FLM runners and supporters - Spring Marathon

ultra meerkat

18/04/2005 at 18:28

It was wonderful to see so many of you - on both sides of the railings - yesterday at mile 17. And Ashley and I would love to know what you thought of how it worked out.
Things like:
- could you find us?
- did you see Leggy's wonderful '800/400/200m to go' signs?
Did they help you to find us?
- was it a good idea to have allocations to support teams?
- any other ideas that would make it even better next year?

One thing I don't really want to change is our site at mile 17: we seem to be fairly well established there, and it's great for supporters (especially small ones) to have the station next door.
Anyway, post your thoughts here...

Welsh Alex

18/04/2005 at 18:35

- could you find us?

No - Missed you and had to run back from mile 17. Saw the URWFRC sign, then group 9 sign, thought they must be counting down but by the mile marker realized I was wrong.

- did you see Leggy's wonderful '800/400/200m to go' signs?

Yes, but didn't twig. I am a bit thick you know.

Did they help you to find us?

Were I not stupid, they would have.

- was it a good idea to have allocations to support teams?

Definatley yes, this was superb and added to team spirit.

- any other ideas that would make it even better next year?

I'll have a think.

Plodding Hippo

18/04/2005 at 18:39

did see leggys sign, and your pics on the site helped too
But saw team 9, and assumed the numbers counted down from there so missed peeps

Not sure about teams and us runners being so specific about what we wanted
seemed quie stressful for you supporters as well
even though i benefited from the sloe gin

big hugs and thankyou

Welsh Alex

18/04/2005 at 18:51

I dropped off 2 gels and a drink with RichK and TR at the Expo. It was precicley what I had wanted, it meant that I could pick up what I wanted at just the right time.

Suerly it would be more confusing without teams ? Also, now we have all see it this way round it will be easier to spot next year.

Sezz

18/04/2005 at 18:52

The signs at 800m, 400m and 200m were great. They started to lift my spirits even before I got to the supporters.

Allocations was good idea - before event we had threads going for each team, with some light-hearted rivalry, and it meant I could go straight to my wonderful team who were well prepared with things we'd requested, like nurofen for moi.

Very well organised Meerkat, not sure I can think of anything to improve it.

Jenny G

18/04/2005 at 18:55

I did see the area and what a sight for sore eyes.
I didnt actually see Team 4 despite someone shouting further down the course for team 4 members. I hope you didnt think i was ignoring you. I was just hot and confused by then and looking frantically for my husband
Hubby never made it there after being called all over the place by my family and standing at an earlier point not realising he had missed me so was still waiting at 13 when i was at 17 He didnt want to move in case he missed us again DOH.We were very slow and late though
The location was great though and the bag of goodies I was handed by one of the kids was such a godsend.

Thank you so much. that tiny bag carried me through to mile 22-23

Trinity_

18/04/2005 at 19:10

Fantastic support from all teams!

Like others have said, I only saw 'Team 9' sign and assumed that they were counting down, and if it hadn't have been for Rich shouting out for me I would have missed the drink swop that had been arranged, although I would have gone back for it.

It doesn't take much to confuse me after running 17 miles though :)

Special thanks meerkat for all your hard work and organisation.

Plodding Hippo

18/04/2005 at 19:12

Great minds, trin

does this mean team 9 had the biggest sign?

Davey B

18/04/2005 at 19:13

I mssed you. I dont know what happened. I am so sorry, after all you did.

Woj

18/04/2005 at 19:17

Although I didn't actually grab anything, just the thought of you people at 17m gave me a great incentive for the approaching miles.

I did see the 800m to etc signs, and having seen the photos on your website was able to drift over to the left and shout at RichK.

Thankyou everyone for all the organisation and support on the day.

If I am not running, I'll certainly volunteer to help out next year!

