JHGS PA 10K (and 5K)

I just got my joining instrucitons and it says "Only the first 3 male and female finishers in each run will be time recorded."

 Have you ever seen this before in a race?

I can only assume that this is the first race they have ever organised, so keep it simple to start with and only record the top 3 places.

 Do you have any idea of the course?

I have no idea of the course. I have been trying to figure it out for ages even gefore the race was announced, the location is great as has always been calling out for a race.

 I reckon that as they have a 5k and a 10k it has to be a 2 lapper, so we need a 5k lap inside West Wycombe Park. There are a number of good paths down by the A40 through the park itself and a number of good paths up the top along Toweridge but then you need to get from the bottom to the top twice and that is a killer. I train up Toweridge Lane form the A40 to the path at the top and it is a long slow drag: two times up that in a 10k will sap a lot of energy.

 If it isn't a two lapper then it has to be a bit round the park, up the hill and a long loop towards Wheeler End and then back, down a steepish finish and a bit more looping inside the park.

The course will make or break this run as an annual event, it has the potential to be a very pretty course. It will never be flat and fast (as per Dorney Dash) and it shoud not be made a tough 10k as it has to attract parents. It is also important to get the date right: this year it is the same date as the Penn 7 which pulls in 300 runners so you wan tto avoid that compeition and pick a free date on the local calendar.

As I said, it is just a guess. I need to run to get some distance in before a hectic fortnight with two trips to the USA which messes up the training completely and then the Southern Mens League on July 10th.

Concentrating on 5k at the moment, ran the Vets League at Abingdon on Monday night in windy conditions but still got a SB (18:29.6) so this 10k is over distance and over hard but it will be a good step up. After the track season is done it will be Burnham Beeches Half and then cross country but maybe look to do a marathon to get a qualifying time for London 2012 marathon. If I can run 3:15 at say Luton then I can train fully over the 2011/2012 winter.

 How do I know if you appear, will there be someone with madrunner06 on his vest! I am race number 18

I am just back from injury so Tuesday night race was my first since Jan.  Building back up for the XC season, so concentrating on 10k to 10 mile at moment.  Want to get my 10k times back down, did 39 mins on Tuesday, in very blustery conditions, but felt good and no aches or pain to report.

Congrats on SB 5k time.

I might turn up tomorrow, see how I feel, but I will prob stand out as I will have my RAF vest on...... if I do not make it good luck....

Philip,

 How was the run?

Run was a mixed bag:

 Pros:

Great location, great weather for running, car park was easy to find and very close to start and finish.

Cons:

Small field (to be expected in the first running of a race), no timing, inexperienced marshalls who were not showing the way until you were on on top of them, course was very much a cross country course and hard underfoot in places and very rough on some fast downhills, it would be easy to turn an ankle.

Where I am in my training, it was probably a good challenge but if I was fit I would go for a different race as this one is not a PB course at all, you have to add easily 2 or 3 minutes. It would be much better as an early autumn park race when people are getting ready for the cross country rather than in the middle of the road race season when people are looking for fast times.

By the way, what is the standard / acceptable fee for a race nowadays? It seems a lot of races are £12 to £15 for a 10k and that adds up if you want to do a few and get a decent time. I just ran ten 5ks in the last 2 months to get the SB and if I wan tto do the same for 10k it will be £150!

Sounded a good course just run at wrong time of year, though to be fair they were trying to get all runners out.  I think when its wet and cold, you tend just to get us loonies out in our vests and shorts.

Have they asked for any feedback about the race, all ways helps in the long run.

As for the fee's, I can understand that they have to go up, though sometimes I think for the shorter 5k/10k races there are ways of cutting cost.  I ran the Queens Mother Resevior 10k last week, half way round there was a water stop, all bottled water, why on a 10k race I do not know, surely this is wasted money, espcially as half the runners I saw had their own water bottles.

I have cut down on the amount of events I enter, racing Risborough 10k next month and the last of the QMR 10k race.  Even now we charge for all our RAF Road and XC Races, anything between £10 and £15.  But your right it soon adds up.

P.S. Madrunner comes from the guys I work with because the colder the wetter the muddier...the better the running. So they just call me mad.....

I am the race organiser and will value all feedback. We will shortly be issuing a survey to participants to ask for this.

Dealing with some of the questions:-

a) First 3 timed only - chip timing isn't really viable for less than 600 runners as the fixed costs are huge. Checking round when we first set up the event and top 3 times seemed the norm for smaller races. We are open to any workable ideas on how to improve this.

b) Timing of event - we are restricted to holding the event in May or June by west wycombe estate. They don't want it earlier because if it is wet the parkland will get too damaged and they can't do it later because of potential disruption to pheasant chicks (arriving yesterday!).

c) Naive marshalls - hands up to this one! We are all novices and will welcome feedback in this area and will improve.

d) Fees - our fees seemed about right in relation to other similar races 

Philip

 Firstly thanks to you and the others who organised and ran the event.

a) Timing: You only need a stopwatch, a clipboard and one or two people to time a race with up to several hundred people. There are many races which use manual timing, chip timing is just for the really big ones. As this race is long and not too large there is not going to be a rush at the finish line.

b) There are many different reasons to choose a date for a race, and there will often be a clash off road between runners who like it soft underfoot  and land owners who don't like traffic (both cars and feet) when it is soft. It would still be best to check with other local races such as the Penn 7 etc to avoid a clash.

d) Fees was not an issue specific to your race, it was a general comment. I agree that the fee is in line with some others but is at the upper end alongside professionally organised races (purple patch etc) and not club races: as an example, Princess Risborough is £8 and there is a commemorative mug, High Wycombe 10k is £9 and offers a T-shirt. Your race falls into an unusual category as it is neither professional nor a club race, it is fund raising for a school.

 (There is often a discount for affiliated athletes as the insurance element is covered via the affiliation.)