Irish Mountain
Running Association

Race Marker Training

AuthorDateMessage
Peter O'FarrellFeb 7 2023, 2:23pmIMRA is organising Race Marker Training on Wednesday the 29th March.

Venue = Killiney Hill
Time = 6pm start, to finish before 8pm.
Trainer = Peter O'Farrell

There's no cost, the hope and expectation is that participarts will be happy to take on race marking for an upcoming race and use this training to ensure a standardised method of marking a course.

Some physical activity will be required during the training as we will jog and mark the route of the KIlliney Hill relay course after a short talk on the approach to take.

The number of places is limited. If interested please email me at peterofarrells at gmail dot com . If the number of places becomes full anyone after that will go on a list, which will be managed by email.
Peter O'FarrellMar 14 2023, 11:30amThanks to those who have signed up for the race marker training. There's room for plenty more if you are interested in attending.

The race marking guidelines and a one page race marking poster are available (as downloadable PDF's) on the volunteering tab in the race marker section https://www.imra.ie/volunteering/role/id/4/

At the recent Trooperstown race the race marker there (Rene Borg) put in about 4 hours on the hill between one recce the week before to check the course for fallen trees and then 2 marking sessions - on the evening before and the morning of the race. He also chatted with his race director about improvements or alterations to the route to add new twists to an old favourite.
Now not all race marking duties are the same but this gives a flavour of one stalwart's approach.
All this and more will be discussed on the 29th March.

I'll send out a map of the proposed course to all interested a week before the event and we can chat about what might be needed, if this was a real course.
Which it will be, the following week!

Thanks,
Peter
Peter O'FarrellMar 22 2023, 9:44amI have sent out an email to those who got back to me about the race marker training.

If you didn't get the email or if you would like to join on the evening please either respond here or email me at peterofarrells at gmail dot com

There's plenty of room for more folk to join. 6pm at Killiney Hill till about 8pm, or sooner depending on the amount of junctions to mark.

Thanks,
Peter
John CarrollMar 27 2023, 10:00amHi Peter,

If there's still space I'd like to join the training on Wednesday.

Thanks,
Johnny
John CarrollMar 27 2023, 10:09amJust seeing your email. Thanks. See you there
Brendan LawlorMar 27 2023, 11:02amWill there be a T Shirt or Hoodie ? Asking for a friend...
Peter O'FarrellMar 27 2023, 10:00pmBrendan,

I believe if you could promise to show up bare chested the numbers would double!

Thanks to all who have expressed interest in the race marking evening. Looking forward to it now.
John MurrayMar 28 2023, 10:54amGood luck with the Race Marking evening Peter and thanks to all those who took an interest in learning this Role.

On a similar note it might be a good idea for IMRA to maybe update the RACE POSTER with a little more info and target the actual runners themselves.

Many members haven't a clue what the race flags mean.

It's currently hidden in the Volunteers section and perhaps it should be more visible on the website. I mean no point having a perfectly marked course when those running it don't understand the meaning. :)
David FaganMar 29 2023, 10:59amPeter
Hope to make it up from Mullingar .
Peter O'FarrellMar 29 2023, 1:11pmThanks David. Hope to see you there.

The location is Killiney Hill Carpark

https://goo.gl/maps/j2FcLDA81hbzj29fA
Peter O'FarrellMar 29 2023, 1:14pmJohn - Thanks for the suggestion, a great idea.

As I have found out myself (many times actually) there's nothing like going wrong in one event to concentrate the mind on looking for those fluttering pieces of tape* the next time out :)

*or Flags, or laminated pieces of A4, or arrows..
Alan KennedyMar 29 2023, 8:36pmThanks Peter, that was really interesting and gave a new perspective on the work that goes into marking a course well to make it as easy as possible for the runners.
Peter O'FarrellMar 29 2023, 10:25pmThanks Alan and all the lads who came out to the race marking, fair play to ye.
Killiney Hill is a lovely spot on a sunny evening and the marking boils down to only putting markers on the course where the runners are going.
Thanks again.
Sean ForsythMar 30 2023, 7:53amThanks very much Peter.
It was a great session with clear cut guidelines regarding marking and safety on the course.

And it always great meet and talk to other runners
Miriam MaherMar 30 2023, 9:13amThanks Peter for your time and all the advance prep that went into organising this training! Thanks also to those that attended, giving up your free time to learn about this very important volunteering function.

That's another successful and well attended training session for key volunteer roles, following on from the First Aid and the Laptop training courses.

With the busiest part of our racing season about to really get going, don't forget to check out the calender and pick your volunteering slot as well as planning your races.

Miriam
Andrew HanneyMar 30 2023, 11:32amWill the results be up soon? Everyone wants to know who is the best race marker!
Mikey FryMar 30 2023, 11:43amBest not ask you to do it Andy:))