FLM runners and supporters

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Comments

  • Ooo me too, Cougs!
    I have to say I agree with Ashley about sticking to our Mudchute site. BUT I may do a recce early on next year to see if we can move down or up the road a little.
    Supporters who nipped down to the supermarket: how crowded with peeps was the pavement along there??
  • I was having a gait analysis done on the Saucony stand, and if it was you you walked past ... Well I was sure it was you !

    Suzie said she saw you on Sunday, she was stood on a wall right by Island Gardens DLR station just before 17 miles
  • Meer

    I was thinking about being closer to the supermarket. When they ran out of water this year it would have been great to get some supplies out to the runners.

    Ashley

    Don't worry :-) I had almost forgotten it was originally my idea. You and meer have been so good at carring it out.
  • Ashley - no criticism intended. It was my own fault for being too bashful!
  • I'll take a look, Josie. The one good thing about our present site is the railings! Great for fastening banners etc to.
  • Ultra Meerkat, CdK and all supporters, especially Team 4. A BIG THANKYOU. It was really great knowing that you were all there waiting for the stargglers like me, cos' you know I really didn't think you would have stayed that long! The Jaffa Cakes were fab (think I knicked someone else's sorry!) only dissapointed that you couldn't get hold of George Clooney as requested. I certainly spotted you, balloons would be a great idea too. Thank you again it was nice to say hello only wish I had time to have stopped to have had a good chat, felt very unsociable having to run off like I did!
  • I missed out on having an allocated support group (away with work and therefore no web access until after the groups were closed), but saw all the signs and spotted you fairly easily.

    Unfortunately, I was going through a rough patch in the race and, for some inexplicable reason felt too ashamed to give you all a cheer. That does not mean I didn't appreciate your presence and support, because I did, but is probably symptomatic of the wierd things running over long distances does to your head.

    p.s. Not ashamed of YOU, by the way, ashamed of my performance... I know, I know, bizarre.
  • <<gives rocks the hugs left over from mile 17>>
  • SticklessStickless ✭✭✭
    I think we need team signs on sticks.

    I didn't know hardly any of my team before I started on the team thread, and it was really nice to get to know a few of you on line.

    I was really sorry I didn't feel I could stay to the end, so I missed a lot of that. Feel guilty about that, but couldn't be helped. First responsibility was to meet Mr. and get home with him asap. After running, having to walk half way across London and then sit in a train is a task you want over with quickly.

    Perhaps I should have warned peeps earlier that I couldn't cover the whole day.

    Other than that, I loved it, and I will come again, unless I get in on the ballot myself. Unlikely that Mr. will apply, so maybe time restrictions won't be in force next year.
  • I do think it was probably harder to see runners coming than last year due to the way the road curved (as someone has mentioned - last year you could see the support point/runners a long way away, but with the course being reversed it wasn't so easy). I did mention this to meer beforehand, but she made the point that the spot has a lot of benefits.

    If we can find somewhere with railings and plenty of space behind etc, then a swap might well be worthwhile.
  • Hi all and thanks to all the supporters for their efforts on Sunday. That said, it didn't work that well for me, I had no difficulty finding you as I was there supporting last year and I also live nearby. I didn't see the countdown markers but then i wasn't looking for them, but I did see the group 9 sign and like everyone else, assumed the numbers counted down.

    I spotted 2 guys with a group 4 sign so stopped to say "hi Jenks here" but they didn't seem to be expecting me and then started searchiung through a list to see what I had requested. I didn't want to hang around but it would have been rude to run off so I waited and said I only wanted a few jelly babbies. A bay of babbies was produced, I said thanks and that was that. No encouragement!!! A bit further down the line someone yelled out "well done Jenks" and that made up for it.

    Sorry if this makes me sound ungrateful, I do know it is very difficult to co-ordinate but there were only a small number of runners in each group and I was only a few minuted off my expected time.

    Anyway, like I said at the begining, thanks for being there, It was a definate lift knowing you were there.

