different starts - Spring Marathon

Fluffa

06/12/2002 at 08:20

just wondering about the different starts....i've never done london before, and am aiming for 3.20 ish, but am worried about getting held up at the start...i've no idea what it's like!
i gave my predicted time as 3.20 and i have a good for age place based on a 3.30 time. which start would that put me in? are there predicted time boundaries on the different starts or is it alphabetical or something?
alice

Iron SwissBobby pirate

pirate

06/12/2002 at 08:32

There are 3 starts at London, Red, Blue and Green. The masses generally start from Red, Blue is the Elite, Championship and I forget who else, and the Green is Good for age. I am sure that someone will correct me if I get any of this wrong. Normally at the starts there are pens. The pen you are allocated too is dependant on your predicted time. But it is all beautifully explained in the marathon news we get in March.

gerry kershaw's glasses

06/12/2002 at 08:34

There are different starts. They are allocated according to your running number. I can't remember exactly but I think up to about 10000 is blue start and above that is red start. I have always been on red but am blue next year.
I don't know how they work out what start to put you in. I think blue might be good for age, ballot, etc and red charity.
Each start is divided into pens and you will have a little sticker on your number that corresponds to which pen you go in at the start. You can move back pens but not forward. You are allocated a pen according to your predicted time.
I think I was in 5 last year for a time of 4hrs. You should be in 2/3 maybe. Probably about 5 mins to get through the start.

gerry kershaw's glasses

06/12/2002 at 08:35

If blue is elite then I am worried!
I think green is elite. I hope so anyway or I had better get some serious training in!

supervet

06/12/2002 at 08:36

When you recieve your running number it will have a small sticker in the bottom left hand corner that will tell you the pen you are to start in.you will start on the blue start,get to the front of your pen if tou can beaware that there is a sharp left hand turn about half a mile in,its quite crowded and there are sleeping policemen in the road.Ive run it for the last three years , good luck.

Dustin

06/12/2002 at 09:41

If you get through the ballot , I am sure you start on blue.
I have run 5 times , 3 from red (charity places) and twice from blue (the two times I was accepted.
You will get a little sticker teeling you what pen to start with,3h30 is pen 3 - I was in it this year - and it took about 80secs to get across the start.
Started from 8 in 2000 (charity place) and that took 10 minutes!

From pens 1-3 or maybe 4 from blue,there is little crowd trouble.

Good luck, won't be there this year (sniff!)

donutto

06/12/2002 at 09:53

This year all GFA entrants started at the green start, which is the smallest in terms of numbers. A predicted time of 3:20 should get you into pen 3. I expect you should get over the start line in about a minute or so. You can expect the first mile or two to be a little congested, but then it should be fine.

I am fairly confident of this information, since I ran with a GFA entry this year, although I was in pen 1.

Skip

06/12/2002 at 09:59

Fluffa - this year the acceptance forms appear to carry the actual race numbers rather than a reference number. Is your number over 50,000? If so, you will be at the green start and will have little problem with congestion - you would only need to allow about a minute to cross the line.

Stompy

06/12/2002 at 11:08

I don't think you should worry about the time it takes to cross the line; They started using chip timing from last year.

Fluffa

07/12/2002 at 07:18

hi, just looked at race number and it's 58043 (so i expect everyone to say hello to me ;)
i'm not too fussed if it's just a few minutes at the start, it was just that i was talking to a friend who did it last year, and she said she was walking for ages, but then again, she did 5 hrs something, so would have definately had a different start going by all the above...
it looks like just a bit of a forced warm up...that's cool.....on my last marathon it was freezing and i'd been waiting around in the cold for 2 hours so needed a warm up...did the first mile in 10 minutes!
alice

Hilly

07/12/2002 at 09:41

Hi Fluffa, you will be in the green start and most probably have pen number 3. I had pen no.4 for a 3.30 last year. However, in the green start there just seems to be one long pen and it's very civilised! I was over the line in 2 mins. Don't forget those 2 mins also don't count because of the beauty of the chamionchip, which will record 'actual running time'. See you there!

Hilly

07/12/2002 at 09:42

sorry championchip! bring back the edit feature!!!

XFR Bear

07/12/2002 at 11:36

The championchip with time clocked at the start is a great improvement on just a time from the gun, but even so I'd like to beat my target time from the gun, just because of the picture at the finish, as the clock there doesn't show individual times.

I think unless you're too far back that the people around you should be runnign at around the same pace, so hopefully won't hold you up too much.

running muppet

07/12/2002 at 13:36

Poor - fluffa - we all seem very confused as to what start is what.

As I understand it, red and blue are mass starts with green being good for age.

The elite men go from the red start at the very front and the championship AAA's men are close behind them and then the masses (ballot and charity places) are behind them.

The elite women go from the blue start half an hour before anyone else starts. Then there's also the Football lot who go off the blue start along with more mass starters (ballot and charity places). Good For Age is the green start

I got in through the ballot the first time and ran off the red start - ran off a guaranteed entry the second time and also started from the red start.

Llama Man

07/12/2002 at 18:12

I ran FLM for my first marathon last year and was impressed by the organisation at the start. Started from pen 5 on blue start (I think) and got over the line within 5 mins. Wasn't too congested and the crowds did stop me from starting too fast, my usual problem. If you're in pen 2 or 3 you shouldn't have to wait much more than a couple of mins to get over the start. My club mate was in pen 2 & it took him less than a minute.

XFR Bear

07/12/2002 at 18:14

I've got in via the ballot and run from the blue start.

They changed it last year and the women kicked off 45 minutes before the men.

the jogger

07/12/2002 at 19:05

Hi, I'm a first timer. Can anyone tell me how the chipped timing works? I predicted my finishing time as 3:15, but hope to run a couple of minutes quicker in order to get a GFA entry next year. I guess I will be blue start (ballot entry). What will the congestion be like?

Llama Man

07/12/2002 at 21:08

Jogger, FLM will go by the time you cross the line at the start. Last year was the first time (apparently) that you got a time from start to finish rather than gun to finish so you get an accurate time which corresponds with the one on your watch.

Shaggy.

07/12/2002 at 21:49

I`ve got a golden bond place, do FLM still allocate pen numbers for golden bond holders, and where will we start from?

the jogger

08/12/2002 at 16:15

Cheers Llama man. Sounds a much better system. Hopefully will reduce tension at the start getting accross the line.