Local race is too popular - any ideas how to cope?

5 watchers

Curly45 Nov 2015 10:24am, 4 Nov 2015 2,904 posts	0 Curly45 They do the split at Last Friday of The Month in Hyde Park (doesn't allow EOD due to park rules), it works really well actually. You self seed (the cut is 22 mins), so even when I was circa 22:30 I would go in the fast one and get pulled along, and you get to see people racing for the win in the slower of the two as well which is good in terms of practicing leading races, which is a skill most of us don't get to practice often!
Spleen Nov 2015 10:35am, 4 Nov 2015 1,243 posts	0 Spleen Personally I wouldn't run a race that was split into two like that (big city marathons using pace corrals and chip times is another thing). If you cross the line first then that should mean you win, not you wait around for the second race to finish to see if anyone beats your time under different conditions. It's not a level playing field because the presence of competitors makes a big difference to the winners' time. Splitting it into sub-22-min and over still potentially skews the results of the veteran categories (if there are any). And it just feels a bit insulting to a 22.15 runner to tell them they aren't good enough to run in the same race as the majestic athletes who run 21.45. If it's not feasible to set a cap on numbers, then IMO increasing the price to at least £5 is the way forward.
Too Much Water Nov 2015 10:44am, 4 Nov 2015 5,337 posts	0 Too Much Water The Trunce (Sheffield fell race) does something where you always keep the same number.
nayan Nov 2015 10:50am, 4 Nov 2015 41 posts	0 nayan If you sell out, you aren't charging enough. Simple really
DeeGee Nov 2015 10:58am, 4 Nov 2015 16,776 posts	0 DeeGee We've only just this year put the price up to £3! It is an absolute bargain rivalled only by the little 5k run round the Country Park on a Saturday. In fact, I'd love to get that many at parkrun each week. I'm reluctant to suggest splitting the races as then we'd be looking at having folk out on the course for potentially 90 minutes, which on a windy seafront in the middle of winter when the vast bulk of the volunteers are octogenarians is a big ask. The season ticket is a good idea, sell folk a number at the beginning of the year, cap that at a certain figure and then release the rest at a premium on the day. I think it's a wonderful position to be in. I'm just not sure how many more people the course can handle - it's an out and back up the prom with all the street furniture that that entails.
Dvorak Nov 2015 11:26am, 4 Nov 2015 10,969 posts	0 Dvorak To tackle Spleen's objections: all winners from the first race. If you run a faster time in the second - too bad. To split 50/50, in a normal field 24 minutes would be about the mark. That would also normally mean age category winners were in the first event anyway. If it turns into an issue, stick eg over 60s in the second pool. Would it have to run as two discrete events? Could you not just start the second lot five minutes after the first? Personally, I'd quite like an event where I might be running near the front for a change. Feeling insulted that faster people get to go first seems a very odd notion.
fetcheveryone Nov 2015 1:45pm, 4 Nov 2015 16,636 posts	0 fetcheveryone £45 entry fee
SODIron © 2002 Nov 2015 2:56pm, 4 Nov 2015 10,987 posts	0 SODIron © 2002 You could just publish everyone with incorrect times and upload the results to Power of 10...that'll get the number of participants down. ;O) Actually...a more sensible option could be to have multiple races / start waves on the day. You could have a sub 20 wave, sub 25 wave, sub 30 wave, over 30 and have around 10 mins between wave starts. Or you could just stop taking entries on the day unless they pre-register and pay in advance.
jdarun Nov 2015 5:24pm, 4 Nov 2015 438 posts	0 jdarun To add to another comment, I also think a great way to handle large starts is to have waves set off at intervals. NOT just a huge queue where people at the back spend 20 mins shuffling past the start line and even have to spend the first km of the course in a crush. However it probably needs electronic timing else people will cheat by starting too soon. You could probably fit in many more runners if you set off 100 at a time, even with only a minute gap.
Ted Nov 2015 8:53pm, 4 Nov 2015 14,093 posts	0 Ted DeeGee. Have you worked out how many entrants can be processed by a single person every half hour and then scale up the number of people on the EoD desk to deal with the influx? It seems like you need a lot of staffing in a very short window. Can't they then go on to other support roles when the back has been broken?