This website contains information about some of the road races in the counties of Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and Waterford in Munster, Ireland. For races in Cork, see the Running in Cork website which is the largest athletics website in Munster. That site also contains plenty of national and international news items as well.
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
Kerry...Results of the Run the Gauntlet Half-Marathon - Sun 18th Nov 2012
Just 103 people took part in this year's Run the Gauntlet Half-Marathon in Kerry, down from the 110 of 2011.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this race, given it's reputation. I'd been told to expect poor organisation, possibly one water station on top of the Gap, if I was lucky a banana at the end and maybe a t-shirt sent in the post a few weeks after the race. Some of those I spoke to, who had done it in the first few years, seemed to feel they had been ripped-off.
So I accepted all this and still wanted to do it, simply because of its location and the challenge it represents. The course is fairly tough, but still very doable even though an out-and-back course isn't to everyone's liking.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the Gauntlet. The race was well-organised: there was a bit of music at the finish line, they were two water stations (with water, an electrolyte drink and some energy bars), there was water and bananas and sweets at the finish, as well as soup and brown bread in Kate Kearney’s cottage. There was even the option of a massage in the finish area. Also the medal was an interesting design and the technical t-shirts were fine. A slight issue on the day was the length of time it took to sort out the results and the prize-giving after the race.
The most disappointing aspect of the day was the low turnout. Apart from near the turning point at Lord Brandon’s cottage where you got to see lots of people for a mile or two there were a lot of lonely miles out there. The poor attendance was probably related to the problems in the first few years and maybe the cost. I think €50 is still too much when you consider what you actually get for your money, but other commercial half-marathons are charging similar prices. I also think the organisers didn’t do enough to promote the race locally, and the online presence was too static to generate interest.
However, I think this race has a lot of potential and I would recommend it to anyone looking to do something different in a beautiful part of the world. All of the elements that you would expect for a decent half-marathon were there, no complaints, and the organisers seem to have done a lot to rectify the problems that occurred in the past.
To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this race, given it's reputation. I'd been told to expect poor organisation, possibly one water station on top of the Gap, if I was lucky a banana at the end and maybe a t-shirt sent in the post a few weeks after the race. Some of those I spoke to, who had done it in the first few years, seemed to feel they had been ripped-off.
ReplyDeleteSo I accepted all this and still wanted to do it, simply because of its location and the challenge it represents. The course is fairly tough, but still very doable even though an out-and-back course isn't to everyone's liking.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the Gauntlet. The race was well-organised: there was a bit of music at the finish line, they were two water stations (with water, an electrolyte drink and some energy bars), there was water and bananas and sweets at the finish, as well as soup and brown bread in Kate Kearney’s cottage. There was even the option of a massage in the finish area. Also the medal was an interesting design and the technical t-shirts were fine. A slight issue on the day was the length of time it took to sort out the results and the prize-giving after the race.
The most disappointing aspect of the day was the low turnout. Apart from near the turning point at Lord Brandon’s cottage where you got to see lots of people for a mile or two there were a lot of lonely miles out there. The poor attendance was probably related to the problems in the first few years and maybe the cost. I think €50 is still too much when you consider what you actually get for your money, but other commercial half-marathons are charging similar prices. I also think the organisers didn’t do enough to promote the race locally, and the online presence was too static to generate interest.
However, I think this race has a lot of potential and I would recommend it to anyone looking to do something different in a beautiful part of the world. All of the elements that you would expect for a decent half-marathon were there, no complaints, and the organisers seem to have done a lot to rectify the problems that occurred in the past.