Long Eaton 50 Ultra

plodding hippo

Jun 2011

12:35pm, 22 Jun 2011

35,103 posts

0

plodding hippo

well, what time was the last finisher

chrisity

Jun 2011

12:36pm, 22 Jun 2011

12,206 posts

0

chrisity

You have 14 hours, and if you recce it then it's not a difficult run.

plodding hippo

Jun 2011

12:41pm, 22 Jun 2011

35,105 posts

0

plodding hippo

hmmm
was 11 hours at Kent, but thats not got stiles and navigation

hellen

Jun 2011

1:35pm, 22 Jun 2011

10,661 posts

0

hellen

whats happening with kent hipps?

I wil hopefully be there next year

chrisity

Jun 2011

2:53pm, 22 Jun 2011

12,208 posts

0

chrisity

feedback from this year's event

Thanks for the results – they confirmed my race time post-mortem! I definitely set off too quick.
Knowing the route now, I would most certainly do it again – and pretty hopeful that I can improve on the time.

Thanks again for a well organised race, with well supported check-points.

Stephen

Hi Chris,

All of our runners from Holme Pierrepont really enjoyed the run despite the lack of competition. We would definately do it again next year.

Thank you for a very nice day of running.
Best Wishes
Claire

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the all the info. Interesting to see where we all made up and lost time. I thought the winner was flying when he went past me, he kept it up, great running! V.good news you are hoping to run the event again next year. Really good race you have produced, I will be back again in 2012 for another crack at it.

Again many thanks to you and all your helpers for all the hard work, just for us!

Much appreciated

Ian

Hello chris, yes will f'back very positively to runners world. Minor point is that despite obvious and superb best efforts, here and there the instructions were at best ambiguous. But that doesn't detract from a great experience overall, with very friendly and supportive checkpoints. It's just a shame a lot more people weren't there, given the level of effort put in by you and your colleagues.

All best wishes. May see you next year once I get over this one!!

Tony

Hi Chris,

I would like to say thank you very much to you and all that organised and marshalled yesterdays 50 mile race! It was my first ultra event and wasn't sure what to expect but the whole day was great, a special thank you to all at the manned check points for the food drinks and encouragement. I hope this will become an annual event as i'm sure as the word gets round it will prove to be a very popular race!

Thanks again

James Watkins

Just wanted to say thanks again for organizing a really good a event and race - really enjoyed it - awesome route.

Thanks for the results – they confirmed my race time post-mortem! I definitely set off too quick.
Knowing the route now, I would most certainly do it again – and pretty hopeful that I can improve on the time.

Thanks again for a well organised race, with well supported check-points.

Stephen

Hi Chris,

All of our runners from Holme Pierrepont really enjoyed the run despite the lack of competition. We would definately do it again next year.

Thank you for a very nice day of running.
Best Wishes
Claire

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the all the info. Interesting to see where we all made up and lost time. I thought the winner was flying when he went past me, he kept it up, great running! V.good news you are hoping to run the event again next year. Really good race you have produced, I will be back again in 2012 for another crack at it.

Again many thanks to you and all your helpers for all the hard work, just for us!

Much appreciated

Ian

Hello chris, yes will f'back very positively to runners world. Minor point is that despite obvious and superb best efforts, here and there the instructions were at best ambiguous. But that doesn't detract from a great experience overall, with very friendly and supportive checkpoints. It's just a shame a lot more people weren't there, given the level of effort put in by you and your colleagues.

All best wishes. May see you next year once I get over this one!!

Tony

chrisity

Jun 2011

2:54pm, 22 Jun 2011

12,209 posts

0

chrisity

Thank you very much for the pics Chris,

I cant stop telling to my friends about the race 50miles... for me was 52 :-).... my friend are ultra runners and marathon's runners too so they miss this race nevermind next time they will come with me :-)...

