Preston Guild Marathon

Soup, lets not drag up ancient history please.

Please ley bygones be bygones. It seems we have more in comon than I first thought so can we work together please?

Pete: The course has been designed and approved by a multi-agency approach of a Council Officer (who is a ruuner), the Police and a Traffic Management Company.

The organisers are a pleasure to deal with because they know what they need to deliver. The route was approved by the Police and Road traffic Management before I went out to measure. 

This is most unlike Liverpool who altered their course 3 times after it had been measured. Manchester has a marathon in April but they haven't finalised a route for the measurer to go round.

I am most grateful to Preston for their proactive approach: they are making my job so much easier.

ET: I understand that to get the tee shirt you have to do the 5K in May, RunPreston in September (5K or 10K), Guild Marathon or half, and Preston 10 in November.

Instead of coming up with negatives about this event, can I please ask people to focus on one very important positive?

This is a once in a generaation and for many a once in a lifetime opportunity.

at the age of 48 now, I'll be lucky to still be running marathons at the next Preston Guild so I don't care where it goes (though it is a nice route), I just want to be able to say "I was there in 2012"

This event will capture people's imagination I am sure. 

Sorry if i'm being blind but is there a link to the course anywhere.  I've already entered (my first marathon ever and thought as its on the doorstep why not) but would like to see the proposed route.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi wilber..................

I posted this a couple of weeks back.

It starts and finishes at the Harris Museum. Goes along Ringway towards Leyland and turns back around the Copp Lane area (got that bit to sort). Back into the City, round by the Unviersity, along Tom Benson Way, then out to Cottam, Salwick, Treales and almost to Inksip before returning through Cottam and Tom Benson Way to finish at The Harris.

The half will return from Cottam/Salwick.

It's an undulating course. No major hills but a challenging course nonetheless. The start and finish area is a great location, and with all the trappings that go wwith a quality event, it should be quite a spectacle.

You should be able to roughly plot the route from my description.

As soon as I complete the measurement I'll post my Garmin trace on here. the one I have at the moment is hopeless because I was back and forward getting things to fit (and then I still had bits to find)

Preston Guild will publish a map as soon as possible. Plenty of time yet.

Hi All

Because this is a one-off marathon, it has no designated charity and so I have included it on our calendar of events at the Rosemere Cancer Foundation,

Based in Preston, we support cancer patients throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria, ensuring that they get the best possible cancer treatment. Please go to www.rosemerecancer.org.uk

I have a personal interest in the Guild having been an active participant in '72 and '92 a proud owner of a medal for completing the running series in '92! I know that the marathon will be a brilliant event and confident the organisation will be faultless (the director, Phil Walsh being a perfectionist!)

Just imagine running into the centre of Preston with a Rosemere vest on, finishing a marathon, knowing that you are supporting your local cancer charity, knowing that you are making other people's cancer journey so much easier.

If you would like to talk to me more about how we can help you fulfil this, please e-mail me on anne.sweeney@lthtr.nhs.uk with your telephone number.

Thank you

Following the post below I have had 3 people contact me already to run for Rosemere - thank you Claire, Steve and Mark. This is fantastic and maybe if more come forward we could have a 'Team Rosemere' Please think about it and if contact me if only to discuss it without committing anything

 'Because this is a one-off marathon, it has no designated charity and so I have included it on our calendar of events at the Rosemere Cancer Foundation,

Based in Preston, we support cancer patients throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria, ensuring that they get the best possible cancer treatment. Please go to www.rosemerecancer.org.uk

I have a personal interest in the Guild having been an active participant in '72 and '92 a proud owner of a medal for completing the running series in '92! I know that the marathon will be a brilliant event and confident the organisation will be faultless (the director, Phil Walsh being a perfectionist!)

Just imagine running into the centre of Preston with a Rosemere vest on, finishing a marathon, knowing that you are supporting your local cancer charity, knowing that you are making other people's cancer journey so much easier.

If you would like to talk to me more about how we can help you fulfil this, please e-mail me on anne.sweeney@lthtr.nhs.uk with your telephone number.

