Results of the Eagle AC 5 Mile Road Race in Carrigaline - 24th Feb 2008
There was a small bit of a mishap with the results of this one. Now, the results are actually ok but it's just that the PC that they were using crashed and the results just need to be re-entered again so no panic.

I heard after the race that the problem seemed to be down to a certain well known Eagle AC member plugging in one too many kettles. Appearently, he had bought the 'mother of all kettles' recently on e-bay, wired it up with his trusty screwdriver and plugged it in just as the results were nearly finished. Alas, there was a bang and half of Carrigaline along with the sports hall was plunged into darkness.

I'm not naming any names but a photo taken in the sports hall today would seem to suggest that this was the likely culprit....Click HERE.

Race Report...
Conditions for this race were more or less ideal. Cool and dry with only a slight wind. It has to be said that this isn't the easiest or fastest of 5 mile courses. But for anyone doing Ballycotton, it is on at the right time with just 2 weeks to go. The time you got today should give you some idea of what you might do in Ballycotton. A VERY rough guide would be to double your time today and add on about 3%.
As for the race itself, it seemed to go pretty smoothly. The club had plenty of stewards out at all of the road junctions and it was pretty safe. Someone left a comment below about the race starting late but to be honest, I didn't take a note of the start time. Someone else said that maybe somebody fell just before we left the housing estate? Hopefully, it wasn't too serious.
As for the numbers, I hear that they got around the 240 mark so that is up on last year's figure of 222. So overall (except for the Kettle incident or should we call it 'KettleGate' ;o) , the club put on a good event.
On to Ballycotton...
Photos...
John Quigley took a series of 42 photos from the race car. They are mainly of the front runners. The link to John's photos is HERE.

Pat O'Driscoll has a set of 266 photos at this LINK. Most of them are of people finishing.

Results...Click on this LINK to get to the Eagle AC results section. Select your option then.

Comments on the race...
Would anyone like to comment on the race? What did you think was good / bad / otherwise??? Just click on the Comment link underneath this post. No kettle jokes please ;o)

"Any idea why this race did not start on time ?.....HB"

"Cheers to Eagle Ac for the kick in the mouth, energy depleting race!!! It was the wake up call I needed before Ballycotton 10. The relentless hills made it ever so tough. The only thing was that I thought that the mile marker was a bit early? Another friend (better than me) thought the same. Anyway thanks for the great race and the nice spread of food after!!! Cheers...........Don O'Hanlon"

"Don...I must ask about the 1 mile mark because I was thinking the same myself!! I got there about 10 seconds quicker than I thought I should. ...and as for the food, 10 out of 10 for the Apple tart ;o).........John Desmond"

"I got a new GPS watch for xmas and it's usually pretty much bang on with distances. Yesterday it indicated the course was actually longer than 5 miles. i.e. 5 mile mark just before final turn!! It beeped for 1 mile mark about 12 yards before actual marker so i would say mile 1 was definately not short. It was a net downhill mile which might explain fast splits!?? Also to confirm there was a faller near the start but he carried on in the race so I would say no major harm done there. The course is very tough but for some reason I liked it. Overall a good race, just wonder about distance ( couldn't be the watch of course!!)....Cheers AJ"

"The first mile may seem short, but it's just a fast mile, mostly down hill. There is actually no five mile marker, the five miles is the finish line. The marker before the corner is the 400 metres to go marker (that's what was written on it)....Anonymous"

"What I meant was my GPS watch beeped for 5 miles just before the corner i.e. approx 80 metres to go...........AJ"

"Hi John. I thought the course was fine, took no notice of the first mile marker. I'm sure Eagles had the distance correct but as you said, it's a question for you to ask if you thought it was a bit short yourself. Well done to Eagles, enjoyed the run.....John Dunphy, Rising Sun AC"

"I think the first mile was probably just fast due to some downhill running in it. If anyone else wants to comment, just click on the Comments link below. I hope to have some additional info regarding the queries raised here sometime tomorrow.......John Desmond"