The day was fantastic! i enjoyed running :-)

was a great race event and well organized with check points well located with food and drinks!! Thanks to all the marshall who did really do a fantastic job without them we will not able to finish the race or maybe run in wrong direction....
I will run again next year! this time I know the route :-)

Annie

chrisity

Jun 2011

2:55pm, 22 Jun 2011

12,210 posts

0

chrisity

i sent some questions to the runners, and will post their replies below

We would welcome any feedback on the event that will help us to improve it for next year, as it seems very likely that we will put it on again. In particular you may wish to comment on

1) organisation before the day
2) organisation on the day
3) Checkpoints – in general, quantity and variety of food, anything missing?
4) The course, in general and if you have a Garmin track that we can look at we would be grateful. We think it is between 51.4 and 52 miles, is this acceptable or should we try to knock a mile off somewhere? (Sorry Eleanor, not checkpoint 1). Maybe we should call it the Long Eaton 51 and a bit?
5) Route maps and instructions – we know that there were some errors or badly described parts, can you let us know what they were please?
6) Would you do it again?
7) Anything else.
Things that I have down are more safety pins, car park sign and mobile phone check that I forgot

in answer to your questions

1. Excellent - no problems at all
2. Again excellent (more safety pins though !)
3. Excellent - lots of variety and plenty of food (my vote for favourite checkpoint goes to the folks at the Bridge Inn in Duffield)
4. Great course, some really nice scenery and a good variety of trail/canal path/fields/"mountainous steps" etc, only issues really were the very overgrown path nr the stile hidden in the hedge and some of the clip point thingys were attached a bit tight to the stiles/fences.
5. I preferred the written instructions to the maps as they were much easier to follow whilst running - didn't really have any problems following them although they did differ in places to the original garmin course files we could dowload from fetcheveryone.
6. Definitely yes
7. The soup was very welcome at the end

Looking forward to next year

Thanks again

Duncan Sadler

chrisity

Jun 2011

2:56pm, 22 Jun 2011

12,211 posts

0

chrisity

Hi Chris,

Congratulations for organising the event firstly. I enjoyed the route with its different challenges of running through our beautiful surrounding countryside.

I made an error of navigation which cost me 30 Min's , i missed the canal bridge no 10 to go to outskirts of Findern. I ran to the wrong bridge and then came back. my mistake but i think if you do it next year i think it would help if you put the no

of the canal bridge we have to come off at on the route description. The food on the checkpoints was just right , cake, biscuits jam butties, bananas, sweets and the people on them were very friendly.I decided to have a pint at CP 3 and i really

enjoyed it.I wore my race no on my vest and found it hard to clip because the clippers were tied without much freedom in them. I recommend you have a laminated clip card with all the CP on and self clips with grid references on, two holes in

the top with a piece of string so you can put it around your neck. Also it's easier to see if you have a box on a card to clip in order as you make your way round.

The weather was very kind to us and we didn't have far to walk from the car park to the start. Some thing to consider if you get lots more entries if you do one next year is to hire a building where we meet and you can register people arriving

and possible entries on the day. Toilets and a kitchen where teas and coffee could be served and bags left. Also you will need more parking if it takes off. Another idea is to put up a small marquee to put table and to register at the start just in

case the weathers bad. The Navigation soup and roll were very good and the pint even better.

Well done to to everyone who ran and helped with the event.

Regards

Big Paul

chrisity

Jun 2011

2:58pm, 22 Jun 2011

12,212 posts

0

chrisity

Hi Chris

Just wanted to give you some feedback on Saturday, as requested.

Firstly I thought the event was excellent. I have no complaints, and
everything I say is designed to hopefully make a great event even
better for next year. I'm very pleased that you think it will take
place next year, and I will be putting it in my diary as soon as you
fix a date for it.

> 1) organisation before the day

Excellent. Everything was covered.

I thought having the photos was really good. I could remember very few
of them as I went round, but it was nice to go through them in advance
and no doubt some of them were there in my subconscious. That said, I
wonder whether trimming them down to the bare essentials, and
highlighting only the points at which confusion may arise, may mean
that I am only trying to recall the most important bits. Maybe have a
folder of 'full route' and a folder of 'important bits' and the relay
runners (or ultra runners with photographic memories) can look at one,
and the ultra runners at the other.

> 2) organisation on the day

Other than a few signs in the area to point to the start and carpark I
can't think of anything you were missing.

