Top 5 registered men...
1) Mark Hanrahan 15:16, 2) Philip Harty 15:28, 3) Chris Harrington 15:38, 4) Ravis Zakis 15:43, 5) Kevin Wilmot 15:56
Top 5 registered women...
1) Lizzie Lee 17:05, 2) Emma Murphy ?, 3) Sinéad Ní Chonchúir 17:43, 4) Niamh Roe 17:48, 5) Julie McGrath 17:52
With the large numbers, I presume it may take a while before the full results come out.
Photos.....
1) Gearoid O'Laoi has 306 photos HERE2) Doug Minihane has 360 photos HERE
Video......
1) Front of the field near the 1.5 mile mark...2) The main field just after the start.........
great race well done to all involved just a slight query, was start at different spot to last year if so was last year a bit short?
ReplyDeleteHow the BHAA managed to create such a hold-up in the queues is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteSome constructive criticism :
1. Why was there a person taking the names of all the women who finished ? This slowed things down immensely and is a completely redundant exercise. These details can be obtained from the initial registration.
2. I was in the Over 45 category and there was a person taking down my number AND the category I was in e.g. V19. These were only handwritten with a marker over the number and are not as quick to read. This caused a delay again. Again, completely redundant as these details have been recorded at registration.
3. If they just concentrated on taking down the numbers, and forgetting all the other stupid stuff, these issues wouldn't arise.
4. Whoever is doing the results is either totally unaware of the simple software available to handle this
Agree with criticism above. Just take the numbers in order and concentrate on emptying the chute. All that other stuff can happen later. I was about 3 mins behind the first man home and it took a good 10 mins for me to get out of the chute. During that time the second chute started to fill up. Mad.
ReplyDeleteHate being negative but when everyone knows theres going to be close to 900 people at an event access to toilets is important especially for runners.Two male toilets with no toilet paper just isn't good enough and obviously the women have a bigger problem.Just some food for thought.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the race last night, terrific atmosphere and it was great to be running in such a competitive field. The issues in the chutes are going to happen when close to a thousand people are racing. Do the organisers need to consider capping the numbers here? The start was quite frantic and an inexperienced runner could easily be knocked over.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said
ReplyDeleteHow do you know your time when you had to queue to get to finish line for the last 200 yards of the race. Good event but spoilt by delay at end. I entered queue at circa 23 minutes and past back by the finish line clock on my way back to the start to get my jacket at 1hr.03mins, and cold at that stage. Pity because I enjoyed the race
The start and finish points were moved slightly this year. The course was measured this week by John Walshe of Ballycotton Running Promotions so it's accurate.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about last year.
I think 4th and 5th positions have been mixed up? Also the times aren't what were clocked.
ReplyDeletei see this is registered athletes. makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteGreat race.and good to see more interest, but to be honest I'm sick of Que,s at the bhaa races , q to reg , q to start ,more importantly q for tea !
ReplyDeleteJust a thought , but I would be prepared to pay upfront for all races and wear the same number at what ever races I attend . So you purchase your number at the start of the year as it seems to me that the registered q is the largest these days . It would also help with categories and results , good idea ?
Well done bhaa on keeping cork people fit and well.
Eoin
Great atmosphere, great race, Well done to organisers except now you are the victims of your own success! Agree with constructive criticism; time to invest in a new registration & record system and also the toilet facilities at these events also need to be addressed!
ReplyDeleteAs a newbie to the running seen this event was not a good advert. Poorly organised from registration (it was quicker not to pre-register). Toilet facilities poor, race start delayed, waited two mins to cross the finish line and 15 mins to get my number recorded, no drinks left when we got to the station. If you want to encourage more participation it has to be better than this.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the race once running.
The purchase of numbers is a great idea!! I think they operate a similar system for park runs in the uk. You have the same barcode every week. You could also work the comrades model into the race number(an ultra marathon in south Africa) you basically have the same number from day 1 and based on the amount of times you've run you get different coloured numbers. So after a year/5 years/10 years of running with the bhaa you get a different colour . Which may give people an extra push to run with the number colour giving a status at races as such
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone say "well done to the organisers" after that fiasco ? Are they living in a parallel universe ?
ReplyDeleteEverybody knew there would be around 900 people at the race (numbers in other races have jumped this year so it was expected) but they didn't cater for it. The BHAA take in a huge amount of money.
