Guest Article...Olympic ticket fiasco by Paudie Birmingham

The following article was written by Paudie Birmingham of Mallow AC about his experience in buying tickets for the 2012 Olympic games in London....

07/07/2005.   What a terrible day for London.  Islamist terrorists detonated four bombs across London.  Fifty-two people, and four bombers were killed.  Earlier that morning Londoners were waking up to the news that London would be hosting the Olympics in 2012 for the first time since 1948. For me and for most people I guess growing up I would always watch the Olympics and wish I could be there to watch in person. So the news that the Olympics were coming to our next-door neighbours was met with joy. 

The world 7 years ago was a very different place than it is today.   On the day before the bombing Bog Geldof and Bono were trying to convince the G8 in Scotland to drop the debt in the world’s poorest countries and Ireland’s unemployment rate was at 4.5%.  (Now we have Enda and Michael Noonan taking the place of Bob and Bono and the G8 seems to be the Troika).

So as the dust settled on London after those terrible attacks thoughts started turning to the Olympics. Tickets,tickets,tickets.  Thinking back I think I remember Sebastian Coe saying that his Olympics would be the Olympics for everyone and that tickets would start from £10.  Well that was seven years ago so I guess you might expect them to cost slightly more by now.  Oh if it was just that simple.   

I am one of the lucky ones and I have got myself a ticket for 1 night.  Lots of my running friends also entered the lottery and were not as lucky so they unfortunately will be watching the Olympics on TV as if it was in China or some other far off country.  I’m sure there will be plenty of overpriced package deals to be got if you have the funds but as we are in harder times I think this option will not be for everybody. 

To get my tickets I had to enter the strangest lottery.  The London Olympics committee in their wisdom decided to give people the option to put in a range in which you would basically bid for tickets.  In my case I looked for tickets for 3 nights.  My preferred seats would be category D seats but could pay for category C if there were no D seats.   What’s the difference???  Well two Cat C seats cost £250 + £12 delivery.  I think the Cat D seats were £90ea. 

While waiting for months to see if I got tickets I got plenty of e-mails telling me how my I could be part of the occasion by buying limited edition merchandise.  Everything from Olympics pins from £6 to coins up to £550. Hmm… I think not.  After all, I could be liable for £750 worth of tickets if I got tickets for all the events I applied for.  So, after several months waiting to see if I was successful, I received an e-mail in June 2011 informing me I got one of my preferred nights and it was a Cat C ticket. Ok that’s £250.  Not too bad. 

Next to see where my seats will be.   Oh sorry that information is not available.  And more to the point will not be available until you receive your ticket in April 2012.  I found this really strange as I went to the world athletics championship in Berlin in 2009 and not alone could I get a great seat for 55 euro but I could pick my seat at the time of booking.   And this was the night Usain Bolt broke the 200m record and it was a packed house.  Now that’s value. 

Anyway back to London.  In late January, an e-mail was sent to successful tickets winners to update their address.  Sounds good but you cannot update to an address other than on a credit card you own.   As stated earlier, times are different and not everybody has the joy of having a credit card these days.   In my case I travel now due to work commitments and spend long periods of time away from my home house so I guess I will just leave the home address so they can get delivered there.  STOP.  Please note these tickets will need to be signed for upon delivery.   Hmmmm.  Ok I will need somebody in the house to collect my tickets.   When will they arrive?  Sometime in April.   Hmmm.  They sure don’t make things easy.  So I have my ticket but will I get it into my hands?  Well who knows at this stage.   All I can guarantee at this stage is that I have paid for them and also paid £12 delivery for something I have no idea when it will arrive.

Ok so what’s next?  Somewhere to stay for a few nights.  A two night stay in London during this wonderful time will just set me back approximately £400.  Sounds like I’m living it up now.  Afraid not.  This is a self-catering apartment.  I couldn’t afford the £700+ required for a 3 star hotel.   Flights next.   Lets not even go there.   Ok all in all its about £1000 to go for 1 night to the Olympic games.  Is it worth it?  Well I sure hope so.  

My opinion has changed – I don’t believe these are the Olympics for everybody.  It’s for those lucky enough to still have a job that pays enough to do this.  I’m one of those and for that I am very grateful.   Ireland currently has an unemployment rate of 14.8%.  Lots of people who have lost their jobs have taken up running.  Lots of time on your hands, it’s an inexpensive hobby, and a good way to keep fit and feel good at a time when things are bleak -  but I wonder -  will some of our torch bearers be made up of the 14.8% or will it be only made up of professionals???  Maybe a celebrity here or there:  Maybe even a Seoige girl to add a bit of glamour?