> 3) Checkpoints – in general, quantity and variety of food, anything
> missing?

Excellent again. Couldn;t have wanted anything more in terms of
supplies. Support from the marshalls there was great.

My only feedback was that there was arguably one too few. The first
two stages were ok, but I think doing the final 30 miles with only 3
checkpoints was a bit of a stretch. If it had got hotter people may
have had hydration issues (I appreciate they could carry bigger/more
bottles with them, but that isn't always obvious in advance of the
race, or even when you are at the previous checkpoint), and towards
the end of the race people are more likely to need medical help (even
if it is just a band-aid). Also, if the size of field increases you
will have more people wanting to drop out, and if you have more
checkpoints that is much easier to accomodate, rather than worrying
about collecting them from the countryside. I don't think you need
many more (some of the appeal of ultras is self-motivated,
self-reliant, solo running so we wouldn't want one every 2 miles) but
making 4 stages from Littleover to Dale, rather than 3 would be better
for the ultra runners.

> 4) The course, in general and if you have a Garmin track that we can
> look at we would be grateful. We think it is between 51.4 and 52 miles, is
> this acceptable or should we try to knock a mile off somewhere? (Sorry
> Eleanor, not checkpoint 1). Maybe we should call it the Long Eaton 51 and a
> bit?

I wouldn;t change it, even if it is longer than 50. Those who ran this
year will want to try and beat their course best. Next year's runners
will want to compare themselves against this year as well as next
year. It was almost without exception a lovely course, so i wouldn't
tinker with it.

With regard to the name, I wonder whether you culd rename it the Long
Eaton Running Club Round Derby Ultra. People like running round things
or along things. Circumnavigation of something, or 'one end to the
other' of something is popular (Round Rotherham, Round Norfolk Relay,
Ridgeway Relay, North Downs Way ultra etc etc) so you could try and
tap into that idea. Plus you can then market it without having to give
a specified distance and keep it at 51.8miles.

> 5) Route maps and instructions – we know that there were some errors
> or badly described parts, can you let us know what they were please?

On the whole they were good. I went very wrong (and added 2.8 miles
ending up in Sinfin Village) shortly after checkpoint 1 but I think I
was actually going from an old version of the instructions and the
ones you have up on the website now are much clearer.

There were a couple of mis-named roads: you have a Beech Avenue in
stage 2, which I think is actually Beech Street, and Broadfield Way on
Stage 3, section 2, is called something else but I can't remember
what.

My biggest suggestion is that you should only name things when the
name is clear. A lot of bridges along the canal where named by road,
not number, yet they display the number and not the road name. Simply
having 'bridge 15' would be much clearer than 'X Lane'. Also, when
there was the name of a farm, or building, I was expecting to see a
sign on the building - how I else would i know it was called that - so
missed a few turnings as I hadn't seen the visual marker I was
expecting. Possibly having the names is helpful if you end up asking a
local for directions, but if the name isn't on a sign I would make
them far less significant in the instructions.

> 6) Would you do it again?

Definitely

> 7) Anything else.

The souvenirs at the finish were excellent. It was nice to get
something a bit unusual and that will be used and displayed (and not
just go in a draw).

When you said 'post-race soup' in the pre-race blurb I was a bit
disappointed. However, having had it I think it was a good choice.
Something wet, easy to eat and not too stodgy is actually just what I
wanted. Alternatives would be a casserole and rice or something
similar, but staying away from a burger and chips was a good decision.

>
>
> Things that I have down are more safety pins, car park sign and mobile phone
> check that I forgot.
>
>
>
> A couple of other things: I was thinking of a best checkpoint award, so if
> you have any favourite let me know, or if they were all equally good then
> tell me

They were all excellent but checkpoints 3 & 4 stood out most, not just
for the support they gave me, but also for Zoe when she was waiting
for me.

I think that covers everything. If I think of anything I've forgotten
then I'll let you know.

I hope that feedback helps. As I said at the start, it was a great
event, and I am just picking up on minor points to help you make it
even better for next year.