"Hi John, I see you have had several comments regarding the race. Eagle is committed to continually improving both the race and race safety, and also to making the entire race experience enjoyable for the competitor. This year we failed to live up to our usual standards and have learnt from the experience.
Late Start......Due, in particular, to traffic logistics relating to church services in Carrigaline, Eagle always strives to start the race precisely on time. However, this year we were late – approx. 11 minutes. A major reason for the delay was the bottleneck surrounding the toilets. There were long queues at the toilets – there are only 4 ; 2 ladies and 2 gents. It is something we have been aware of and we have considered hiring Portaloos. We’ll be considering the position again for next year’s race.
We also improved the safety & medical features surrounding the race. Part of this meant ensuring that a full contact protocol was in place for all stewards, officials, ambulance & Gardai before the race started. In the interests of safety, we were NOT going to start before we knew everything was in place. Garda and Ambulance personnel briefing – we had a special handout for them including maps, steward locations and steward and officials contact numbers - took several additional minutes just before the start.
We were also affected by the late unavailability of two key race personnel from previous years. This meant that we had to “blood” people into these positions at short notice – and they performed admirably well. The upside of this is that we now have more people experienced in key positions.
However, the consequence of all this was that I was diverted from one of my usual tasks; whistle-blowing, badgering and cajoling runners to get to the start on time. In other years we would have began with an announcement 20 mins to start and further announcements every 5 mins approx. This did not happen this year and the lesson has been learnt. If we inconvenienced anyone with the delay, please accept our apologies.
Course Measurement.....The course was measured using a Jones counter, calibrated according to AAI/IAAF procedures. I also use, for my own purposes, a Garmin Forerunner 305 and Garmin eTrex Vista while measuring, though they play no part in the official measurement.
With the proliferation of GPS devices, more and more people are questioning the accuracy of courses. This is welcome – there are still a few courses where measurement has been made by car, or even guesstimate. However the IAAF procedures do NOT permit GPS devices to be used for measurement – they are not accurate enough for measurement purposes.
I would be very disappointed if someone told me that their GPS showed me that the race was spot on. In that case, I would be pretty sure that the course was short. A properly measured course is measured along the shortest route a runner is likely to take. A Short Course Protection Factor of 0.01 is then added to ensure it still isn’t short.
A course may be longer than the stated distance but may NOT be shorter. Check out this site for details on measurement: http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/certification/manual/ (As most people, including very many experienced runners, have no idea how courses are measured, I have been considering putting an article up on the Eagle website. I’ll probably get round to it in a few weeks.) I use the Forerunner just to give me a rough warning of where the miles are. The Vista is used to give me a printout of the altitude profile. (Unfortunately I didn’t get around to posting the profile on the Eagle website before the race but I will do so in the next few weeks. I have good profiles from many races in Cork and Eagle intend posting some of these at some stage – it’s on our ‘To Do’ list)
As AJ says, there is a big fall in the first mile and, in general the surface is good. Also Sunday’s starting pace appeared to be somewhat easy (fine for me to say in the lead car!) and, in the early stages, people seemed to be ‘dragged along’ by the lead group, possibly resulting in a faster than normal, for many, first mile.
I am very concerned to hear about a faller. These things happen, but I would like to hear from the faller or someone else who can tell me first-hand what happened. It may have been a simple trip or slip – the faller apparently continued the race - , but, if the cause is something we can control, we’ll see what we can do to avoid it next year.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the people who volunteered to steward or assist, the very many who have given us positive feedback and also those, including your Blog posters, who took time to raise issues or concerns....John Quigley, Chairman, Eagle AC "

"I would just like to thank John Quigley for his very detailed response to some of the issues raised here in this comment section. He obviously spent a considerable amount of time putting it together. Some of you may not be aware that John is one of the few AAI accredited measurers in the Cork region and was one of those responsible for making sure that the Cork City Marathon last year was accurate and correct.
One thing he forgot to mention however was that Eagle AC raised €460 for the local 'Meals on Wheels' charity in Carrigaline thanks to the €8 entry fee, so well done!!......John Desmond"

"Hi John. Thanks to you and John Quigley for the responses. Very interesting about the course measurement. I knew my Forerunner 305 wasn't going to be exact but I was not expecting it to be out by 80 or 100metres over 5 miles. Good to know all the same. Didn't see how the fall happened. I only saw him getting up but he definately continued on in the race. Just one of those things I'd say.Once again thanks for all the info.....AJ"

"I saw the runner fall and think it was a trip. I saw him get up with no ill effect and he didn't seem to feel too put out. I don't see it that often so it was just something that can happen from time to time. It wasn't any fault of the course or the organisers.Thanks for the info on how the race distances are set John (Quigley). It good to know how it is done and I look forward to that article that you plan to put up on the Eagle website on course setting. Maybe John (Desmond) can put a link to it on the blog when it comes out? I wasn't put out by the race starting late. There is a lot of good voluntary work goes into running these races and with the big increase in number racing, a slight delay is understandable.....Thanks again, Don"

"Hi John. Looking at all the comments and I'm thinking to myself...What the hell is all the fuss about?. Someone falls (it happens), late start, first mile a bit short, in all fairness, Eagle ac put on a great 5 miler. It was very enjoyable (glad the faller was'nt hurt) but please all remember, don't go to races expecting everything to run smoothly sometimes expect late starts. As per comment above from Eagle ac, they done all they could to ensure safety to all us runners and that's what we need to understand that the late start was to benefit the runner's to ensure that all was in place before they could start the race, remember we just turn up run the race and off we go home. The organizers have a hell of a lot on their plate to ensure safety to us runners and to ensure that we get around the course as safe as possible. Now I hope the above makes sense to all of us and makes people understand what it takes to organize these event's. Comment's are always useful and welcome to the organizer's on events and it's useful for them to plan next year's events so I'm sure they are thankful for any comment made....kind regards....John Dunphy, Rising Sun AC "