Prague Half Marathon 2012

I am hoping to enter the Prague Half Marathon in March 2012. I have not entered a race abroad and wondered how easy it is.

I see that there are some companies that do the whole package but having been to Prague before I would imagine I could do it myself a fair bit cheaper.

My only concern is the collection of race number/ timing chip etc and the usual stress surrounding that.

Anyone out there who has done this race before ?

Can anyone help ?

Thanks

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Comments

  • Hi Baz,

    I did the half in 2009 and 2010 (was living there at the time). Its a great race and Id definitely encourage people to do it. The course takes you right through the city centre but mercifully avoids the hills!

    If you've been to Prague before then you definitely wont need a package. The expo tent was right in the centre of town, just off Old Town square. I found the organisation to be excellent, cant imagine there will be any problems getting your number/chip.

    The support is great, cant remember too many quiet parts along the route.

    Oh as a side note the t-shirts are excellent!! Im still wearing them a couple of times a week when training! image

    So all in all I say go for it, should be a great experience.

    Feel free to message me if you've any other questions!

  • Hi, I did this race this year,very well organised as said and the collection of chip and goody bag went like clockwork.The t-shirt is first class and overall a great race to take part in.
    Dave
  • Karen

    many thanks with the swift response. Will definately be going now thanks to you. Will be in touch if I need to know anymore - however you appear to have covered it all.

    Dave

    thanks to you too - sounds like the T-shirt is a must as well

  • Hi Baz,

    I did this race this year aand the organisation was fantastis...no problem with picking up race number etc ...We arrived on the Friday and picked up form the Expo on that afternoon. We arranged our flights ourselves and our own accomodation.

    |Its a great race and as others said the goody bag is second to none..fantastic...

    Franny

  • Hi Franny,

    many thanks.

    As a result of the above comments I've now booked the  flights/ hotel and the race (even the T-shirt !) - now cant wait.

    Thanks again

    Baz

  • Baz,

    You will enjoy it so much.......send me  PM and i can give you some tips about the start etc...that i would have appreciated this year.....

  • Hi, very tempted by this myself...just concerned that its only 6 days after the wilmslow half, and takes me a few days to recover.

    Anyway just got a few questions...

    How many run?
    Do entries normally close early?
    What time on the Saturday is the run?
    Also can you pick up chip etc on the day of the race (if I arrive late the night before?)


    Thanks all in advance.
  • Snake-hips,

    I wanted to do the Wilmslow half next year as I ran it this year and loved it. However fancied going abroad and the Prague half sounds brilliant.

    Was put off doing both races, more by the distance in travelling in a week than the races being a week apart.

    So thanks to all those who replied on this forum I've booked the race, the flights and hotel. 

    In answer to your questions

    1. Reading the web site, last year 9,614 ran.

    2. If you enter by midnight tonight 30/11/2011 entry costs 30 Euros, after that it is 50 Euros.

    3. Start time is mid-day.

    4. Not sure on this one. FrannyT has given me some useful advice re this race as she's run it twice before. She will know the answer to this.

    Hope this helps

  • Click on the Expo link and it tells you all about how to collect numbers, etc. IIRC you can collect on Thurs or Fri as well as Sat am, the morning of the race.

    The exhibition tent in the centre of Prague near the start area will serve as a registration and information point where runners can pick up their start numbers, chips and start bags

  • Have just seen this thread and it's made me very excited! I registered for this a while ago and started training last week. It's my second half and first abroad. Been to Prague before so thought it would be a good call and from what everyone's been saying it seems great! Didn't register for a t-shirt but will get one the day of. And I haven't booked my flights yet....prices keep going up so really should do that. But glad to know there are a few of us travelling! image
  • hey guys! please do comment after the race! planning to run the full in May, so any information is welcome. Where did you book the hotel? and what about the flights? have never been to Prague before but have heard it is a fantastic city. Waiting for Mayimage
  • I just booked my flights today and really wish I'd booked them earlier as the prices really went up esp around the immediate race day. Flying with BA as a bit of a treat image Getting excited now as the miles get harder!
  • I'm all set too.  Going from Wednesday to the Sunday.

    Prague has always been on my list of places to visit so what better way to see it! 

  • this will be my 3rd consecutive year running Prague & have the added challenge of Bratislava the following day.  Prague is a fantastic run and extremely well organised with the added bonus of being a lunchtime start rather than early morning.
  • I am going to be in Prague the weekend of the half marathon and would love to run it but the entries are full!  Does anyone know how to get a late entry? or what the chances are of being able to run if you arrive on the day?

    thanks! 

  • How is everyone set for it?! I'm worried about the weather being really warm. I did the run to the beat last September and it was a scorcher! Getting nervous excited though! image

    @CazW I don't know about late entries, maybe phone them or email them and see? Hopefully you'll get in!
  • I'm really looking forward to it too .  I ran the Berlin marathon last year with the temperature nudging towards the mid-seventies and was worried how that would affect me but I just drank a bit more and wore a hat and didn't think anything else of it.  I still blame the weather though for missing out on a PB by just over a minute!