Thanks very much

Peter Stockdale

chrisity

Jul 2011

3:07pm, 1 Jul 2011

12,271 posts

0

chrisity

There are a couple of pictures and an article on the 50 mile race on page 20 of the July issue of the Long Eaton Chronicle - pick up a free copy by the Leisure Centre entrance or elsewhere in Long Eaton.

Or read it on-line at en.calameo.com

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plodding hippo Jun 2011 12:35pm, 22 Jun 2011 35,103 posts	0 plodding hippo well, what time was the last finisher
chrisity Jun 2011 12:36pm, 22 Jun 2011 12,206 posts	0 chrisity You have 14 hours, and if you recce it then it's not a difficult run.
plodding hippo Jun 2011 12:41pm, 22 Jun 2011 35,105 posts	0 plodding hippo hmmm was 11 hours at Kent, but thats not got stiles and navigation
hellen Jun 2011 1:35pm, 22 Jun 2011 10,661 posts	0 hellen whats happening with kent hipps? I wil hopefully be there next year
chrisity Jun 2011 2:53pm, 22 Jun 2011 12,208 posts	0 chrisity feedback from this year's event Thanks for the results – they confirmed my race time post-mortem! I definitely set off too quick. Knowing the route now, I would most certainly do it again – and pretty hopeful that I can improve on the time. Thanks again for a well organised race, with well supported check-points. Stephen Hi Chris, All of our runners from Holme Pierrepont really enjoyed the run despite the lack of competition. We would definately do it again next year. Thank you for a very nice day of running. Best Wishes Claire Hi Chris, Thanks for the all the info. Interesting to see where we all made up and lost time. I thought the winner was flying when he went past me, he kept it up, great running! V.good news you are hoping to run the event again next year. Really good race you have produced, I will be back again in 2012 for another crack at it. Again many thanks to you and all your helpers for all the hard work, just for us! Much appreciated Ian Hello chris, yes will f'back very positively to runners world. Minor point is that despite obvious and superb best efforts, here and there the instructions were at best ambiguous. But that doesn't detract from a great experience overall, with very friendly and supportive checkpoints. It's just a shame a lot more people weren't there, given the level of effort put in by you and your colleagues. All best wishes. May see you next year once I get over this one!! Tony Hi Chris, I would like to say thank you very much to you and all that organised and marshalled yesterdays 50 mile race! It was my first ultra event and wasn't sure what to expect but the whole day was great, a special thank you to all at the manned check points for the food drinks and encouragement. I hope this will become an annual event as i'm sure as the word gets round it will prove to be a very popular race! Thanks again James Watkins Just wanted to say thanks again for organizing a really good a event and race - really enjoyed it - awesome route. Thanks for the results – they confirmed my race time post-mortem! I definitely set off too quick. Knowing the route now, I would most certainly do it again – and pretty hopeful that I can improve on the time. Thanks again for a well organised race, with well supported check-points. Stephen Hi Chris, All of our runners from Holme Pierrepont really enjoyed the run despite the lack of competition. We would definately do it again next year. Thank you for a very nice day of running. Best Wishes Claire Hi Chris, Thanks for the all the info. Interesting to see where we all made up and lost time. I thought the winner was flying when he went past me, he kept it up, great running! V.good news you are hoping to run the event again next year. Really good race you have produced, I will be back again in 2012 for another crack at it. Again many thanks to you and all your helpers for all the hard work, just for us! Much appreciated Ian Hello chris, yes will f'back very positively to runners world. Minor point is that despite obvious and superb best efforts, here and there the instructions were at best ambiguous. But that doesn't detract from a great experience overall, with very friendly and supportive checkpoints. It's just a shame a lot more people weren't there, given the level of effort put in by you and your colleagues. All best wishes. May see you next year once I get over this one!! Tony
chrisity Jun 2011 2:54pm, 22 Jun 2011 12,209 posts	0 chrisity Thank you very much for the pics Chris, I cant stop telling to my friends about the race 50miles... for me was 52 :-).... my friend are ultra runners and marathon's runners too so they miss this race nevermind next time they will come with me :-)... The day was fantastic! i enjoyed running was a great race event and well organized with check points well located with food and drinks!! Thanks to all the marshall who did really do a fantastic job without them we will not able to finish the race or maybe run in wrong direction.... I will run again next year! this time I know the route Annie
