs with the armour plated race nos that Bath use..
"Please note that in accordance with UKA Rules of Competition the official results (used for calculating prizes etc) are based on gun-to-chip times."
If like me you were one of 500 or more runners stuck on the ramp up from the rec when the gun went your experience would be very different
No chance at all of running smoothly for the first 3 miles because the speed grading of the filed was destroyed, and a pick your own goody bag method in heavy crowds that failed badly
It was a race of two halves
Still, if the half I was part of doesn't show up next year - as I won't - there will be more room for the rest of you
I was a little suprised at the goody bag system - it was working well enough when I came through but I guess was likely to have become overwhelmed later. A friend of mine who ran his heart out and finished in 1:52 didn't get a chocolate bar (and all of mine was eaten by my lady friend!) but unlike some of the people griping and whinging on here it didn't ruin his entire day - we both enjoyed the event, we both thought it was well organised - we enjoyed Bath very much and hopefully we'll be back in future years. Well done again to the organisers and to the very many volunteer helpers out around the course.
Someone was asking about photographers earlier - I don't know if they were the official photographers but I did see a reference on Sporting Gallery website that they were covering the Bath Half. I've just looked and there are no links yet. I run the Longleat 10k at which they took pics and would warn you that they are pretty slow at uploading. May be worth a look in a week or so.
I entered in some trepidation after reading last year's comments but overall it well.
I thought that the whole point of having chips was to give an accurate personal time (prizes awarded on gun to chip times as per rules). If the RFD (??) chip in number cannot do this then it is a retrograde step.
Plenty of 1st aid posts
Was hardly worth having the empty goodybag to put a banana in.
No water at the finish.
Lack of bins in the athletes village.
A seperate male and female changing tent would be better.
Only the lack of water at the finish is a really issue.
Missed the pre race meeting due to big queues at Bristol TM as 2 of the 4 fast ticket machines were out of order so i was one of the many who missed the 09.40 train.
Did 2.04 on my watch I think but managed to restart it whilst getting changed. Was ok upto 9m then had to go into walk 1 min run 4 mins mode.
Just managed to avoid being lapped before the 5 mile mark. I have seen the leaders going the other way down the Portway in the Bristol HM but it really brought home how fast the elite runners are when they overtake you like that.
The race has inspired me to go out and train harder to improve my 1.53.25 PB which I know that I can do if I put my mind to it.
Oh yes, why were there energy drinks at 12.5 miles?
Well done organisers for what I felt was a well organised race. Just a shame I had problems with my back and couldn't finish, but have to say the lift back to the start by SJA was much appreciated!
Thanks Stace. I'm sure a few days and I'll be full on training again!
RD, hope physio helps!
On the local news tonight it said that bath half numbers would be doubled next year!!
I was surprised how little I ached this morning, but the aches and stiffness have got worse as the day has gone on:-(