Thank you'

Brian:

Could you let us know who it is that we're waiting for now so we can get to see this route?  ...Is it you? Preston Council? The police? Somebody else? Who?

Are you saying it's been fully designed but not measured?  ...Or are parts of it designed and parts of it measured?

Can it still be changed?  ..as I was really hoping you could get your team to make something much nearer to this happen.

Would it be possible for you draw out what you already have on gmap-pedometer.com for us? ...as the outline you gave a month ago isn't easy to see what you mean?

Also, and this is the burning question ... If I've read your outline correctly, what's the purpose of sending us out into the countryside NW of Preston for a good half of the course, completely away from the hearts, communities and atmospheres in Preston itself, when we are supposed to be creating a "once in 20 year Guild event"?  It just kinda defeats the object to me.

I love to hear your comments.

Pete,

Not wanting to interrupt your questions to Brian, but I struggle to understand how your route is any better.  The first 9 miles are all along dual carriageways / main roads, which are detached from the communities of Preston.  You also have a similar 5mile stretch around Eastway / Tom Benson Way, and although this is closer to Preston, is still detached from most of the population.

The route also crosses / runs along every major route into and out of Preston, so we can either run with the traffic, or prevent anyone entering / leaving Preston on the day.

At least heading out into the countryside may provide something more interesting to look at than the long road ahead.  I don’t expect people to be lining the streets where ever the route goes, but at least we might get a bit of encouragement on the way through the villages.

Hi Whortleberrybearer,

Thanks for chipping in, but I'm seriously getting the impression that nobody gives a monkeys about the community guild spirit of Preston and making our route navigate both north and south of Preston to fit in as many communities as we possibly can.  It's looking like this marathon thing is just a PR stunt.

Surely the whole of Preston can be shut down for a measly half day once in 20 years?! ...Hell, London do it every single year for goodness sakes.

Yes you're right, the first 9 miles are dual carriageway and main roads, but that is deliberate to allow the main volume of runners to settle down and spread out a lot, but more importantly, it navigates around and through the communities south of Preston (namely Penwortham, Leyland and Bamber Bridge) allowing them to come out and enjoy the spirit should they so wish.

Once everyone is more spread out we can the run around the northern part of Preston on well known roads allowing communities on London Road, New Hall Lane, Blackpool Road, etc to do the same thing. What an atmosphere that would be!  Eastway, Tom Benson Way, more Blackpool Rd and Riversway all have communities, although smaller, with the final mile and a half or so in the centre itself.

There should be no traffic whatsoever. If we can't organise that for half a day in 20 years then we simply are working together properly. Many other marathon organisers can. Why can't we?

By the way, if you've ever been out into the Wharles/Inskip countryside areas you'll notice there's only fields.  Why have 'a bit of encouragement on the way through tiny villages' when the we should be exactly where the communities are?. 10-13 miles of quiet emptiness is definitely nooo joke.

It's now February and I'm beginning to sense a major opportunity is being missed here.  ...And to be honest, Brian's lack of input on this forum is very disheartening, but then he isn't a born and bred Prestonian so probably doesn't really care that much about Guilds anyway. It's just another marathon to measure. Why should he care where it goes?

Before long they'll be telling us at Easter that it's all too late and we're sorry for giving you a disappointing course. We'll maybe do it properly for you in 20 years.  ...Ho hum. C'est la vie.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's easy. But I just sense that we aren't working together properly on this. ...Like I said, it's just a PR stunt. Who cares if we talk to empty fields for half of it?

Hiya Alan,

Yes, I was born in Preston and am currently living in the Riverside area just before you go into Miller Park.

I haven't a clue what a volunteers meeting is I'm afraid, nor have I a clue how many will come out to watch and support or run the marathon. The point is, I've asked Brian for the course a month ago and to date he's just not commenting.

