Beckenham 10K - Sunday 5th June


Am I the only person looking this far ahead?

Comments

  • Yup!

    Can't see beyond 10th April meself!

    Have already told my boys to bring their football along for this ;)
  • Multi - don't tell me you're going to race?! You do realise that it'll involve running for more than 5 minutes?

    Think I'll take a raincheck on this one - in that I'll hope for rain. Last year was way too hot for me, and I had to take a 5 min break sitting under their drinks table (only solid shade I could find) glugging water halfway round. The course made for no breeze, and lots of heat coming off the road, with very little shade. Great for those who like warm weather, but I think there were a lot of us who got dehydrated last year, and with only the one drinks station at 5k, I wouldn't be in a hurry to repeat the experience.

    If the organisers took note of last year and managed to squeeze in extra drinks stations, I might be tempted. I had finished my water bottle within 1.5k - normally wouldn't drink more than half of it in a half-marathon. Otherwise, well-organised, bit of a heart-sinkening course (two laps, so you know you have to do the hill - not particularly steep but long - twice) don't remember much traffic, good marshalling.
  • Who said anything about running? I was just asking if anyone was doing it!!
  • you can't expect a small running club to have more than one drinks station in a race that short. In fact, I know of no races which have more than one station in a 10k, and quite a few don't even have that.

    the answer is to start well hydrated, or even take your own water with you - the Runners' Shop in Beckenham sell those ones with a handle which goes round your hand.

    don't think I'll be doing the race this year - will be at the Harvel 5 the previous day, which has its own beer tent....
  • You've clearly not done Dulwich 10k then, Snoop... or the BUPA Feetbeat 10k in Hyde Park... or, obviously, the St Albans Women's 10k... etc. There are quite a few 10k races that have more than one water station, but they tend to be the two- (or more) lap courses that have a station at 3k and therefore also at 8k.

    If you'd read my post before replying, you'd have noticed I did take my own water, and finished it very early on in the race. Oddly enough, I do also know that it's a good idea to start a race well-hydrated in summer and as I had consumed 5l of water that morning, I don't really think I could have drunk much more...

    I don't expect any 10k race to have a particular number of water stations - all that I said, if you read the post, was that it was very hot last year (around 34 degrees that day) and with just the one water station, it wasn't enough for me. As a result, I personally won't be entering this year unless the weather is much cooler or the organisers include an extra drinks station.

  • But I did read your post - I couldn't have replied unless I had.

    And I ran the same race, and don't recall anyone else having any difficulties, and although recollections are a little hazy now, it certainly wasn't anywhere near 34C - that's in the nineties!

    If you'd really consumed 5L that morning, then your illness can't be attributed to lack of hydration - it must have been something else.

    And for the record, I have done the Dulwich 10k three times, and I know they only have one water station there. The other 'big' races you refer to have huge resources, and it's not reasonable, or even necessary, for a small club to put on more than one water station for such a short race.
  • Yes, Dulwich has one water station - which, when I last ran it in 2003, we passed twice. I stopped for water both times as I was on antibiotics at the time.

    You obviously didn't read the post carefully then, Snoop, or you wouldn't have suggested that I carry a water bottle - you'd have realised that I did carry a water bottle.

    I can assure you that there were other people suffering as well. It doesn't surprise me that you didn't notice them.

    I ran the first 5k with Id and when we saw the numbers of people who had collapsed at the water station - and the St John's Ambulance people who were urging people to stop if they felt unwell - I decided to stop too. In the time that I stopped there, two people were taken off by the St John's Ambulance guys, unable to stand by themselves. Several other people were unable to continue running.

    According to the Met Office records, the max temperature in the shade on 6 June 04 was 31 degrees. The course wasn't in the shade. I don't believe, therefore, that it was an exaggeration to say that it was 34 degrees - that was the temperature shown by my car thermometer and recorded in my running log.

    I realise that that's unusual to experience those conditions in such a short race, even in summer, and I don't think that anything I have said can be construed as a criticism of the organisers - they said that there would be a water station at 5k and there was. All that I said - and I will now repeat it for the second time - was that it was incredibly hot that day, I found it too hot, and I became dehydrated. Therefore, unless the weather is considerably cooler or there is more water available - and I do not intend to carry a bottle larger than the 500ml bottle I took last year - I won't be running it.

    I am sorry that what I thought might be helpful comments to anyone considering doing the race this year about the course, marshalling, etc, along with an explanation of why, despite thinking it a good race, I won't be doing it, should be interpreted by you as some kind of personal affront - especially as you have no intention of running it anyway. Anyway, I can't really see that continuing this 'conversation' is going to prove beneficial to anyone wanting to do the race this year so I'll leave this thread to people actually doing the race.

    I stand by my comments that it's a well-run race, the marshals were helpful, v little traffic, but not much shade on the course, so if a hot day, unsuitable for people who don't like running in the sun.
  • sorry, ent got the time to read thru that lot.

    whatever....
  • So Multi, are you going to demonstrate your amazing new speed here? ;-)

  • I prefer 'reduced sloth' as opposed to 'speed', Tiger ;-)

  • A full event but only three forumites? Surely not!!
  • It's full? I was going to enter on the day, damn!

    Soz Multi, we will just have to wait a little longer ...
  • Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg ✭✭✭
    what a shame - I was thinking I might enter on the day as well :0(

    Oh well, I'll do the Harvel 5 instead.
  • Entering on the day! It will be my third Beckenham 10k :)

    A few pics of last year's race to get into the groove.
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