chrisity Jun 2011 2:55pm, 22 Jun 2011 12,210 posts	0 chrisity i sent some questions to the runners, and will post their replies below We would welcome any feedback on the event that will help us to improve it for next year, as it seems very likely that we will put it on again. In particular you may wish to comment on 1) organisation before the day 2) organisation on the day 3) Checkpoints – in general, quantity and variety of food, anything missing? 4) The course, in general and if you have a Garmin track that we can look at we would be grateful. We think it is between 51.4 and 52 miles, is this acceptable or should we try to knock a mile off somewhere? (Sorry Eleanor, not checkpoint 1). Maybe we should call it the Long Eaton 51 and a bit? 5) Route maps and instructions – we know that there were some errors or badly described parts, can you let us know what they were please? 6) Would you do it again? 7) Anything else. Things that I have down are more safety pins, car park sign and mobile phone check that I forgot in answer to your questions 1. Excellent - no problems at all 2. Again excellent (more safety pins though !) 3. Excellent - lots of variety and plenty of food (my vote for favourite checkpoint goes to the folks at the Bridge Inn in Duffield) 4. Great course, some really nice scenery and a good variety of trail/canal path/fields/"mountainous steps" etc, only issues really were the very overgrown path nr the stile hidden in the hedge and some of the clip point thingys were attached a bit tight to the stiles/fences. 5. I preferred the written instructions to the maps as they were much easier to follow whilst running - didn't really have any problems following them although they did differ in places to the original garmin course files we could dowload from fetcheveryone. 6. Definitely yes 7. The soup was very welcome at the end Looking forward to next year Thanks again Duncan Sadler
chrisity Jun 2011 2:56pm, 22 Jun 2011 12,211 posts	0 chrisity Hi Chris, Congratulations for organising the event firstly. I enjoyed the route with its different challenges of running through our beautiful surrounding countryside. I made an error of navigation which cost me 30 Min's , i missed the canal bridge no 10 to go to outskirts of Findern. I ran to the wrong bridge and then came back. my mistake but i think if you do it next year i think it would help if you put the no of the canal bridge we have to come off at on the route description. The food on the checkpoints was just right , cake, biscuits jam butties, bananas, sweets and the people on them were very friendly.I decided to have a pint at CP 3 and i really enjoyed it.I wore my race no on my vest and found it hard to clip because the clippers were tied without much freedom in them. I recommend you have a laminated clip card with all the CP on and self clips with grid references on, two holes in the top with a piece of string so you can put it around your neck. Also it's easier to see if you have a box on a card to clip in order as you make your way round. The weather was very kind to us and we didn't have far to walk from the car park to the start. Some thing to consider if you get lots more entries if you do one next year is to hire a building where we meet and you can register people arriving and possible entries on the day. Toilets and a kitchen where teas and coffee could be served and bags left. Also you will need more parking if it takes off. Another idea is to put up a small marquee to put table and to register at the start just in case the weathers bad. The Navigation soup and roll were very good and the pint even better. Well done to to everyone who ran and helped with the event. Regards Big Paul
chrisity Jun 2011 2:58pm, 22 Jun 2011 12,212 posts	0 chrisity Hi Chris Just wanted to give you some feedback on Saturday, as requested. Firstly I thought the event was excellent. I have no complaints, and everything I say is designed to hopefully make a great event even better for next year. I'm very pleased that you think it will take place next year, and I will be putting it in my diary as soon as you fix a date for it. > 1) organisation before the day Excellent. Everything was covered. I thought having the photos was really good. I could remember very few of them as I went round, but it was nice to go through them in advance and no doubt some of them were there in my subconscious. That said, I wonder whether trimming them down to the bare essentials, and highlighting only the points at which confusion may arise, may mean that I am only trying to recall the most important bits. Maybe have a folder of 'full route' and a folder of 'important bits' and the relay runners (or ultra runners with photographic memories) can look at one, and the ultra runners at the other. > 2) organisation on the day Other than a few signs in the area to point to the start and carpark I can't think of anything you were missing. > 3) Checkpoints – in general, quantity and variety