Brian is the course measurer who is working with the organisers so why not put my views direct across to him from here? It's obviously simpler and easier to do, to the point, written down, and faster. ...or would be if he answered. ...Do any organisers go to your 'volunteer meeting'? Maybe you can speak to him or the other organisers there?

The bottom line is, if we're planning a disappointing marathon course, that disappears away from communties and off out of Preston for a good half of it, then we're basically just planning for a disappointing day. ... so there's no need to 'go round these little villages to get them involved so that we do get people cheering us on' is there?

The route comes first, and until we know it, we can't do any planning.  They'll probably tell us what it is in March or April, and then say it's too late to do anything about it.

If Brian was the slightest bit interested, he would be chatting to us via here wouldn't you think?  Anything else just looks like you're hassling him/them.

I was told about this race this morning and I'm going to enter asap.

 It would be good if Brian was to commentate as I seem to remember getting quite a lot of verbal abuse from him in a seaside resort marathon a few years ago

 It will be good to see you again Brian

Having read all the comments, I have to agree with Pete on the course and his thinking.

I have never run a marathon before (done a few halfs in the last few years), so at 54 on race day I thought it was time I did one and the Guild series includes the marathon. I am born and bred in Preston so I understand what the Guild is about, I remember doing the schools play on Avenham park in 1972, the park was full of people. All week the town was full of people watching or participating in Guild activities. Going back to the Guild marathon, being run at the end of October (not Guild week), people may have forgot about the Guild by then, but a reminder to go and watch in the sticks will not get them out.

If the main sticking point is the traffic being stopped for a few hours, big deal, it is a once in a 20 year event. Preston gets grid locked every week. During Guild week roads will be closed, therefore another day won't be to bad.

I know there is a lot more to organising a race than just planning the route, but lets not take the easy option as a token gesture.

 I have no knowledge of the volunteers meeting, I assume this is a group of people who are going to help the Guild to be a success, if so, please listen to others opinions and ideas before making the final decision.

Sorry that I have gone on a bit.

Hi folks

I had a look at the "suggested" route supplied by Pete. All looks very good and inclusive but (a) you'd be trapping a lot of people inside that area for a long time and (b) you'd be excluding a lot of people from outside that area for a long time too - how do you get access to the city centre from when the road closures come into place (usually an hour or so before the race starts) plus you are closing off access from all 3 motorway junctions at some point as well?

Because of the way that runners spread out during longer events, I reckon that from about mile 9 to mile 26 would effectively be closed all day (assuming there's any sort of road closure in place which re-opens after the last runner has passed through - can be 8 or 9 hours for some marathoners) and where does the half marathon fit into this plan? That will be the bigger race in all probability, so that would have to cut across the course at some point.

Some of the bigger marathons that have road closures and are popular tend to be linear i.e. they can be approached from both sides of the route by vehicles or on foot (London has it easy of course - perhaps we should build some tunnels in Preston!)

I can understand why you might think this is a missed opportunity, and as a runner you might be right, but what about the thousands of ordinary folk in Preston who DON'T want to be involved with this event or be inconvenienced by it? Would you want to be forced to stay a prisoner in your home in Preston all that day?

What is likely to have happened is that the Council and the Police (and anyone else with a vested interest) has got together to find a route which would cause minimal disruption to the good people of Preston (I believe there are a few of those ) which doesn't involve multiple laps (because you runners don't like those marathon course either) but which can start and finish in the city centre (unlike the marathons at say London and Brighton which are point to point and avoid the major shopping and other centres)

At the end of the day, whatever course is designed won't suit everyone, whether a runner or a non-runner. How many times have you been harassed at a race by an irate driver who can't wait a couple of minutes to get his pint of milk from Asda or somewhere? I doubt that the Capital Centre or the stores at Riversway or the opposite side of Preston would agree to closing down for the day either.

Don't flame me for these comments - I'm not attacking or defending anyone, just making some observations .....

Hi ukresultsman,

your post explaining things made sense, therefore there is only one thing to do and that is get the application in and get training.

Lets all try to make this a success for the efforts people have put in organising the race, for the volunteers who help on race day and any others who help at anytime.