April 2011

[ladyrunner]

Thank you for the pictures SW. Dan must have had to duck down to make it under the inflatable Half Way banner

[marathondan]

Well blow me down. Thanks SW! I dunno what search term I was using...? Another one here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigeyb/5610802982/

[The Beast of Bevendean]

And there's more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58049509@N08/5614704478/

[marathondan]

Dan must have had to duck down to make it under the inflatable Half Way banner

If you go to http://brightonmarathon.co.uk/marathonphotos.html and enter bib number 8847, you can see a video of me doing just that.

Other vids:
SW - 7578
Tom - 8211

[Sweder]

Ha! A veritable Dan-nami of BM pics - excellent. What a wondrous tool t'interweb can be at times.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

You were obviously popular with the spectators Dan - did you get many comments from the other runners?

[marathondan]

You were obviously popular with the spectators Dan - did you get many comments from the other runners?

Not as many as last year. I think a lot of people were just dumbfounded by the ridiculousness of it. A few people cried out in mock horror when I overtook them. A few runners genuinely and rather touchingly told me I was amazing -- which, as discussed previously, when you've already run a few marathons and have allowed yourself an extra hour to finish, is a bit of an exaggeration. In fact I can confidently state that anyone running their first marathon was taking on a bigger task than me.

Then there was the lovely couple of runners from Lancashire who shared their jelly babies with me...

[ladyrunner]

A great show of videos and not hard to miss the Stick of Rock. Dan you look like you were in very good shape at the finish of the marathon. It does look very hot looking through the photos and videos.

My race videos of Rotterdam seem very much more crowded. Does anyone know how many runners finished each race?? It's not easy to tell from the Rotterdam website.

Julie

[marathondan]

My race videos of Rotterdam seem very much more crowded. Does anyone know how many runners finished each race?? It's not easy to tell from the Rotterdam website.

I think there were about 8,000 starters in Brighton. Also if you flick through the results to around the 4 hour mark, the finishers seem much closer together. I guess around 3:30-4:30 is the peak period for finishing. By the time we RCers finished I guess the field had thinned out a bit.

The Rotterdam website says "The ABN AMRO Marathon has been The Netherlands' biggest one-day sporting event for the 12th year running. In 2011 more than 22,000 participants stood at the start." So that's quite a lot, then.

[ladyrunner]

I have just clicked through the results of Rotterdam Marathon and found that there were 7377 finishers only. I think that the 22,000 participants includes runners in the Adult 5k (1600+ runners) and 10k (6400+ runner) which took place 15 minutes after we started from the same start line. On the Saturday afternoon they had huge crowds at the finish line with numerous kids races.

Anyway I managed to watch a video of the guy that came 3rd from last in the marathon. He is called Shinya Otsuka, No. 7916, finished in a time of 5:41:27 (official time). Looking through the video at 20k and 30k he is with crowds of runners, then at 35k there is a wait then he appears power walking with a few other stragglers with a car following behind. At the finish there is him and another man and it looks like the race is all over with the video camera taking shots of people volunteering.

http://www.marathonrotterdam.nl/lopers/uitslag/mysports?e=RD11M&n=Shinya%20Otsuka&r=7916&ct_s1=11:04:28&ct_s2=11:31:37&nt_s2=00:27:10&ct_s3=11:59:43&nt_s3=00:55:15&ct_s4=12:28:39&nt_s4=01:24:11&ct_s5=13:03:04&nt_s5=01:58:37&ct_s6=13:12:18&nt_s6=02:07:50&ct_s7=13:45:18&nt_s7=02:40:51&ct_s8=14:30:33&nt_s8=03:26:05&ct_s9=15:48:21&nt_s9=04:43:53&ct_s10=&ct_f=16:41:31&nt_f=05:37:04&l=nl

[El Gordo]

I read on one of those news links that 15,000 entered Brighton but only 8,000 started. That sounds like an amazing drop-out rate to me. I wonder why?

[Sweder]

I read on one of those news links that 15,000 entered Brighton but only 8,000 started. That sounds like an amazing drop-out rate to me. I wonder why?

Word on the (local) street is the weather put many off on the day.
Having seen several people collapse opposite our 22 mile spot in London I'd have to say fair enough.

[marathondan]

With the usual DNS rate, I think they were still expecting over 10,000 with a week to go. Then a couple of days beforehand they sent out an email titled "WARM WEATHER WARNING", which, while it didn't for a moment suggest not running, might have backfired somewhat. Bonkers if you ask me, pulling out just because of the weather.

[Sweder]

Bonkers if you ask me ...

... said the nine foot tall pink-and-white-striped stick of rock.

[ladyrunner]

The sun wouldn't put me off, but if it was raining hard and blowing a gale I might have second thoughts .... but would still be there!! But I'm sure many others wouldn't.

Julie

[Bierzo Baggie]

Congratulations Dan. Just caught up on your achievement... barmy and amazing!

Noticed that your namesake ex-Tipton harrier Dan Robinson was fourth. This guy was well into his 20s when he started running and guess how he started?....running 32- minute 10ks on a treadmill just to keep fit! One to tell the crisis man I think...