T184

so, anyone signed up for this on here, or am i the only idiot in the village

a few friends and i have entered, should be epic

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Comments

  • shawkshawk ✭✭✭

    "Surely no other ultra race in the UK will cover such a diverse range of sights and experiances"

    lol

    TP has got to be the least interesting path in the country. £125 to run it self supported? They couldn't even be bothered to proof read their blurb for mistakes. The gross thing is this will sell out and they'll get £12k for manning a couple of locks for a couple of days.

     

  • T RexT Rex ✭✭✭

    It seems you're paying a lot of money to be supplied with water which you could buy from shops en route or get from riverside taps and do the path on your own?  

    It's a LDP I would actually like to do one day but I'm starting with TP100 next May for the time being.

  • hmm - i asked if anyone had entered it, personally im not bothered about cost - theres a seperate thread gathering speed on the very subject currently. but i know the guy will have a few costs involved, the satelite tracking and software would cost a little bit, a shirt or medal or whatever, theres the hire or purchase of them tent things, so maybe he'll come out with 8k clear - fair play, he didnt force me to pay for it, and as just coming from long distance tri £125 is cheap as (timing)chips.image

     

  • Hi, Just joined the forum - I'm signed up for t184!  Don't think the cost is that much - £125 doesn't buy you much these days, and I suspect the organisers costs are more than many would think, and they will no doubt comit a fair bit of time to the organising, not just the time over the event itself..

    Also have to remeber we rely on somebody to get off their arse and set these things up so we can take part.... 

  • shawk wrote (see)

    "Surely no other ultra race in the UK will cover such a diverse range of sights and experiances"

    lol

    TP has got to be the least interesting path in the country. £125 to run it self supported? They couldn't even be bothered to proof read their blurb for mistakes. The gross thing is this will sell out and they'll get £12k for manning a couple of locks for a couple of days.

     

    The way of the modern Ultra....

    Rory Coleman comeback, all is forgiven!!!

     

  • That is exactly the kind of shambles I was referring to in the "rant about prices" thread. It is a £50 cookie cutter website, with a £50 cookie cutter "race".

     

    The thameschallenge.com 100K in contrast at least tries to offer value with this package for £85

    During the challenge...

    • Event pack - hi-vis, energy products
    • Energy snack stops every 12.5km
    • Hot meals at major rest stops (bring your own lunch for 1st 25km stop on your challenge)
    • Full event support - marshals, support walkers, professional event managers
    • Fully signed route, route maps
    • Aerobic warm up at the start
    • Manned Check points every 12.5km with facilities
    • Medics at every rest stops
    • Shuttle service for retirees at rest stops from 50km onwards
    • Massage facilities at 50 and 75km rest stops, and at the finish
    • Runners - Extra supplies of energy drinks
    • Runners - Baggage service at the 50km

    As regards thames races: Neither of those are up to the "iconic status" of the age old Londn "polytechnic" marathon - I did twice when it was reinvigorated in the nineties.  Windsor to Chiswick.

    And I think it cost me £10 - with checkpoints and coach taking belongings to the chiswick stadium,  but to be fair, inflation has also had an effect in the mean time!

     

     

  • i really do get what you are saying. Essentially I could run the challenge whenever I want as no doubt there will be shops etc on the way..... But I need an event to work towards and not a date that I just choose because i'll never do it. I like the thought of running the length of something IE the other day i just donr the length of the Kennet & Avon canal. So running the whole length of the Thames for me is ideal and when an event gets under your skin you just do it. Plus its another event you can tick off saying you have done. i don't know as ultra runners we sometimes see 184 miles and you think yeah alright i'll give it a bash without giving anything else much thought image But for me the T184 is an event I will be doing with mates and will be my big race next year, its not so much the event itself its the run up and the training i'll do for it IE taking things to the next level to give a  good account of myself, so 125£ in my head at least isn't that bad because its getting my arse in gear and giving me something to train for image

  • Vucar  - had you thought of ganging together with likeminded souls to do the challenge on a specific date, hiring a copuple of minibuses for family, friends or fools to drive and be there at critical crossings, with support and the means to drive you away if you are unable to go on. 10 people kicking in £100 each could eat the cost of doing it, and it can be customized to be whatever you want it to be. Peer pressure would make you turn up...

     

     

  • £100 each? Sounds expensive......

  • alwaysinjured- or spend an extra 25£ and be part of an event?? image As I said its my big race next year so its not a problem. But I am doing other free events along with LDWA events so I am doing a good mix so I can afford the odd expensive race.

  • But it is not an event vicar, by any rational standard. . It has no support whatsoever.

    The price of a certificate is 25 pence, so that is what it is worth. How do you know you can trust this guy with your money? A mobile phone and contact section on a cookie cutter website?

  • Because the person who I am doing it with is friends with him image I do get what you are saying but you could say just a few mates could go and run the MDS course together or the UTMB course together or London Marathon together but its still not doing the UTMB or the London Marathon or MDS. i think its a case of saying right I done so and so event whats next otherwise nobody would enter anything?