What are they doing with it ?
Why did they not rent some portable loos ?
So many people were disappointed at not getting a time because of the disaster at the finishing line.
Also, I go to a lot of races, and the food is usually very good, especially at the events run by local communities. However, the food at this race was not great; and not one cake to be seen!
Kids who came along were not allowed to have a sandwich! What kind of organisation condones that kind of behaviour ?
Why don't the BHAA spend some of their loot on a decent spread ?
I'm running for a few years now and experience has taught me that adequate toilet facilities are not a given at any event and you just have to expect the unexpected. At the end of the day I'm paying a fiver to run a race which I think is good value when all things are considered. The organisers are giving up their valuable time to put on a race. It's not something I'd be willing to do so I have to take that on board before criticising. I'm not saying the that peoples criticisms are valid. I agree that something could be done about the registration queues, the backlog at the finish and the provision of water at the finish line. Its not the end of the world for me If these things don't run as smoothly as I would like. I'm not sure how much "loot" the BHAA take in annually and what the hidden costs are with putting on a calendar of race so I can't comment on that aspect. I also wouldn't expect to run a race and feed my kids for a fiver. Capping the numbers, having preregistration, having a more automated race entry and / or time recording system, having portable toilets and a better spread of food would all have a cost associated with it. Are we willing to pay more to have such facilities? I probably would but would other people.
ReplyDeleteAs a long time supporter of the BHAA it is disappointing to witness what happened on Tuesday night.Before the race the organisers asked people not to leave the chutes,but for the first time in any race i left as i could see not point in stayed as i had stopped running 30 metres from the finishing line.Numbers were high for the race,the day before i had been told that up to a thousand runners might show up. The Cheetah race had 675 runners and seemed to cope but a 5k is too short a distance for the field to be spread out. It is a pity because i don't like to see anyone who gives of their time voluntarily to be critised.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the race times, it would be appropriate for the organisers just to clarify if race times are in any way accurate or should be disregarded on account of congestion at finish line. It was marvelous to see such a huge turnout even it id did cause problems - getting people active and involved is one of the main aims and the BHAA and running clubs do this without having to ask taxpayers to support and finance thier running activities. No doubt lessons will have been learnt and next years event will be even better. Maybe an appeal for more volunteers to come along and help out might be useful ? I confess until two years ago I didnt even know these events existed !
ReplyDeleteSheenha, with all due respect, 5k is NOT too short a distance for the field to be spread out. The problem with the slowness of the queues the other night was, and always has been, the 'organisers' inexplicable habit of writing down every number 3 or 4 times, plus writing down the category, plus writing down the names of the women!
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be too many chiefs and no plan!
There was only a few kids there so I don't think a couple of sandwiches would have mattered much. I don't think anybody expects to feed their kids for a fiver. It's just a bit of excitement for children, and they shouldn't be discouraged from wanting to be involved.
ReplyDeleteOnly way to answer most of the criticisms here is to
ReplyDelete1. Cap the numbers
2. Charge more
3. Recruit more volunteers
With unemployment at 14% and our health system creaking at the seams encouraging people to engage in healthy inexpensive exercise has never been more important. That's far more important than an individual's pb imo. Anything that dissuades people from exercising should be discouraged for everyone's sake
I wonder how many of the people complaining have volunteered to help in a BHAA race? Might offer some perspective.
People have the choice to avoid the chute and not have their time logged. You know your time. If you need that reassurance then I'm afraid you'll just have to queue.
The idea with the 1 number for the year is a very good one. You could pay € 50 at the start and this would entitle you to do 10 races. Start recording the peoples numbers finishing the Marina run 100 yards after the start and just take the 3 digit number, get rid of the dictaphone as well as all this takes time. Have 3 lanes and leave the runners come to the recorders and not the other way around. The BHAA is a great concept and nobody wants to be on this forum knocking them as there all volunteers but Tuesdays race was disapointing. I finished just over 21 mins, didn't make it to the line and took another 20 mins to get out of the queue. I can see how newbies would be turned off and we want more to be running and not less.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid it's not a simple choice as to whether you stay in the chute or not to get your time afterwards. If one person leaves the chute then all the "official" times behind them are out. If 10 people leave the chutes then you can almost start forgetting about getting accurate times from that point on. That is the reason why the organisers always inist that everybody stays in the chute. At this stage you would have to think that this issue is stressing out the organisers as much as it is the competitors and maybe it's time to start looking at a different system, even if this means having to increase the entry fee. I agree with some of the other comments that we should do everything possible that will encourage as many people as possible to take up exercise. And training for and competing in these BHAA races is a fantastic way of achieving this.
