Tibradden/Sliabh Thigh Bródáin
Forum Messages
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 4 2019, 9:35am | Hi All, I need some more volunteers for this race so please sign up if you can! |
| Jim Fitzharris | Jul 7 2019, 10:22pm | Hi Martin, I have just volunteered. Preference for a marshalling role but will go with the flow! Cheers, Jim. |
| Sarah Brady | Jul 8 2019, 9:07am | Hi Martin, I've volunteered as first aid officer. I haven't done it before, so just wondering will you have the first aid kit with you or do I need to arrange to get it from someone? Thanks, Sarah |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 8 2019, 9:50am | Thanks Jim, I'll put you down as a marshall. Sarah, I'm picking up the race gear this evening so I'll be bringing it all along on Wednesday. Thank you to those who have volunteered to date - I'll send out an email with roles this evening. If anyone else wishes to volunteer that would be great. |
| Mike Jordan | Jul 8 2019, 11:18am | Hi Martin, I can help out Wednesday. Happy to marshal or any other role required. Mike |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 8 2019, 3:06pm | Thanks Mike, much appreciated. |
| Diarmuid O'Colmain | Jul 8 2019, 3:58pm | Hi Martin sorry, this is probably the wrong Forum for this question, but I can't see a better one! I have just bought a set of vouchers and plan to run on Wednesday. Will I be able to collect the vouchers on Wednesday - I'll bring a printout of the email receipt I got? |
| Gordon Place | Jul 8 2019, 4:06pm | H Diarmuid, yes, you can colect them there with your email confirmation. |
| Brian Kitson | Jul 8 2019, 6:46pm | Hi there It says on the event details page that the junior course is 6km approx. my understanding from the constitution rules is that junior courses should not exceed 5km. Could we have a shorter junior course please? Something around 3-4km would encourage some of our younger members to come more regularly. |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 8 2019, 10:25pm | Hi Brian, I understand where you are coming from. I went through options with Caoimhin (who is assisting RDs with junior routes) last week and considered a 4k route (Tibradden summit). However, it was felt this would be too short for older juniors and the full course is too long so in the interest of balance and logistics the 6k route (junction of Dublin Mountain Way / Wicklow Way) won out. This is the junior route from previous years. |
| Brian Kitson | Jul 9 2019, 9:13am | Hi Martin, Thanks for getting back to me. I completely appreciate the hassle it must be for an RD trying to reinvent a short course when they must have their hands full with a long course. I also appreciate the consideration of tailoring the short course for the older junior runners. Stephen Hawkins’ publisher once told him that he’d lose half his readers for every equation he included in his book. So, at the risk of alienating my own audience, here’s a few stats about our Leinster League short course participants. Of the 42 participants who ran the short course in any of our Leinster League Races this year, over 75% were in the J14 category i.e. aged 14 years or under. Many of these participants are around 10 years old, one I know is in senior infants in school and she regularly (and delights in!) beating the much older kids. Despite J14s usually making up three quarters of short course participants, they accounted for just 25% of the short field the last two times the Tibradden race has been run. This race attracted just one J14 runner for the last two years it was run. Tibradden is a relatively accessible location, maybe it’s too long and technical for them? By far the most successful short course Leinster League race we've had so far this year was Caoimhin’s Bray head race. It accounted for almost one-third of all J14 participants who ran in any LL this year. It was a 2.6km route and we gave them a Mr. Whippy at the end. It may be too late to change the junior course this week, but I’d hope future RDs would consider that when designing a short course your bulls-eye target audience is a 12 year old kid who wants a realistic bit of mid-week adventure rather than an ultimate test of racing endurance. We have an incredible organisation and are surrounded by the most wonderful and accessible hills. We should be doing everything we can to encourage young runners. Each Sunday morning in Bray there is a junior park run. Even in the worst of weather these events attract more under 14s than I suspect we do over the course of a year. We can do better as an organisation and I’m more than happy to get actively involved in any dedicated efforts to improve the experience and participation levels among Junior runners :) |
