Hull marathon 2012

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Scott S Apr 2012 3:48pm, 8 Apr 2012 474 posts	0 Scott S I had a crappy day. Upet stomach lat night so never got to eat much and too many toilet visits beforehand. Few minutes off schedule by the half way pointas only managing 8:30ish instead of 7:30ish pace. By the time we hit the Hessle Road Industrial estate, running was starting to cause my stomach to cramp and not comfortable. After that, could really do much except try to finish in whatever lousy time. That out and back bit around the Deep psychological nearly killed me as it went on and on and on and on with some really stupid "run on the right hand side around this little bit of rounded pavement" or a bit at the water station before the Deep. Watr stations seemed a bit far apart although plenty available and when I finally finshed, my Garmin said 25.75 miles and quite a few others confirmed the route came up short. At least they found every hill in Hull. The bridge seemed to be far more sloped than when you do the half on the footpath, the last bit in Hessle before the bridge dragged uphill. Excellent registration and bag drop - plenty of toilets although the ones outside were better than the ones inside that everyone queued for (lack of them on the route though as I only saw 2-3 single portaloos randomly placed). The cannon at the start caused a few people to jump as it came out of nowhere. Really could have done with entertainment anywhere i.e music or something for spectators or runners alike. Few too many cars about - why do so many single males need to drive to and from Hessle on Easter Sunday when nothing is open? Some bits really need to be coned off as there was no real clear route for runners. At least they did the bridge although some drivers were easily doing 50-60mph instead of 30mph the signs said. Only 1 mile marker at Mile 13. Spectator wise, whislt not a massive amount of people out and about, those who did come out made me feel proud to come to Hull. Instead of some who just wait for the one person they're following, most cheered anyone on and gave words of encouragement Good technical t-shirt and medal. Easy to leave the finish area.
NickyNoo Apr 2012 4:17pm, 8 Apr 2012 314 posts	0 NickyNoo I put the slight shortage on my garmin due to going under the bridge twice and loosing the signal?!?! The course had been officially measured, verified and given a certificate so shouldn't be short! (I checked before I entered) I'm sure there are quite a few improvements for next year some to be expected for the first one.
mikep Apr 2012 4:44pm, 8 Apr 2012 230 posts	0 mikep Putting aside the fact that I missed my 3:29:59 target and finished in 3:31:46 ( and so am a bit miffed) I think that as the course went into Pearson Park it went "bad", The track in the park was to narrow and uneven, the run beyond Hessle road to the underpass was industrial grim at it's wosrt. The section from the ice rink to White Friargate had everythong you don't want at the end of a marathon. Cobbles, lack of (evenly spaced) water, and an endless out and back which was too narrow and quite technical with the sharp turns and little rises, and then completely empty streets until White Friargate. I have to say that there were long stretches throughout the run where there was a serious lack of water. At the start of the return over the bridge I had to pick a discarded bottle from the grass. Oddly there was a huge pile of water at about 1 mile from the end. Where there were crowds they were noisy and very supportive but not many of them except at the end. Good point about the bridge and flyover causing garmin to record it short. Having said all of that of the 10 runners from my club that ran 6 got PBs so perhaps it was just me. But I can't see me doing it again unless they change the course for the last 5 miles.
samson Apr 2012 5:02pm, 8 Apr 2012 1,691 posts	0 samson It seems that quite a few runners were sent the wrong way at some stage and ended up doing only 23 miles or so
hullrunner Apr 2012 8:21pm, 8 Apr 2012 2 posts	0 hullrunner They should give those runnners there money back who where sent the wrong way, or give them a free entry into next years race if it happens. Lets face it guys the company who organised this are not a charity or small club, they are a commercial events company who are supposed to do this every day. The issues that happened today should not happen for an experienced commercial company. I trained for a long time to be in this race along with everyone else and its a shambles what happened especially sending people the wrong way. Adding to this the course was accurately measured and everyone who i spoke to came up short on there garmins which are pretty accurate these days. There is a lot of explaining to do by the organisors, not enough marshals at key points on the course especially major junctions and roundabouts, hopefully a decent events company can get the event and make it a great event. oh well another one in the bag
SODIron © 2002 Apr 2012 9:10pm, 8 Apr 2012 10,034 posts	0 SODIron © 2002 interesting points about the organisation etc. I was the marshal at the turn-round point and was somewhat disturbed as to what I saw. We were told to be at the Deep/Millennium bridge for a 07:30AM briefing...myself and two other volunteer marshals were there at 07:20 but there were no officials or organisers to be found. Eventually we managed to track on down at around 08:45 who came over to us just after 9. He then have us a high viz jacket and 6 (yes SIX) race direction markers to put out. No instructions where to put them and now confirmation of exactly where they wanted us to be. I went to the furthest point (the turn-round point) but was sent to the wrong place by the organiser. Lucky for me I discovered what was going on and a brief fast jog from my point to the turn-round point saw me arrive there just after the lead runner and escort got there. I then attempted to contact the organisers on the phone number we had to get confirmation I was actually in the correct place but no answer...left a message on the voice mail and they call me back 2 hours (yes TWO hours) later. Lucky for me, and the rest of the runners, I was in the right place.... The run up to the turn-round point wasn't safe in my opinion as it was too narrow for runners going both ways AND pedestrians, especially when you consider there was no barriers to stop you from being 'bumped' into the Humber. The turn-round point itself was a little dangerous...if anyone would have stumbled they could have easily had a 15M fall into the Humber as again there was no railings to prevent runners from falling in. There was no mop up bus, or any notification for us marshals that the last runner had actually passed. Again lucky for me I had spoken with the last runner who informed me that she thought she was the last one. I again attempted to contact the organisers to confirm if the last runner had indeed passed the turn-round point but there was no answer and I never received a call back. Eventually I decided to take a slow walk back towards the deep as any runners would need to come passed me etc. No runners passed me and the other remaining marshal that I came across also had heard nothing. When we got to the deep the First Aid were closing up and the water station on the other side of the Millennium Bridge had packed up and gone home. At this point we decided that all runners must have passed us and decided to pack-up and call it a day. All-in-all, organisation very poor....runners who ran were very good and took the issues in 'good humour'. I am gonna drop a more in-depth digest to the organisers tomorrow as I think they need to improve on so many different areas.
marlan Apr 2012 9:47pm, 8 Apr 2012 2 posts	0 marlan There was some coverage on the local telly( BBC Look North) tonight. They mentioned about some confusion over the route along with the usual scenes of lots runners!
DeeGee Apr 2012 10:02pm, 8 Apr 2012 11,504 posts	0 DeeGee Route wasn't short. There was a Garmin "dead area" on the marina waterfront. Plus there's no way a Garmin can cope with that amount of doubling back.
DeeGee Apr 2012 10:02pm, 8 Apr 2012 11,505 posts	0 DeeGee Must find "Look North"
Stander Apr 2012 10:07pm, 8 Apr 2012 7,089 posts	0 Stander Good post SODIron. Nice to get a view from a marshalls side.