  • Has anyone seen the weather lately?! It's supposed to rain now...think I'm going to bring over different weather options just in case now! Getting nervous and excited! Taking multivitamins so I don't get a cold last minute now :/

    Plus I'm in the F section, where is everyone else?
  • Aine - How do you know what section you are in? I haven't had any communication in weeks, been relying on the website to keep me up to date.
  • The weather does look a bit up and down now doesn't it.  Hopefully the rain will stay away but guess I'll now be stuffing my case full of clothes for all conditions!

    How can you tell what section you are in? Fingers crossed I can finally get a sub 1:45.  What's everyone else aiming for?

    Only one more day and I'll be in Prague sometime around mid-afternoon on Wednesday.  Can't wait.

  • Reedy06 that's what I plan too! I hope even if it does rain it won't be cold rain. I ran today with a hat for the first time and it seemed okay. As long as it holds off for that 4 hour block I'll be happy!

    The email where our number was assigned told us where we were going to start. The number starts with a letter that corresponds to where we are in the line up. I have been reading every letter about this half I am so nervous!

    I want to PB on my 2hours 7mins but I really would love a 2hour!

    Wednesday will be nice! I get in Thurs about 2pm. Thinking of going for a little run Thurs...not sure yet though image
  • Hi Aine,

    I'm sure you will break 2 hours.

    From past experience I have a feeling the F in front of your number just denotes you are female as my confirmation just gives me a number with nothing in front of it.  The zone we are in will be printed on our number. 

    I'm going for a short run this evening and then that will probably be it until Saturday.  Will probably end up doing a lot of walking on Thursday and Friday when out sightseeing so that will keep the blood circulating through my legs!

    Here's to a rain-free and a PB weekend!

  • Oooops, thought I read somewhere that that would tell me but suppose makes more sense then! I'll know Friday then!

    Really hope it is rain free! Going to keep with the 2hour pacer anyway so hopefully that'll keep my on track and I won't start out too fast!

    Best of luck with the race and look forward to seeing how you got on! image
  • Good luck to you too!

    Let me know how you get on.

  • Good luck everyone going this year.I ran it last year and it was really well organised.My weather was hot and sunny so fingers crossed the rain stays away for you. Think the pacers last year had balloons with numbers on them..though I never did see one but hubby and son did as they were spectating.

    Hope you all get your PBs.image

  • My goodness that was cold. I have never worn so much clothing to run so far. Brutal headwind on the home stretch. Not conditions for a PB!

    Good event though. Excellent admin and facilities at the start. Generous refreshments. Huge number of volunteers.

    There was some fabulous uplifting classical music playing at the start. What was that? 

    Found the cobbles quite challenging in some places. Heard several reports of people taking a fall. The stretch at the exit from the underpass was really quite treacherous.

    Did anyone else find a discrepancy with the distance? My Garmin clocked 21.29 km and I thought several of the km markers were more than a few metres out.

  • How windy was it whilst waiting around for the race to begin!  I found once it started it wasn't too bad and it was only that stretch you mentioned near the end that was hard going.

    I managed to get a PB out of it by around 2 minutes so I was pretty pleased with that.  You had to keep your head down on the cobbles as it would have been very easy to trip up and trying to avoid stumbling on the tramlines was another obstacle.

    My Garmin came up short as well but it is probably to do with it losing reception when going through the underpass.

    It was all very well organised but did find it was all a bit manic where the toilets and baggage drop were due to the large number of people in such a narrow space.

    Overall I thought it was a great race and really enjoyed the whole buzz of it.

  • Wow - what a day that was !

    Great race atmosphere, organisation, in fact can't fault it. The collection of number and chip went smoothly and even got a free rucksack. The T shirt is a great memento and I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it.

    The race.

    I started off too slowly due to the vast number of people. I was lucky I suppose as I was in block D and fairly near the front - dont know how those further back got on. Within the first 2km I knew I was going to struggle to get a PB. I did manage to get going and got a good pace but the killer was the stretch between 15 and 20km which on a normal day would have been ideal, however with a strong wind head on it was a struggle. I was also concerned about the cobbled areas we had to run through, I'm sure one or two must have gone over on those .Hope that doesnt sound like a moan as it isnt, just an observation. The guy who ran round in 58 minutes didnt seem to have a problem with it !

    I finished 6mins off a PB so was a bit disappointed. Good support most of the way round. Nice medal and good drink and food stations at the finish.

    My second run in Europe this year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience

  • Hey! I absolutely loved this race! Loved all the organisation and the post race atmosphere thanks to the great volunteers. I know it was cold and man there were loads of cobbles but overall loved it.

    Didn't manage my sub 2hours but got a 2hour 1min race which was 6mins and 30 seconds below my PB so I was delighted.

    I would recommend this race to anyone though beware of the cobbles! image
  • Hi guys

    Just checking in to see how you all did...very well done to you all.

    it brought back many memories reading your reports..yes the cobbles were tricky and it is quite congested at bits but very well organised as you say...seems you were unlucky with the weather as last year it was scorching hot...

    Well done again

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