I understand that to run an event the size of the Olympics is a massive undertaking but let’s hope that the organisers don’t forget that it’s the ordinary Joe Soap who gets up early in the morning to sit in front of the TV hoping that one of their heroes gets to win a medal. Shouldn’t one of Joe Soap’s be given the lifetime opportunity to be a torch bearer – regardless of their sporting or academic achievements?  Over commercialising the event and excluding the average Joe Soap, in my opinion, will do this wonderful event an injustice.  I’m sure lots will disagree with me but my fear is that it’s quickly turning into how much money can be squeezed from hosting the Olympics.

126 Mile Run For Irish Special Olympics Athletes

In an effort to raise funds for Special Olympics Ireland, Brian Maher and Mike Sheridan plan to run the 126 miles from Limerick to Dublin, one mile for each of the Irish Special Olympic Athletes. Brian is a DJ and  Radio presenter at Spin 1038. Mike is a TV Presenter and Journalist. Their plan is to complete the 126 miles non-stop in 30 hours in April. More details on their website... http://challenge126.com

Sharon Gayter from the UK sets new Mizen to Malin record...

Ultra distance runner Sharon Gayter from the UK arrived at Malin Head in Donegal on Thursday morning to set a new Mizen to Malin record. Having set out from Mizen Head in Cork  at 7am last Sunday morning, it took 4 days, 1 hour and 39 minutes to run the length of Ireland. That is roughly 21 hours faster than the time of 4 days 23 hours that Jen Salter set in June 2011 when she ran in the opposite direction from Malin to Mizen.

Gayter is a holder of several distance records including a 7 day treadmill record set last December.

Event Notice...MonsterMAC 2012 MultiSport Adventure Race - Sat 28th Apr 2012

For those of you who might be interested in trying something different, the 2012 MonsterMAC Multi-Sports Adventure Race is coming up on Saturday, the 28th of April 2012 in Millstreet Country Park in Cork. Located in the Boggeragh Mountains to the south-east of of the town of Millstreet itself, it is within easy reach of participants in Cork, Kerry and Limerick.

There are a selection of courses on offer and basically involve trail running, cycling and kayaking. Please note that entry fee's increase after the 31st of March. All entries close on Thursday, the 26th of April 2012

More details on the Running in Munster website

Results for Munster Ten Mile series after 3 races

The standings in the John Buckley Munster Ten-Mile Spring Classics Series have now been calculated. A total of 221 people have completed  the first three races.....Dungarvan, Ballycotton and Mallow. You can see them HERE.

If you notice any omissions or errors then contact ballycottonrunning@eircom.net before Monday next, April 2nd.

I can't remember what the figure was for last year but in 2009, a total of 243 people had completed the first three races. That's a drop of 22 this year by comparison despite the fact that the numbers at each race were way up. Reason? Possibly because some could not get into the Ballycotton race? Or did more people opt to do fewer races?

The fourth and final race in the Spring Classics Series will be the Kilnaboy ‘10’ in Clare
on Sunday April 8th, commencing at 2pm.

15 excuses for failing a drugs test...

1. In 2005, American cyclist Tyler Hamilton offered a unique explanation after drug testing officials discovered evidence of blood doping. Hamilton said the different blood found mixed with his own could have come from a “vanishing twin” whom he had absorbed in the uterus....Thirty-four years earlier.

2. German runner Dieter Baumann, a former Olympic champ in the 5000 meters, tested positive for nandrolone. His two-year suspension cost him the 2000 Summer Olympics. Baumann voluntarily underwent further tests that showed fluctuating amounts of nandrolone in his system depending on the time of day. Baumann’s explanation: the nandrolone was in his toothpaste, which obviously had been spiked.

3. Tennis star Petr Korda tested positive at Wimbledon in 1998, claiming the nandrolone in his system came from a veal entree. Some experts estimated he would’ve had to eat 40 calves a day for 20 years to account for the levels of nandrolone in his system.

4. Five North Korean soccer players tested positive for steroids at the Women’s World Cup in 2011. The North Korean delegation claimed the steroids were unknowingly included with traditional Chinese medicines based on musk deer glands. The federation said the players needed them to recover from being struck by lightning during training.

5. Cyclist Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title after testing positive for clenbuterol. The Court of Arbitration upheld the test findings and banned him for two years. Contador claimed the positive test was caused by eating contaminated meat on a 2010 Tour rest day.

6. Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor tested positive for cocaine at the 1999 Pan American Games and was stripped of his gold medal. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro defended him, blaming the sabotage on the “Cuban-American mafia.”

7. Fani Halkia, who won gold for Greece in the Olympic 400m hurdles in 2004, tested positive for methyltrienalone in Beijing and was banned from competition for two years. Her story? She blamed it on tampered diet supplements. Fifteen Greek athletes, including 11 members of the Olympic weightlifting team, were also suspended for methyltrienolone. That’s a lot of tampering.

