Results of the Cheetah Run 4 Mile race...Thurs 21st May 2009A huge crowd of about 680 runners turned out for this race in Fota Wildlife Park. Because it was such an unusual race in a nice location, the organisers knew that it would attract a big entry but it was impossible to estimate how big. Once the entry queue started to stretch out the door back as far as the car park, it was obvious the numbers would be exceptional.
Running the course at speed really showed up 2 sections that you might consider tough.......the first one was when we came back in off the main road (~2.25m) and there was a sharp little pull up a hill. Nothing serious but enough to effect the breathing. The 2nd one was around the 3.6 mile mark next to the Cheetah enclosure when the bit of uphill running was pretty steep and then there was a good long run into the finish.
Needless to say, the large crowd caused a few problems. The start was a bit crowded, the finishing chute filled up when large bulk of runners around 8 minute miling came in, the hall for the refreshments was very crowded and so on. The thing is that this is a wildlife park, not a sports facility. There is a larger hall but there is no public lighting in the park for people to walk out safely afterwards. This was the first time a road race has ever been held in this location and the lessons learnt from this year will help improve next year's event.
If they got almost 700 entries this year, what will next year be like?!?!
Results.........You'll find the link to the results HERE.
Photos.......there is a set of 69 photos here.
Photos.......there is a set of 69 photos here.
Eagle AC have a set of 224 photos here.
4 comments:
Hi John,
Firstly I'd like to thank all the volunteers, many of them weren't Eagle members, who turned out last night. Without their help, we couldn't have handled either the course or the crowds. As everyone will probably have noticed, the set-up and layout meant that far more stewards and officials were needed than in most races, so we really appreciate all the help we got. Thank you!!
Our networked Racemaster computerised entry system enabled us to handle the biggest Cork evening race entry in at least 25 years. This was also over 250% more than we had handled in any Eagle race before.
We did have a few hiccups, no major ones that we are aware of. Nevertheless we will be reviewing matters over the next few weeks and welcome ideas on how to improve the race. I got several very good ones from participants last night.
Results and photos. the first 268 results were posted on the wall at approx. 9:30 last night and we had hoped to have the full results up on the site last night but, getting home close to midnight, with an early rise, means that we won't have the reults or photos up until later this afternoon.
Again thanks to everyone who helped out last night and thanks also to everyone who took part.
John Quigley
Chairman, Eagle AC
Well done to all at Eagle Ac and fota wildlife park for a fantastic race in the wildlife park,and well done to all the steward's and everyone else that helped with this race and made it a huge success considering the amount of runners that turned up on the night,everything seemed to go so smoothly that was amazing considering it's was the first stageing of this event.Great credit due to all.
John Dunphy
Midleton Ac
John,
great race, great organisation, but I have 1 small worry.
Your blog says 680 turned up, the results show 662 finishers,
what did you do to the 18 people wearing headphones ???
I thought eagle was suppossed to be "the friendly" running club
Fergus
6 were taken out by the new headphone deterrence system. The remaining 12 were running too slow and were looked after by some local residents.
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