Running_Bear

18/04/2005 at 19:19

I saw the '800/400/200m to go' signs, but I was confused by the Group 9 sign. I didn't see Group 2, and nobody saw me as far as I am aware, so it didn't work out for me. My legs were too tired to start running back to look, or even to slow down!

fraggle

pirate

18/04/2005 at 19:19

The only improvement I can suggest is that you need literally hundreds of balloons to stand out more from a distance.

Otherwise it was all fab!

Ronnie Wibbley

18/04/2005 at 19:55

Saw the signs, but was glad that I'd been with you (briefly) last year so I knew exactly where you'd be - if other runners were in the same befuddled state as I was I can well understand how some missed you. I seem to remember looking for a load of balloons that weren't there (or if they were I couldn't see them).

The only other thing is that you were just after a water station, and in crossing to the left of the road to get over to you all I found myself feebly skipping around loads of discarded bottles (at precisely the moment the cameraman was clicking away!). A few yards more up the road might have made things a bit safer for clumsy types like me.

But these very minor things aside, I was well chuffed with the reception, and couldn't believe the difference it made to how I was feeling. I had a lot of fun with the team thread over the last week as well.

Thanks again!

Sam Panther

18/04/2005 at 20:04

I think the reason team 9's sign stood out was that it was attached to a pole and hence high in the air and also very visible from the road. Also the 9 was in a huge font which makes it even easier to spot.

We could do the same for all the signs next year?

From a supporters point of view I bought way too many jelly babies and will be eating jelly baby sandwiches for the rest of the month.

We did seem to go through a phase of handing out sweeties. None of the front runners wanted stuff because stopping would have reduced their chance of a pb.
Surprisingly none of the tail-enders wanted sweeties either. There was just a crowd in the middle of the pack that seemed to want them.

So so sum up, we should have team numbers on poles. Perhaps also let the runners know whether they will be in ascending or descending order?

Sam Panther

18/04/2005 at 20:05

Ooops! Meant to say I bought way too many jelly babies.

beebs

18/04/2005 at 20:12

Sam that is an excellent idea, BD also said much the same thing.

It was a joy to support, I felt priveledged to hug so many sweaty peeps:-)

Teams worked well, we didn't see all of the team 5 runnnerds, it was vey hard to spot peeps in the masses, this links back well to Sam's idea of big signs. Hopefully making it easier for runners to spot their teams.

To coin a phrase
I'll be back:-))

M.ister W

18/04/2005 at 20:15

I saw the 200m to go sign, which was excellent. It was a great idea to allocate teams. Maybe next year each team should have a big sign with their number on it, so the runners can see easily where their supporters are.

And you're all complete stars for coming out to support us.

Slugsta

18/04/2005 at 20:19

It was great to know we had specific runners to look out for. However, maybe we should have made said runners aware that they could come to any of us for jelly babies, bananas and hugs if they missed their own team?

Gar

18/04/2005 at 20:22

hello

I was looking out having seen the sign for Mudchutes, and I suddenly realised that I was looking at signs that said Team 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 - heard someone (possibly Meerkat say 'Go Gar' or similar - but by the time it registered I was at Team 7 where I scanned the faces of my lovely teamsters and shouted hysterically, 'It's Gar' and kept going.

The reason I didn't stop was because I'd already waited for 15 minutes at the side of the road while my running partner queued for loos and went in (3 times!), and she was already struggling so we were going very slowly, and I was afraid that if we stopped,she would find it really hard to get going again.

In the end I had to leave her behind at 22 miles because she was moving so slowly that I had to keep stopping for her to catch up.

Meant my finish time was disappointing as not what I was capable of.

But back to the point: it would have been easier to take it all in if you were maybe spread out a bit more?

But hell, next year, count me in as a supporter.

ultra meerkat

18/04/2005 at 20:31

Sam - I think you're right. Leggy's sign was high up, and with all the crowds, it stood out. I can see a job for him next year...
Sluggy - yes, agree. We should be more explicit about saying that if you miss your team, any of us will dispense hugs etc.