ReplyDeleteThe BHAA could simply let temporary runner finish and record their own time and record the registered runners times as they only qualify for prizes anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe post race food debate has been had before http://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2009/08/thought-for-food-food-for-thought.html
ReplyDeleteI think the person who recommended about leaving the chute was basing it on the fact that the times on Tuesday from a certain point on weren't accurate anyway. I certainly wouldn't have hung around for 40 mins in the chute as one person indicated they did. Fair play to them, I wouldn't have that level of patience.
Niall, I don't think this would work as the person on the line doing the 'clicking' wouldn't be able to distinguish between registered and temporary runners even if the temporary runners didn't have any numbers.
ReplyDeleteIt would definitely cause problems.
I can't believe that people are complaining about their children not getting a sandwich after the race. What other sporting events do give out free food to supporters afterwards? I don't think the GAA, FAI, IRFU, do and they're getting a fortune of government support in addition to charging supporters to watch the events. Bring a picnic the next night. Also you can sign up to volunteer next year and maybe it'll go great then. And these whingers are probably the same people that are happy to fork out €50 to €80 for a half marathon just because there is nice scenery on the route and are complaining then about not getting value for their fiver another night.
ReplyDeleteGreat fun reading all this today!
ReplyDeleteThe BHAA should be thanked for causing all this controversy.
I'd say they deliberately cause chaos in these races just so people can have a rant afterwards.
I suppose there's no chance of any of our esteemed BHAA committee coming on here to respond to any of the criticism.
John, as the representive of the man on the street(!), you should send each of them a mail with all of the above comments.
"Great fun reading all this today!" I couldn't agree more! Did anyone ring Joe Duffy about this?
ReplyDeleteThe commenter at 2:42pm would want to get a grip. Comparing these races to the GAA, FAI, etc. is just silly.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is food has always been given out after races and it's a nice idea. It's not as though it has been donated, the BHAA must have taken in over 6000 euro the other night. Not allowing kids a sandwich is ridiculous, I would have though the running fraternity would have been more inclusive.
Spouses, kids, etc, can be standing around for a long time, often in wet, miserable conditions, so sometimes I feel they're even more deserving of a cup of tea and a sandwich than the actual runners. My kids don't bother with the sandwiches, all they want is a biscuit. It's not as though people bring their kids to gorge on the food.
Not once did the commenter address the inadequacies of the BHAA last Tuesday ? Why is that I wonder ?
Sticking your head in the sand does not make the problems go away.
Great race, super day out. And if I were a volunteer of BHAA reading this I would be rightly p**ed off. Forget all the stuff about waiting and queueing (and especially the grub- for goodness sake!) ..people need to take the rough with the smooth. However some of the defenders of the status quo are missing the point- it IS a race and everyone who enters however fast or slow should be able to start when the gun goes off and to run impeded until they cross the finish line (not 30-50 yards before the line!). Everyone likes their time recorded- otherwise they might as well not race at all. I'm sure BHAA are already working on solutions because they cant be happy about this either - in the meantime thanks guys and well done on all the hard work
ReplyDeletethe BHAA seem to get a lot of stick all the same. personally I have had no problems with their races. if there is any problems it's more to do with the fact that the races are so popular they aren't as quick issuing results as people would hope. that said they can be pretty savage in dealing with criticism and do tend to go on the defensive.on the issue of races any chance of moving the cork-cobh a week forward, my 22 miler is scheduled for the day of the 15 miler and I was banking on the 15miler being on the same date as last year- a useful tempo training run for dublin. (i dont have a hope do I ?)as for the food issue -in fairness!!!!
ReplyDelete"I'm sure BHAA are already working on solutions " !!!
ReplyDeleteYou should be on the stage.
"you should send each of them a mail with all of the above comments."
ReplyDeleteThe comments left here can by seen by both runners or organisers alike. It's not up to me to tell the BHAA how to organise races. That's up to themselves.