  • There have been a lot of opinions expressed about this event, but the final judgment will rest with the participants after the event. 

    The Vicar raises an interesting point, because I think that many of us have been pushed towards an event because friends were in it, or indeed because people we knew through the internet were in it.   

  • Yep, I've signed Upto Loch Ness mara next year just to meet some people from the forums up there image

  • i would think we are all old and ugly enough to make up our own minds where we spend our own money. If your not that well off put on an event and make loads of cash. - if you believe its that easy. If you are loaded then you spending £3.5k on a sandy race is a nice week away from the office and time to 'relax' - then thats also money well spent.

    a simplistic view from a simple person image

  • Yep I'm in.

    £125 is a lot but compaired to some its bloody cheap.

    And theres plenty of events out there that give you a lot more for your money as well as plenty that give just as little.

    My 2 cents worth.

  • The cost of the race and the benefits of the race are listed on the website. People then get to chose whether they think it's worth the money.

    Only those who pay and do the event can really decide whether something is "worth" the money.

    Though I don't really like expensive races I find them less distasteful than armchair critics who believe they are "owed" another persons time and effort and risk to put on a cheap race for them.

  • I'm in. Working on the basis of £/mile, I'd say it is pretty good value. Given my ability, the £/hour value is through the roof.

    I think the value comes from your own mind really. Or, to look at it another way, it would cost more than £125 to do the Bob Graham and you don't get any support at all for that, just horizontal rain, ruined knees and sheep that stare at you quizzically.

    Me, I'm just going to revel in the fact that we're racing 184 miles uphill. How hardcore is that?

  • Okay, I'm late in on the thread but I'm in on this one too.  Coming from a rock in the middle of the Irish Sea, any race in the UK is blimmin' expensive (£300 just for the ferry) so I'll not get sidetracked into talking about money.

    How's training going folks?

    I have a top tip following this weekend's long run: if you sneak out at night (because you can't sleep) make sure the note you write, in the event that your wife wakes up and wonders where you are, has more detail than "gone for a run".  She wasn't supposed to wake up, but did, and was on the verge of notifying the emergency services when I waddled back in at 4am.  My bad!!

    Good run though - 24 miles off road in the dark whilst tired image 

  • 112 miles at the Viking Way Ultra, new PB at 50 and 100 miles. 1hour 5 mins off of my previous best for 100 miles so well happy with that.

  • Is that as training for the T184 Dave?.......makes my mileage seem worryingly tiny if it is!

  • Manx Muppet wrote (see)

    Is that as training for the T184 Dave?.......makes my mileage seem worryingly tiny if it is!

    Its all good training for the T184 but not specific training for that event.

    got another 42 miles over night this weekend and doing 55 miles next weekend.

    No running during the week, as too tired by the time I get home from work.

     

  • doing the T60 this weekend and then the enduroman 200 miler a couple of weeks later. Not expecting to make the 48 hour cut off for the 200 miler but it will be a good test for how much sleep or little sleep im going to need. Me and a couple of others did the last 30 miles of the thames - from radcot to the thames stone - the other week, nothing to hard but would recommend recce as there are a few little bits that you might miss but i suppose thats the same with any long race 

     

     

  • DK, is that last bit trail shoes terrain or would road shoes do the job?  I'm not planning on bringing a selection in the backpack and was thinking that trail shoes that go well on the road would be cover all bases.  If road shoes are likely to be okay, I might just stick with them.

    Any advice gratefully accepted.  Thanks

  • GeeeMGeeeM ✭✭✭

    I'm doing T60 as well - it's a bit too late for a recce now but interesting to hear about the last 30. I have the route loaded up on my eTrex so will keep an eye on it so I don't go off course - especially in the dark.

    I'm going for cushioned trail shoes, (Altra Lone Peaks) - I suspect it'll be a mixed bag underfoot, judging by the TP100 reports and recent weather I doubt our feet will stay dry for too long.

    Anyway - at the moment it looks like showers on Saturday clearing up in the evening, maybe a prevailing headwind but not as cold as it was last weekend. 

  • its a very hard call to say "wear x shoes" theres a few bits a nice hard trail and tarmac towards the last 15 miles but theres also some long grass too. im torn between cascadias and kanadias. cascadias dont grip very well but are a good hybrid, the kanadias have the grip and let water out quick. i got some hoka mafates which have the grip but in them conditions im not sure about the stability. for a lot of us its going to be a recce really i think, im certainly not racing it 

    sorry cant be a lot of help Manx

     

  • Righto, I've been and made an executive decision on the shoes front: I replaced my Mizuno Wave Ascends with ............drum roll please.................another pair of Mizuno Wave Ascends.

    If it ain't broke, don't fix it and all that!

  • Well that was a great race. Very well supported and a must-do for the masochists amongst us. Only 25% completed, so it's no stroll along the river...

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