| Alan Kilbride | Jul 9 2019, 10:57am | ---------------------------------------------------- Looking forward to the run tomorrow. Could anyone confirm if this is the race location please? https://www.google.com/maps/place/53%C2%B014'33.7%22N+6%C2%B017'41.5%22W/@53.2465666,-6.3015082,15z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d53.2427014!4d-6.2948534 Thanks, Alan. ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Gordon Douglas | Jul 9 2019, 11:07am | Hi Martin Sorry for late message;I was away on holidays last week and I just put my name down as a non running helper when I suddenly realised Tibradden was on this week! The terrain is not my favourite to race on; but I would welcome opportunity to help with any marshaling (a little excercise better than none!) over other duties, IF such was any help to you? Otherwise, I am quite willing to fit in with any other help needed. |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 9 2019, 11:11am | Hi Brian, It's tricky to come up with a short/junior course that will cater for most runners. However, I do love a stat based argument! I wasn't aware that 75% of juniors this year have been 14 or under. Thanks for taking the time to look into this in more detail. On that basis and to hopefully encourage younger runners, I will shorten the junior route to the 4k Tibradden summit out-and-back (it's actually about 3.8k). Note that while the overall route for this race is technical, the really challenging sections are the rockier Wicklow Way & Fairy Castle sections. The route to Tibradden summit will be fine for juniors. |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 9 2019, 11:13am | Hi Alan, Yes, that's the correct location. |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 9 2019, 11:15am | Hi Gordon, As luck would have it a Tibradden summit marshal role has just opened up! I'll put you down for that. Thanks, Martin |
| Stefanie Wynne | Jul 9 2019, 2:41pm | Hi Martin, Available as a non running volunteer if you need anyone. Stefanie |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 9 2019, 7:49pm | Thanks Stefanie and everyone else who has volunteered. I have enough volunteers now. |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 9 2019, 7:57pm | Reminder to runners... Please read over the details for the race but if you forget it all, at a minimum, remember the following! - ensure you have a jacket - SIGN in on the night and SCAN your race chip The weather forecast is currently predicting rain so be prepared for slippy terrain, particularly on the rocky sections. |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 10 2019, 11:45am | Reminder on junior participation: Juniors 10-16 can run unaccompanied Under 10 years old must be accompanied by a Parent or Guardian. |
| Brian Kitson | Jul 10 2019, 10:58pm | Super race tonight. Thanks Martin and special thanks to all your volunteers who coped admirably in very challenging conditions. Thanks for shortening the junior course, Martin. Great to see so many juniors and J14s out running on a very wet night, just one short runner of the record at bray head this year. Let’s keep the short course short and hopefully junior numbers will continue to grow. |
| Conor O'Farrell | Jul 11 2019, 12:17am | Hi All Results are now up. Big thanks to the laptop crew for doing such a great job in the wet conditions. Also, thanks to Martin and the rest of the volunteer team for suffering the weather on the night. It really was difficult for everyone to get everyone registered with the rain. I have the sign-in and results sheets drying all over the kitchen. ;-) Please email any results queries to results@imra.ie. Thanks Con |
| Andrew Hanney | Jul 11 2019, 8:31am | Thanks Martin & volunteers for a great race, everything done like clockwork and results up by bedtime. Fair play. |
| Warren Swords | Jul 11 2019, 8:44am | Thanks Martin and all the volunteers last night. Can’t have been fun or easy standing around in the deluge, be it car/summit marshals/sign in etc. Despite the rain, it was a surprisingly nice evening out on the mountain. |
| Luke McMullan | Jul 11 2019, 10:46am | Hi Martin, and all volunteers. Thanks Very much for all the organising - and as mentioned before - especially given the conditions. People like yourself give the rest of us lunatics a weekly buzz to look forward to after escaping the mundane and the metropolis. Let's keep them coming :-) Well done to all runners on negotiating the dancefloor (wet rocks). Fun night of racing. Luke |
| Caitlin Bent | Jul 11 2019, 11:13am | Many thanks to everyone who volunteered last night. It wasn't an easy race to be out in the elements. Thanks to Martin for his patience and keeping a steady head! |
| Laura Flynn | Jul 11 2019, 11:40am | Many thanks Martin to you and your team for last night's challenge. Also thanks so much to the runners who stopped to help me when I fell and lost precious seconds in their own race...Justin and Sandra.. thank you both. Sorry, there were others too but I didn't get your names..your kindness and concern was appreciated. And to Sarah for patching me up so cheerfully. |
| John Ahern | Jul 11 2019, 2:44pm | Lost property:I have a small black umbrella and a pair of glasses left behind last night. Contact me to claim them. |
| Justin O'Keeffe | Jul 11 2019, 3:05pm | Thanks to all the volunteers who makes amazing evening like this happen, great job Excellent call on the juniors route / distance. I know it may be a little short for the younger teenagers but I had my 6 & 9 year old out & they just loved it ( in hindsight of course) . It was great that they got to turn at the top of a hill rather than a random junctions |
| Martin Bagnall | Jul 11 2019, 6:16pm | Much thanks to my team of volunteers for all their hard work in putting on last night's race, particularly in dealing with the torrential downpour which threatened to wash away registration. I think I'll have to request a set of IMRA umbrellas for the race kit! Brilliant job by everyone in trying conditions, thanks for giving up your time. Congrats to Luke and Aoife on their wins and to all the other category winners. |
| Dave Docherty | Jul 11 2019, 7:09pm | Thanks to all for last nights race and fair play for the smooth registration given the conditions. Report up. |
| Alan Ayling | Jul 12 2019, 2:23pm | Great report Dave! Down with the jacket rule ;-) |