Look we all know the BHAA volunteers do great work and fair play to them for the work that goes on in the background to organise a race. When we're gone home, their still out there removing signs etc.
ReplyDeleteHowever that does not mean we should ignore it when things go bad.....
1) There have been problems with this particular race for the last 2 years due to the big numbers of runners. Tuesday was not a once off.
2) Registration has to be better. You have guys jumping between queues because desks have different lists and you only find out your not at the right desk when you get to the top. This slows things down further. Crazy stuff.
3) The finish was a farce. I came in around 20 mins and was stopped before I crossed the finish line due to the queues already there.
4) The basics of a race as one poster said already is that you start at the gun and you cross the finish line and record your time. If you have people that can't cross the line due to congestion, you don't have a race. Plain and simple. I feel sorry for those who finished around 23-25 mins. It must have been very dissappointing for them.
Tuesday night was poor from start to finish and I'm not surprised at the number of comments on this thread.
Pre-registration online (with limited numbers like the cheetah run) is probably the only way to go for this particular race. If not, next year will be even worse. I reckon the BHAA lost alot of newbie runners due to Tuesday night.
Dave
Personally I think it's a joke peolple bitching about not getting food (or their wives, kids, husbands supporters etc, not getting food) it cost either 5 or 8 euro, bring your own food or go home and have a feed. All of that said, the finish line last Tuesday was a big dissapointment. We are blessed here in Cork to have the BHAA and thier volunteers, they host great races and have been doing for many years now. But, it's definitely time for them to look at a solution to an ever growing problem. So come on you people out there in the running community, someone out there must have a solution, and instead of posting it here on the blog, put it in a proposal format and bring it to the BHAA, as an organisation they have cash and they now need to invest.
ReplyDeleteAlso, more volunteers at the finish chutes last Tuesday would have allowed the BHAA to process finishers quicker, so maybe some of the hungry supporters, wives husbands etc could earn their sandwich and help out..
I have been doing BHAA Races for the past 20 years and I must say that some of the criticism here is way over the top from folk who in my view seem to be pretty petty and show a complete lack of understanding with regard to how races are organised.
ReplyDeleteYes, lessons must be learned from Tuesday Night but to shoulder the blame on the BHAA folk is not right.
BTW.....The Ballyandreen Race last Week was pretty congested as well so there is a trend here where numbers are increasing.
Considering that both these Races were organised by Folks who had already done a days work and had to volunteer their services in support of the Cork running community must take some credit.....Cheers.
The irish mountain runners have a recommendation that regular runners should act as stewards/helpers once a year or every ten races - cant remember which. this might he considered as a way of getting more volunteers - I would certainly help occassionaly but given that no one seems to call for volunteers, not sure how to do this. Orgnaisers sometimes need to actually ask people to help ! Dont assume runners know you are looking for help. Maybe in fariness to BHAA members, it should be clarified if they or the company hosting the event is responsible for providing manpower. I certainly see quite few of the same BHAA people working at each race, so some people claerly are putting an awful lot of voluntary effort into this. As someone mentioned, considering the huge prices charged for mrathons/half marathons, BHAA races are tremendous value. So lets get past the criticisms and on to the solutions !
ReplyDeletewith regard to the last comment, i would agree about the volunteers.a lot of people would have to be asked before they help out. at the ballycotton races they ask people on the night to help out at the finish.
ReplyDeleteon the food issue,i would usually be finished early in the race but by the time i WARM DOWN and arrive to the food its usually gone or very little left, so usually bring my own food
I run as many races as I can (BHAA and others) but I would definitely help out in some of the races if a call came out from the BHAA asking for volunteers.
ReplyDeleteBUT, there is no point in thinking that additional manpower will solve the problems; the whole process needs to be revamped (i.e. registration, queues at the end, taking down the numbers, getting out the results)
The BHAA would impress me now if they acknowledged that mistakes have been made, and get a committee together (comprised of say 3 existing BHAA organisers and 3 representatives from the runners) to spend some time resolving the difficulties.
Everybody wants the same thing ultimately and now it's definitely time to rethink the process.
Would it be fair to say that the problems encountered on Tuesday night are unique to this particular event, and are a result of the popularity of it ? I have paricipated in most of the BHAA races to date this year and last, and the only time I see any issues is for this one.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, would it be possible for the BHAA to consider this a special event and tailor efforts accordingly ? I do not have costs to hand, but if, for just this race, chip timing and pre registration were in place,would most of the runners last tuesday night be happy to pay a little extra to cover the cost ?