8. Spanish cyclist Isabel Moreno disappeared two days before the Beijing Olympics after she allegedly failed a drug test. Moreno’s reason for disappearing from the scene? She didn’t admit to the positive test, saying instead on her website that she had an anxiety attack and needed to go home.

9. Bulgarian tennis star Sesil Karatancheva attributed one of her two positive tests for nandrolone to being pregnant despite the fact her urine samples showed no evidence of a pregnancy.

10. Ben Johnson (winning above), who famously tested positive for stanozolol at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 after defeating American Carl Lewis for the 100 meters gold medal, blamed his positive test that day on a spiked energy drink. He was banned for life in 1993 after another positive test.

11. Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati tested positive for marijuana after winning gold in the giant slalom at the Nagano Olympics in 1998. He claimed second-hand smoke and was allowed to keep his medal.

12. Richard Gasquet, a French tennis player, tested positive for cocaine at a tournament in Florida a few years ago. He said he kissed a girl who had ingested cocaine at a nightclub. A tribunal cleared him to return to competition.

14. Baseball’s Manny Ramirez blamed his first positive test on a medication given to him by his doctors. The medication? A women’s fertility drug. Experts say the drug is commonly used by athletes to restart their bodies’ natural testosterone production as they come off a steroid cycle. Ramirez, suspended a second time, is serving 50 games of a 100-game suspension at the start of the 2012 season.

15. American track star Justin Gatlin said he didn’t know how high levels of testosterone got into his system at a 2006 track meet in Kansas. His coach, Trevor Graham, blamed a vengeful massage therapist for rubbing a cream containing the steroid into Gatlin’s legs without his knowledge.

Treacy warns of danger of cuts to sports...

Speaking at a sports conference in UCC last Monday, John Treacy, the chief executive of the Irish Sports Council has warned against cutting funding to Irish high performance athletes. In other countries where funding has been cut, there has been a major drop in performance levels.

Treacy, an Olympic Silver medalist in the Marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles games, said..."We have seen other countries where they were heading into the Olympic games and they cut off investment and the performances did drop. We can’t reduce funding because if we do we will have a drop-off in terms of performance. Our athletes will inspire our young people to take up sport and lead a healthy lifestyle.”

Another speaker at the conference, Prof Barry Houlihan, who specialises in sports policy at Loughborough University in England, said it was important to note that 80 countries that have participated in the Olympic Games have never won a medal. Considering the size of the country, Ireland has punched above it's weight in the past in terms of medals.

Reminder about discount for Bay Run entries for Mealagh Valley finishers...

There are now just 4 weeks to go to the closing date for entries to the Bay Run Half-Marathon in west Cork (22nd of April). The race itself is on Sunday, the 6th of May at 12 noon.

This is a reminder to anyone that did the Mealagh Valley 10 mile road race on the 12th of February that you are entitled to avail of a 20% discount. If you didn't notice the discount code on the day then you can send me an e-mail and I can give it to you.....(my e-mail is shown on the right hand side of this page).

Just let me know what your time was as well so I can find you. The results post can be seen HERE.

Running Times interview with David McCarthy of West Waterford AC...

At the start of March, the US athletics magazine Running Times had an interview with David McCarthy from Dungarvan, Waterford. Back in January, he ran won an indoor mile race in Boston in 3:55.75 and in February, he won a 3,000 metre indoor race in New York in 7:57.50. He is currently finishing off his studies at Providence College in Rhode Island and will graduate in May. He will then prepare for the 1500m in the European championships in Helsinki in late June.

In the interview, McCarthy said...“The Europeans are the main goal for me this summer. Obviously the Olympics are there but I haven’t even qualified yet. I’m sticking to short-term goals, no long-term goals. I just want to go to Europeans and compete well. I mean if I can’t compete well there, there’s no point in thinking about the Olympics. After that I’ll hopefully get races around Europe and what comes, comes. If I get an Olympic qualifying standard (3:35.50) that would be great but my plan is to continue to enjoy my running as long as possible."

Growing up, David McCarthy had a host of national titles. Silver in the 800m at the Youth Olympics and an U23 5,000m bronze. He was the Irish age 16 record-holder for 800m (1:51.22). He ran 1:49.93 and ran 3:48.24 (1500m) indoors before his 18th birthday. In total he won 10 Irish Schools titles in five years and uniquely held the Intermediate Boys 400m, 800m and cross country titles concurrently.

The interview can be seen HERE and is well worth a read.

