Sweep Times

yamsteroo

Probably a silly question but here goes!

I've been looking at a 10K series which is really near my home for next Spring and they make it quite clear the maximum time to finish is 80mins so all quite simple.

However, there was a link to a local half marathon and while I'm not really thinking seriously about it, I had a nosey at their website and while I can't find a maximum time anywhere, on the route map they did have sweep times at various intervals along the way. Am I right to assume that if you are not past, for example, the 12mile mark by 3hrs22mins, then you'll be ushered off the course?

A lot of it would be run on closed roads so it seems likely but I thought it was odd that in the FAQ they didn't mention anything about 'You need to be this fast to run this race' kind of thing - or is that standard form when you're at the HM stages of running?

Anyway, I think I'll sign up for the 10K series even if they are evening races as you get a T shirt and you can never have enough T shirts

likitisplit

If they have a sweep time, it should be clearly posted. Not all of them do, although 3.5 hours is pretty standard. If you have a question, I'd email the Race Director.

yamsteroo

Cheers Varda. It did only seem to appear on the route map but like I said, I was only being nosey so I thought I'd ask here rather than emailing the organisers

Not sure I've got the time for a half marathon even if it is in March so in theory I could if I put the effort in..... dagnammit.......I'll have a think!

PinkNinjaLaura

The half closest to me does have it posted pretty clearly on their website, although I know people who finished past the cutoff time so clearly they weren't actually sweeping people up anyway.

Edit to add the full marathon starts 30-60 minutes later (don't recall off the top of my head), and they start further away (shared finish line not shared start line), but the faster full runners are still passing the slower half runners at some point, so then everybody is intermingled.

yamsteroo

Ta Laura - I still think it's way beyond me as I can't see me ever having time to run 20-25miles per week training though they do a corporate 4 person relay in the same race if only I could persuade 3 of my colleagues to start running lol

likitisplit

Ta Laura - I still think it's way beyond me as I can't see me ever having time to run 20-25miles per week training though they do a corporate 4 person relay in the same race if only I could persuade 3 of my colleagues to start running lol

I'm only running 17.

PinkNinjaLaura

Ta Laura - I still think it's way beyond me as I can't see me ever having time to run 20-25miles per week training though they do a corporate 4 person relay in the same race if only I could persuade 3 of my colleagues to start running lol

I'm only running 17.

"only"
[snort]

rduhlir

Believe it or not, it is actually easy to hit the 20-25 mile marks. I hit the 23 mile mark last week with my half. The big runs will be your long runs, those will be the ones that take up the most time. My mid week runs didnt' top more than 5-6 miles at the most.

As far as the sweep time, they won't actually kick you off the course. That refers to the time what they will start taking down the finish line, or for how long the cops will control traffic, etc.... They won't actually kick someone off the run. The half marathon I just did had a cut off time of 4 hours. After 4 hours, the finish line was coming down, food was packing up, etc...

The only time they actually kick people off the course is for actual marathons. But they usually will have vans that are trailing behind the very last of the runners and they get picked up in a van if they get too far behind. I have seen some marathon cut off times of 6+ hours, so it really depends on the size of the race and who is conducting. The biggy here is the St. Jude marathon, and it is a sub 2:15 race, so we will have Kenyans here in December. But the cut off is like 6 or 7 hours, because they have a lot of runners and a lot of walkers for this race.

ETA:
The HM for the St. Jude has a cutoff time the same as the marathon becasue all of the HM route is on the full. The HM starts 30 min before the full.

PinkNinjaLaura

I just looked at ours & it says you have to maintain a 14 minute mile for the half, but I know someone that finished it in 3:40 this year so obviously that isn't enforced. For the full it just says they stop timing after 7 hours.

This year's winner of the full finished in 2:11:14 (top female 2:26:31 - new women's division course record by 33 seconds) and the guy that won the half did it in 1:09:19 (top female 1:11:07). Just reading an article that the winner of the full had a prior PR 2:05:25 so this was not a great run for him. The current men's course record was set by **** Beardsley in 1981 (2:09:37).

Which all has nothing to do with sweep times, but it's interesting.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_23519882/grandmas-marathon-kenyas-kiptoo-cruisesto-womens-course-record

Edit to note that I didn't edit Mr. Beardsley's first name.

yamsteroo

Lots of information!

I'm only running about 10miles so Varda's 'only' 17 is still quite a bit away from where I'm at, maybe this time next year.

I think I'm going to concentrate on the local 10k series which has a cut off time of 80mins as they close the roads so I'd like to get close to 60mins by the time the first one rolls around in May just so I'm not the poor old lady just scraping over the line on her own at 79.59 lol

Plus it's 3 runs over the same 10k course so I'm hoping I would see an improvement by the last one. if only because it's very close to home and some of my neighbours might see me :bigsmile:

likitisplit

I think I was just at 10 before I signed up for the 1/2. Love the idea of a 10k series!