As it is, the value for a fiver at the other races is so good that to pay a little extra for this one shouldnt seem a big deal.
It seems there are some (though by no means all) within BHAA who are wedded to "doing things the way we have always done them" - even when that way is not working any more. There have been 40 posts here, most of them constructively critical. How about a little less defensiveness and a little more acknowledgement that there are shortcomings at present? Everyone is entitled to an accurate time having completed the race unimpeded. Anyone who took over 21 minutes (i.e. more than half the field) queued to cross the finish line - it was shambolic. Look at Doug Minihane's photos in sequence (link on the blog)and see for yourself. So come on lads..great race but parts didn't work- solutions please!!
ReplyDelete@ poster 3.16 p.m 31.05.12. In fairness, im sure there are bigger issues here than your kids getting a sandwich or a biscuit, why even complain about something like that, bring your own to avoid disappointment, there was nearly 1000 other mouths there.
ReplyDeletePersonally for me it was my first event and the carry on afterwards was quite confusing and very discouraging. I did it in about 24 mins and was weaiting for at least 30 mins to get through afterwards.
As other people have pointed out, fair play for people giving up their time but surely there was a better way of sorting out the placings, times ect.
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein.
ReplyDeleteThis particular race has attracted huge crowds for the past 3 or 4 years and every year there has been problems dealing with the masses, yet there seems to be no effort to alleviate these problems.
As a previous poster said, take a look at Doug Minihane's photos - Anyone finishing in over 20:11 didn't get to cross the line before their time was taken. Later on you can't even see the timekeepers, as they've gone way up the road to catch people finishing. Some people were timed over 5k, while others were closer to 3 miles.
The BHAA needs to take a radical look at how it operates - Tuesday's model is broken.
Great job to all concerned. Any word on if the course was short, I was also told this as the start was certainly moved.
ReplyDeleteSee earlier comment...Course was accurate this year
ReplyDeleteWhatever about the problems in this race, the course was definitely accurate as John Walshe was witnessed measuring it about an hour before the race start!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the queue issues are not specific to this race. I did the Novartis 5k last year, and it took a long time to get through the queues. It was raining, and it was miserable having to stand around waiting for the BHAA officials to take our number and category multiple times. It was far slower than it needed to be. There was less than 400 people in this race.
ReplyDeleteThe BHAA really need to go back to the drawing board on this. Why exactly are they so hell-bent on persisting with this broken process ?
For the person that left this comment........
ReplyDeleteResults, for what its worth, are out...Quick sconce and I can name two people I ran with who are not listed....
If they take so long to get everyones number in triplicate but are still missing names then something is fundementally flawed with their system.
The eagle fota run had similar numbers and none of these problems for what was a far more complicaed course.
Those results you were looking at were from 2009.
where are the results posted please?
ReplyDeleteI don't want to bash the BHAA but i am getting bloody sick of waiting for the results for this race.
ReplyDelete+1 to last comment.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the BHAA are baulking at releasing the results given that 1/2 the field will not get an accurate official time?
The silence is deafening.
It's pretty normal for the BHAA results to take about a week.
ReplyDeleteWith the big numbers, it might take them a few more days. The BHAA were also involved in the Cork City Marathon so that would have taken up a lot of their time over the last week.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteJust wondering why bhaa members do not get a race number and rental timing chip for the year when they register? You then bring it with you to every event. No queing before races and fast results afterwards. What do you think yourself?
This was my first time running in this race and on the day it was ok. The start was delayed and this was frustrating. I also just finished before the build up at the finish line and managed to confirm my time. However I am having second thoughts running this race again - due to the waiting time for the results..
ReplyDeletethe only race of year every year when results are not out in a day or two.if its to close to the maraton for them to handle then dont have it .when you enter a race you should at least expect a result ,otherwise its not a race ?
ReplyDeleteProvisional marathon results were out Monday afternoon - the same day as the marathon.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the BHAA need a new registration/timing system. Perhaps an on-line entry as well as on-the-day entry would solve the registration waiting lines.
As I see it the food is just a bonus.
I did not run this race but I frequently run BHAA races and am well aware of their problems.