    Jenks
  • Hi all and thanks for all the support. I saw all the countdowns signs and they didn't half give me a spring in my step. I also found team 3 and got my hug!. The photos meer put on the site beforehand were a good memory jogger. I'd say good work all round!! The timing of the site is good as its when you are starting to flag and the docklands seem endless...
    Kit-e-cat
  • First of all many thanks Meerkat for organising this, it was great to have this support to look forward to!

    - could you find us?

    Yes, but some more balloons might have made it easier.

    - did you see Leggy's wonderful '800/400/200m to go' signs?

    Yes, these really helped as I was pretty tired so a bit anxious about missing you. The countdown was a good idea.

    - was it a good idea to have allocations to support teams?

    Yes, managed to find Team 7 and shout "jelly babies" at them ;-)

    - any other ideas that would make it even better next year?

    Maybe put the teams in numerical order?

    Also can I volunteer for next year? Feel I should really pay back the support as it was much appreciated.
  • I thought it worked really well. I saw my team and boy was it a relief - and everyone was so happy and friendly that alone was a boost.
    Being given a team I think is the best way to do otherwise it would be even more confusing, and it kind of makes it more personal - even though I had never met my support crew before. I failed to see the 800, 400 and 200m markers, were these at the finish, or leading up to the support teams - sorry not totally sure?

    I thought you did a fab job, both pre-race organisation and on the day - thanks so much
  • Hi and a big thanks to all at mile 17, as a first timer Ihad no idea what to expect in the way of crowds or cheering,
    As I aproached the area I spotted the 800m, 200m signs and these were good to let me know I was nearly there, next thing I saw was the banner on the lampost and the team 9 banner so I stopped there, I had missed the no 1 sign but Caramac and Mystic Wind caught up with me there. As I didnt spend a lot of time at mile 17, just enough to speak to Meerkat, JJ, Caramac and a couple of others whose names I have forgotten (sorry its something to do with age)I didnt really see how to make any improvements other than maybe bigger team numbers, on poles ?.
  • nrg-bnrg-b ✭✭✭
    Superb effort by all especially Meerkat. Meerkat you'll have so many drinks bought for at the next social I think you may need to change your name to Beermat :)

    - could you find us?
    Yes - Perfectly.

    - did you see Leggy's wonderful '800/400/200m to go' signs? Did they help you to find us?
    Yes - they did. I was watching out for them from Mile16 onwards. I had read your website and remembered it was close to the water stop.

    - was it a good idea to have allocations to support teams?
    Yes - since there are many runners and they need to know which pit crew to go to. I saw Team3 immediately.

    - any other ideas that would make it even better next year?
    Yes - watching FLM on video lastnight I was looking forward to the BBC coverage as PR passed Mile16. They cut to some crazy split screen and all of you were missed !! Please can someone inform the AuntyBeeb about this?

    "One thing I don't really want to change is our site at mile 17: we seem to be fairly well established there, and it's great for supporters (especially small ones) to have the station next door."
    I totally agree with this statement. Mile17 is great since :
    1. it is just at the beginning of the "hard" Mile20 phase
    2. Mudchute is a great location for supporters from the start, cutty sark and onwards to the finish.
    3. As stated the, DLR station is close by for easy access for the "small ones".

    I think the system works well.
  • ChaosChaos ✭✭✭
    Once again, cheers to the supporters. Hope it doesn't seem ungracious not to stop or slow down, you probably know how it is when you're in a rhythm. Indeed I tended to find more energy and speed up whenever I recognised a friend/colleague/supporter/etc!

    - could you find us?

    Yes, fine but having been supporting last year I knew where to look!

    - did you see Leggy's wonderful '800/400/200m to go' signs?

    Sadly not, but I was scanning for the girlf in that area so was distracted anyway.

    - was it a good idea to have allocations to support teams?

    Yep, great. Knew I was waving in the right direction when I saw Meerkat

    - any other ideas that would make it even better next year?