of food, anything > missing? Excellent again. Couldn;t have wanted anything more in terms of supplies. Support from the marshalls there was great. My only feedback was that there was arguably one too few. The first two stages were ok, but I think doing the final 30 miles with only 3 checkpoints was a bit of a stretch. If it had got hotter people may have had hydration issues (I appreciate they could carry bigger/more bottles with them, but that isn't always obvious in advance of the race, or even when you are at the previous checkpoint), and towards the end of the race people are more likely to need medical help (even if it is just a band-aid). Also, if the size of field increases you will have more people wanting to drop out, and if you have more checkpoints that is much easier to accomodate, rather than worrying about collecting them from the countryside. I don't think you need many more (some of the appeal of ultras is self-motivated, self-reliant, solo running so we wouldn't want one every 2 miles) but making 4 stages from Littleover to Dale, rather than 3 would be better for the ultra runners. > 4) The course, in general and if you have a Garmin track that we can > look at we would be grateful. We think it is between 51.4 and 52 miles, is > this acceptable or should we try to knock a mile off somewhere? (Sorry > Eleanor, not checkpoint 1). Maybe we should call it the Long Eaton 51 and a > bit? I wouldn;t change it, even if it is longer than 50. Those who ran this year will want to try and beat their course best. Next year's runners will want to compare themselves against this year as well as next year. It was almost without exception a lovely course, so i wouldn't tinker with it. With regard to the name, I wonder whether you culd rename it the Long Eaton Running Club Round Derby Ultra. People like running round things or along things. Circumnavigation of something, or 'one end to the other' of something is popular (Round Rotherham, Round Norfolk Relay, Ridgeway Relay, North Downs Way ultra etc etc) so you could try and tap into that idea. Plus you can then market it without having to give a specified distance and keep it at 51.8miles. > 5) Route maps and instructions – we know that there were some errors > or badly described parts, can you let us know what they were please? On the whole they were good. I went very wrong (and added 2.8 miles ending up in Sinfin Village) shortly after checkpoint 1 but I think I was actually going from an old version of the instructions and the ones you have up on the website now are much clearer. There were a couple of mis-named roads: you have a Beech Avenue in stage 2, which I think is actually Beech Street, and Broadfield Way on Stage 3, section 2, is called something else but I can't remember what. My biggest suggestion is that you should only name things when the name is clear. A lot of bridges along the canal where named by road, not number, yet they display the number and not the road name. Simply having 'bridge 15' would be much clearer than 'X Lane'. Also, when there was the name of a farm, or building, I was expecting to see a sign on the building - how I else would i know it was called that - so missed a few turnings as I hadn't seen the visual marker I was expecting. Possibly having the names is helpful if you end up asking a local for directions, but if the name isn't on a sign I would make them far less significant in the instructions. > 6) Would you do it again? Definitely > 7) Anything else. The souvenirs at the finish were excellent. It was nice to get something a bit unusual and that will be used and displayed (and not just go in a draw). When you said 'post-race soup' in the pre-race blurb I was a bit disappointed. However, having had it I think it was a good choice. Something wet, easy to eat and not too stodgy is actually just what I wanted. Alternatives would be a casserole and rice or something similar, but staying away from a burger and chips was a good decision. > > > Things that I have down are more safety pins, car park sign and mobile phone > check that I forgot. > > > > A couple of other things: I was thinking of a best checkpoint award, so if > you have any favourite let me know, or if they were all equally good then > tell me They were all excellent but checkpoints 3 & 4 stood out most, not just for the support they gave me, but also for Zoe when she was waiting for me. I think that covers everything. If I think of anything I've forgotten then I'll let you know. I hope that feedback helps. As I said at the start, it was a great event, and I am just picking up on minor points to help you make it even better for next year. Thanks very much Peter Stockdale
chrisity Jul 2011 3:07pm, 1 Jul 2011 12,271 posts	0 chrisity There are a couple of pictures and an article on the 50 mile race on page 20 of the July issue of the Long Eaton Chronicle - pick up a free copy by the Leisure Centre entrance or elsewhere in Long Eaton. Or read it on-line at en.calameo.com