Nike 10k

Was today's run called "Run London" as that was the only way to get away from the park?

We live down in Kent and left home at 7.15am to be at Wimbledon in time to get the shuttle bus to the Park. At the start we were told it was delayed by 30 mins due to transport problems, Surely the elite runners were not waiting on the shuttle buses to bring them, and those of us who had managed to get to the start on time could have started given it was a staggered start anyway.

The race itself was great, once you got started and the course was well marshalled with plenty of water.

Then the fun started when we tried to leave. We were met with a long queue for the buses to be told that each bus was talking approx 1 hour 10 mins to get to Wimbledon & back. Just what we needed when most people were still walking around in their running shirts & shorts after being advised to bring little with them to the park unless they really had to.

Surely Nike knew how many people were coming and from whicgh location, as they asked us when we picked up the shirts. Did they over estimate how many people the area could handle?

I run in Richmond Park every Sunday morning. For the last six weeks Nike have been organising training runs. Their staff arrive in a couple of MPV`s and set up in the car park. When I approached them and asked how they planned on getting 20,000 people in and out of the park, their reply was that it wasn`t their problem, mate. I think all Nike cared about was a massive publicity event. Bill boards up everywhere for weeks after entrys had closed. They got TV coverage as well.

If it had been advertised just as much, but called The Ranelagh Harriers 10K (most local club to RP) how many of those 20,000 would still have run it? I suspect the `real` runners amongst us would have, but the `fashion` runners atracted by the Nike brand would not have even considered it.

I stayed well clear and ran the Challock Goose Fair 10m. Now that`s a proper name for a race.

Hi, Bakerboy Im sorry to say that I was one of those fashion runners..needless to say I wish I werent and had come along to the goose fair run. The reason I went was because I thought it would be a good intro into 10k running, How wrong I was..I left home at 7am and finally got to Wimbledon at 10 thanks to london undergrounds sunday engineering works. When I got there I was faced with about a mile long queue to get on the shuttle bus (of which there were 5 !!!, apparantley). At this point I felt like crying and gave up, there was no way I could run 6 miles feeling like I did so I went home. Two girls I had been travelling with went back to Clapham to see if they could get to mortlake and walk.


What a fiasco. I shall only be entering local races where I can take all the family and not traipse around london at 8am on a sunday.

rant over...

Netty

I thought I was on a good thing as getting on the district line to go to Wimbeldon, I overheard a couple of other runners saying that Nike organisers were hinting to go to Wimbledon, as they expected it to be the least used. Forty minute wait in the queue I guess they were wrong. I hear it was worse at Richmond.

One of the other threads says Mortlake station was the best idea. Must have been better then the 20 minute walk to Bairns, the organisers suggested after the race.

But as there was a 40,000 strong protest in London, carless days and all sorts of open homes in London, no wonder there weren't enough busses to go around.

Timewise did okay for a 6 mth runner, wanted to break the 50 minute barrier but failed due to a 7-1/2 minute first Km (and no end sprint). Won't be doing it next year, too many people and too far away. Nike how about Hyde Park next year, were the infrastructure can handle 20k+ people.

Anyway, well done to all runners for running it and also just getting there.

M.

It seems a shame that people have seem to have forgotten about the race in their speed to put done the organisers and the problems getting there. Yes there were not enough shuttle buses etc but how many of us were aiming to get there at 9am - probably 90% thus the problems. Yes it was a Nike publicity event, but who else would manage to get 20,000 people (mostly first time racers) running a 10km on a Sunday morning?

As to the race I thought that it was great, a really tough course (as stated by the beeb!) which was well marshalled and as previously mentioned had plenty of water. But to me one of the best parts was seeing 20000 people all runnning in yellow!

Personally I was really pleased as I managed to do a PB by 3mins finishing in 45:34. Still 15mins slower than Paula R but I'm getting there!!!

I have to agree Spans - I left the house at 7.30 to get there for 9.30 and I only live in North London but I anticipated that it may take some time to get there. I was also told when I collected my t-shirt that Barnes would be the less congested Station which I understand it was - I presume because on the information sheet that it said that Barnes was a 20 min walk to the start, the longest walk mentioned - maybe bizarrely this put people off from going to Barnes (?!)
Seeing thoasands of yellow t-shirts ahead of me like a glorious field of daffodils was quite a staggering sight. The course was vicious in parts but it is good to do a really challenging run (Even Paula Radcliffe said that the hills were a killer)
The marshalling was fantastic and there was plenty of water for all. A goody bag with some food would have been nice - but for £10 there is not many races you would get a t-shirt and a medal.
The delay at the beginning was awful - but it would have been worse of all the thousands of delayed runners had not been able to run atall. I really enjoyed it once I got going. A great day!

It was lovely at the New Forest half and marathon. And I live walking distance from Richmond Park. I'm glad people thought it was viciously hilly, which it is, hopefully not too many people will be back on a regular basis!

having done the british 10K in central
london in june and the nike yesterday . .

I think the obvious thing to do is to give
the B10K route to Nike. The administrative
infrastructure and cost of the B10K were
horrendous. The genral admin and cost of
the Nike were great.

But 20K people to Richmond park on a sunday
morning was always going to be dodgey! 20K
in central London - not a problem.

natnif

p.s. I anticipated problems so I got to
waterloo 20 min before the 8:47 train. The train was full, many left on the platform, all platforms to mortlake full of yellow shirts. . . . after the 10K I just
collected my bag and continued running all
the way back to Waterloo. . .

I dont really think the problem was Nike's

The problem was with The Train companies.

Surely Nike should have advised British rail to lay on a couple of extra trains from waterloo.

I found it no problems getting there, as I left with plenty of time to spare. But for those that can't seem to manage it, why didn't they run a later start for late arrivals, or just delay the last (beginners) one a bit. Standing still for an hour before a race can't be good for you.

I don't know how true this is but ....

My sports masseur (who does a lot of work at races for Nike ) reckoned that the problem was people not using the station they'd told Nike they would use. Far more decided to use Richmond Station than they had been led to expect, hence the overcrowding. Does this make sense?

That makes a lot of sense to me. The race pack clearly advised people to use Barnes and Mortlake stations, and a cursor look at the map would have shown how far it is from Richmond station to the start (which was on the opposite side of the park).

I guess a lot of people just thought Richmond Park == Richmond Station and jumped on regardless. It wouldn't have hurt Nike to make the situation even clearer though (and perhaps directed people onto the Richmond - Barnes train)

venom