    Not really. I suppose XFR has a point about your being on the inside of a curve, but there again it meant you were definitely near the racing line. If you had been on the outside of a curve, runners would have had to lurch across which could cause probs.
  • If i run agian i woudl defiantley ge tinvovle din this: great idea! great day!
  • PodroPodro ✭✭✭
    My 2p worth

    - could you find us?
    Yup. Lots of surprisingly normal looking people and the photos of the support team beforehand was very helpful. I spotted team 9 because of Lady Lucan stood in the road and their estate agent's pole thingy. The photos from Meerkats recce were also very useful as well.

    - did you see Leggy's wonderful '800/400/200m to go' signs?
    Did they help you to find us?

    These were what alerted me to the fact that I was getting near. I thought I was still running mile 15 (I tend to get very confused at this point in marthons - actually I'm usually confused all the ay between mile 10 and mile 26) so I wasn't expecting you. There was the sign that said 'Runners [something] ahead' and I thought that maybe it was you. Very helpful.

    - was it a good idea to have allocations to support teams?
    Definitely. Spreads the workload for you. But it seems to me that as I ran past waving all the support teams cheered.

    - any other ideas that would make it even better next year?

    Not for me. Brilliant. Gave me a great boost and spring in my shuffle.Thanks folks.
  • Chaos GOOD POINT. we were actually on the opposite side of the blue racing line. This has advantages that we were not in the way of those racing, but to be honest I doubt if many beyond 3 hours rely in the blue lines anyhow (too many people).
  • Podro, I think when you saw me stood in the road it must have been a mirage:-)

    Thank-you very much to all the Team9 runners for their lovely messages on this thread and elsewhere.

    Meerkat, it was very hard, as you well know, to spot our runners in the crowd. Without 3 of us concentrating full time it would have been impossible. It was a shame we couldn't abandon our posts too much to chat to people on other Teams. We had a huge spread from Elite to Walk/Run. I was wondering about allocating fast runners to one team and so on down so we all get a break at some point but I'm not sure if that would work. Just a thought. Overall it was a wonderful experience to be involved in that way.
  • Many thanks for all the useful comments.
    I just want to say, from the supporters' point of view, that some of you won't want to stop and that is utterly, totally fine. We're there to help YOUR race.
    Okay, upsum so far:

    - team allocations (which was Fraggle's brilliant idea) are good
    - Leggy's signs were good
    - we need more balloons, and signs on poles
    - I need to recce the site again next year and see if a slight shift of location will help
    - we might need to have team 10 first as you approach, rather than team 1
  • Oooo, sorry, Lady L, cross post. That's a very interesting idea. I think the lack of mingling was the one thing I missed. We could leave allocation til later when we have runners' etas at mile 17.
  • I genuinely don't get why having the highest number first will make things better. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc is surely a fairly familiar sequence to most peeps?

    Is the problem peeps have identified that the first thing they saw was a high number (the team nine things on sticks) and hence they assumed that was the start of our area and it counted down from there? In which case having team one first but with higher up signs will presumably work.
  • Bear - I've been thinking about the number thing. Is it because peeps are counting down the miles??
  • No, I think bear is right - its because they saw the 9 first.
  • Hey all, glad you found all the support useful, it was great fun.

    Only comment is about the requests for more balloons. All of the stuff provided for runners was out of the supporters own pockets, if lots and lots of blue and yellow balloons are required it'll bump up the cost for the support teams and we'd have to drop off other stuff, like jelly babies etc. :-D

    Unless RW can provide the balloons.

  • Possibly furry pal, or is it maybe because they've been counting down the 800m, 400m etc?

    whatever it is, if we have number one clearly marked, this should be the first thing peeps see (assuming we keep the order from this year) which will hopefully lead them to think that we're going 1, 2, 3 etc

    How high up were the team 9 thingees? Would having ten of them get in the way of peeps doing their "job"

  • There's a pic on my site, I think. I'll mail Leggy and check. No, I don't think they'd get in the way. But I like Lady L's idea of dividing up the times a bit more.
    Loon - I think we should get Sean to cough up for the balloons. My amoeba balloons were carp.
  • team 9 thingees were pretty high :-)

    Legless will know.
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