Typical training week :
MONDAY: a.m. – 5 miles; p.m. – 8 miles and strides 
TUESDAY: a.m. – 5 miles; p.m. –   some form of minute repeats (e.g., 5 x 5 min., 9 x 3 min., 12 x 2 min. or a ladder session working from 2 min. up to 5 min. and back down – never does same session twice in same season, always changes)
WEDNESDAY: 12 miles      
THURSDAY: 5 miles; p.m. – 10 miles and strides 
FRIDAY: a.m. - 5 miles; p.m. – 6-mile tempo @ 5-minute pace
SATURDAY: Easy Day (off or 30 min. easy)    
SUNDAY: 16 miles   

Navy recruits prepare for the Great Island 10...

A large contingent of navy recruits are currently in training for the Great Island 10 mile road race on Sunday, the 15th of April. All proceeds from this race go to the Irish Cancer Society. If you are interested in collecting sponsorship then contact Sonya at sonyaomurphy@gmail.com or on (087) 790 4895.

Entry fee for Cork Marathon increases on the 31st of March

Just a reminder that the entry fee for the 2012 Cork City Marathon, Relay event and Half-Marathon will increase on the 31st of March. It will increase by €10 after that and a further €10 at the start of May.

Details HERE

Video on Stride Analysis...

I came across this video clip a few days back. It deals with subjects like Stride Angle, Arm Angle, Over stride Angle, Trunk Angle, Toe Lift Angle, Bounce and Crossover Angle. Some food for thought...

You can see it HERE

Results of the SKINS Facebook competition...

Just before the 2012 Ballycotton '10', there was a competition on the Running in Cork Facebook page for two SKINS tops courtesy of Maher Sports. Entrants had to guess what the winning time of the first woman in the race might be. Congratulations to Shane Mullaney of Thurles Crokes AC who won a top by guessing 54:50, just two seconds away from Maria McCambridge's time of 54:48. Someone else had guessed 54:45 so Shane won by just one second!

The other SKINS top went to Nicola Doherty who had the highest number of 'Likes' on her guess.

The Running in Cork Facebook page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Running-in-Cork/179702618707109

Running USA issue annual Half-Marathon report

Running USA have just announced their annual Half-Marathon report and it finds that yet again, the Half-Marathon is still the most popular distance for a race. In 2011, there were an estimated 1.6 million finishers which was 16% up on the 2010 figure. In a 2011 National Runner Survey, the half-marathon was also the favorite distance to run for 35% of men and 39% of women. It is also the fastest growing road race distance in the United States with finishing numbers having tripled from 2000 to 2011 (482,000 to 1,610,000), an increase of 234%.

Interestingly enough, the Half-Marathon has proved to be more popular with women as they made up 59% of the total. This is the exact opposite to the Marathon numbers in the USA where men make up 59%.

How does that compare to the gender balance in Ireland? In the 2011 Bay Run Half-Marathon in west Cork, women accounted for 40% of all the runners. In the June 2011 Cork City Half-Marathon, women made up 47.6% of the field. If the trend here follows that in the USA then perhaps in future years, women might be the majority in local Half-Marathons? Only time will tell.

Back to the Half-Marathon stats.....
1) The average age was 38.2 for a male and 35.3 for a female.
2) The average finishing times were 2:01 for males and 2:20 for females.

World's Largest Half-Marathons.....
In 2011, Göteborg in Sweden regained the #1 ranking as the world’s largest half-marathon with 42,904 finishers vs. 2010’s top half the Bupa Great North Run who slipped to #2 with 37,512 finishers. Over the past decade, the Great North Run has held the #1 position 8 out of 10 years. Göteborg 2011 also became the largest annual half-marathon ever (previous record, 40,523, Göteborg 2009).

2011 World’s Largest Half-Marathons (finishers):
1)    Göteborg, Sweden    42,904 (largest annual half-marathon all-time)
2)    Bupa Great North Run, Great Britain    37,512
3)    Zappos.com Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas, NV    33,257
4)    OneAmerica 500 Festival, IN    30,659
5)    Paris, France    23,673
6)    Country Music, TN    22,015
7)    Walt Disney World, FL    21,991
8)    Vattenfall, Germany    20,250
9)    Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio, TX    19,546
10)    P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona, AZ    19,343
11)    Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego, CA    17,194
12)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle, WA    17,101
13)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia, PA    16,519
14)    Nike Women’s, CA    16,126
15)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago, IL    15,320
16)    Standard Chartered Singapore, SIN    14,655
17)    Solutia Rock ‘n’ Roll St. Louis, MO    14,611
18)    Fubon Taipei Int’l, TPE    14,325
19)    Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah, GA (inaugural)    14,163
20)    Disney Princess, FL    13,799

No Cork BHAA race on Sat 24th March...

Please note...the Cork BHAA are NOT holding a 5k race on Saturday 24th March in the Tramore Valley Park in Cork City. There are some race calendars which have a race listed on this day but they are incorrect!

The most accurate and detailed calendar for races in Cork and Munster is located on this site. You'll find the link at  the top of this page or go to http://corkrunning.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html