GNR Alert

[Sweder]

The Great North Run opened for ballot applications today.
Blimey, seems like they were only just pondering the casualties of the last one.
Still, thought I'd throw my hat in the ring. If anyone fancies a double go at ballot entry The Times has 3000 places sidelined for their readers. Click here to get to their free entry section (you have to 'click here' again). The password from todays' Times is Tyne (upper/ lower case sensitive).

Only drawback is you might have to join the Times Online e-mail club, but again it's FOC and they rarely bug you.

[El Gordo]

[RANT]

OK, time to get on my high horse. You're going to hate this Sweder, because you're so darn reasonable about everything, unlike me.

I can't stand what this race has become, and I can't stand Brendan Foster.

I did it once (2003, the same year as Nigel). I was ambivalent at the time, and since then I've learnt to hate it. Last year, for a guaranteed entry, you had to pay £64, including coughing up for the 'membership' scam.

On top of that, Foster's company buys up just about all the accommodation in Newcastle for the entire weekend, years in advance. Then it sells it back to the punters at twice the price. If you don't book accommodation a year in advance, you might as well forget it - or find a B & B in Whitley Bay or a campsite somewhere. If you take more than a couple of hours to run the race (not that it's easy to do much running in a crowd of 50,000), you can look forward to a 2 or 3 hour wait at the Metro back to Newcastle, or sitting in a traffic jam for at least that long to get out of South Shields.

The whole thing is horrible.

I've heard some people say that it's no more hyped than the FLM, but I'd disagree strongly. The FLM is a great race and a great event. Organisation is fantastic. Most of all though, the FLM has integrity. It's essentially a charity, while the GNR is essentially a business masquerading as a charity. That's not a crime, but I just think the profit motive has bloated the event way beyond the comfort level - both physical and moral. The runners have become much less important than Foster's pockets.

[/RANT]

I'm not trying to say you shouldn't do the race. That's your decision of course. Maybe everyone should do it once. If you can get a free place, why not? Personally, I wouldn't want to do it again, and I certainly wouldn't pay to do it.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

MLCM hands Andy a stiff drink...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

...and one for Sweder, of course

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

...and I might have one or two myself

[stillwaddler]

I can't have this, I'm missing out on a pint

[Seafront Plodder]

I'll have the lady after she's put your beers down MLCM.

[Sweder]

Gee, I'm glad I brought this up . . .

Thanks for the Guinness, MLCMan, much appreciated.
In fairness I downed four of those bad boys this lunchtime (most unusual for me, but all in the name of client schmoozing you understand), so in fairness I'll pass this one to SW.

As far as the GNR is concerned I have no opinion one way or t'other, having no direct experience of the race. If you say it sucks, Andy, suck it almost certainly does.

BUT - Brendan Bloody Foster?!! I can't stand the self-opinionated Muppet. That has a lot more to do with his inept coverage of Paula Radcliffe's races (and in particular his ridiculous assertion, moments before that fateful moment, that she was 'doing fine ' and 'in good shape' to win the Athens Olympic marathon) than any propensity to part the masses with their hard-earned.

Oops . . . Bang goes my free entry . . .

[El Gordo]

Well, I truly don't want to put you off, Sweder. It's a race that divides people. It should be said that many people love the experience while an equal number seem to hate it. If I was offered the chance of taking part free of charge I might be tempted, but as I said, I wouldn't voluntarily put any cash Foster's way, especially the amounts of the stuff that he demands.

It's also a very, very long way from Sussex!

[Nigel]

Interesting debate, to which I'd like to contribute.

I ran the 2003 Great North Run, the same edition of the race as Andy.

It's a great event. I found a bed in a Travelodge in Durham. That accommodation cost me £50, which was fine, and was chosen to plan for a quick exit, which didn't happen. It took me 10 very frustrating hours to get back to Guildford from South Shields. The Metro, the A1, and then M1 were all completely jammed with cars full of southward-heading runners and spectators. You really don't want to get home at 1 am having just run a half marathon, and neither do your family appreciate that idea very much when they're waiting for you for six hours to collect them on the way.

All valuable lessons learned, as they say. Although perhaps I should qualify that statement about it being a great event, too. There really is a great atmosphere at the start line. Getting 50,000 people to run together is something very special. But that's also one of the drawbacks, since whilst it sounds like a great concept, it's actually a physical impossibility.

Just imagine trying to get the departing crowd from St James' Park to run a half marathon at the very moment when they all leave the ground after the game. It would be total chaos, wouldn't it ? Well, the start of the Great North Run is largely like that. And unlike the London Marathon, it never thins out on the road, not even in the closing stages.

If you want to run a slow race, and tick off one of the major events from your lifetime list, then this one is for you. If you want a PB, you'd better run somewhere else.

The other experience I remember is that whilst there was great cameraderie between the runners at the start line, there was no real crowd atmosphere on the road. It just doesn't compare with London for streetside support - and more than that, it doesn't even come close. A thin gaggle of black and white striped shirts raising a Newcy Brown to you along a half-deserted dual carriageway, uphill, - well, it's just not the same as running through a million-strong wildly cheering crowd in one of the world's great cities.

I'm glad I ran it. But just like Andy says, once was enough for me.

[El Gordo]

I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but I think that new runners, or people who've not taken part in 'big event' races are probably more likely to enjoy the experience. If you're going to accommodate both FLM and the GNR into your life, it would be better to get the GNR ticked off first. If you come to it after London, you're more likely to end up feeling like I did: a sort of "Oh, was that it then?" kind of feeling.

The undeniable fact is that it does persuade some people to start running, and it does raise money for charity (though not as an institution, like FLM which actually IS a charity), but that's about as generous as I'm prepared to be about it. It's a business first and foremost.

[Sweder]

It's all good input, much appreciated.
I've gone in for the Times free ballot - if I get a place I can see how it fits in with plans later in the year, and go or not depending. JDRF have 25 slots in the race, so I might go up to support them anyway.

I'm not a big fan of the larger, more organised events. It sounds weird, because we need these 'targets' to motivate us on the wet, cold training days - but I think deep down I prefer the training to the actual races. On race day there's rarely room to run at your own pace, and you face the inevitable madness at the off where so many runners go off like rockets only to crash and burn after a mile or two, creating an obstacle course for the steady runners. Another reason I'm keen to return to Almeria - the problem there is keeping up with the field!