What's the general feeling of running inaugural races
RedHotRunner
Posts: 850 Member
There's a good looking 10 miler in the San Diego area (www.cal1020.com). 10 miles, 20 bands along the coast. But it's an inaugural race put on by a company i'm not familiar with. I've seen quite a few of these types of things get cancelled and people lose their registration fees, so am hesitant about signing up. But that stars are all aligned for this one. Flat beach course, favorite distance, music and of course, a beer garden. Thoughts?
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I would never do an 1st year full ever again...well..ok...maybe just not an RNR first year full...
Here is my experience in a handy bullet list:- weather 20 degrees above normal, no aid or med added on the marathon course
- 3 mile stretches with no water
- course planned on roads with no shade
- delayed start due to traffic jam at only open exit
- weird rules about no packet pick up for anyone but yourself
- stations running out of water/gatorade (and I was running a 3.5 hr marathon)
- under-manned aid stations
- runners using cell phones to call emergency help for other runners who collapsed or needed help because there were so many stretches or nothingness and not enough course monitors
- 2 deaths
BUT, that said, 10 milers are my favorite distance, too, so that would probably win out and I would do it.
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I would do it. I mean, they usually get cancelled because there is not enough registrations... Because some people don't register because they are afraid it will get cancelled... Because of not enough registrations. See the irony in that?
BUT, I would never do an inaugural race for a distance over a half.
And I would love to do a 10 milers!! There is not a lot of those around here.0 -
UT 10/20 isn't an inagural race, it was held last year.
*edit* looks like the newspaper isn't sponsoring it this year.
http://www.cal1020.com/participant-feedback/
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I'm doing a half in February that's an inaugural event, but the production company has been around awhile. Usually does triathlons but has also done some 5K's, 10K's and 10 milers. And they've also almost reached their cap of 3,000 registrants, so it wouldn't be cancelled due to lack of interest.0
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I did the Austin 10/20 in 2013 and it was absolutely fantastic with a very popular 90's band (Candlebox) at the finish line! It was not the inaugural year though. Ironically, the month prior to that I did the inaugural Alamo City RunFest 2013. It was a fun race and was well organized without the polish of a well established event. I could tell that it was the first year with the expo at the beginning and the basic looking medals and poor route. Aside from that it was a very good time with a small event personality AND due to the size, I was able to place in my age group!!!0
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I did an inaugural 5k mudrun and some other inaugural 5ks.
I will never do that mudrun again. But I dont think I have to worry, I checked their site earlier this year and they showed no 2014 races. They seem to have lasted 2012 and maybe 2013.
And I'm trying to avoid the company that put on those other 5k races. I don't find them organized and the starts aren't officially marked, no chip timing, they don't close roads, etc.0 -
I did two inaugurals this year - a half marathon and the Market to Market Relay. The half marathon was "hosted" by a local coffee/chocolate chain, and had all the mechanics operated by a very reputable running shop along with folks who RD for a lot of local races. They were really behind the scenes as they didn't want the club to "own" the race. It went off without a hitch and I had a lot of fun.
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- The Market to Market Relay seemed to do its research prior to coming to our area, but they aren't as huge of an operation as RnR/Competitor. They also sought advice from our local running club. However, when they wanted to advertise through them, they were told to piss off since they are outsiders.
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- There was one race last month that I heard was a disaster from both an elite and back of the pack perspective, for the 5k/10k distances. This race was put on by a group of individuals with no real racing/RD experience, and they didn't coordinate the police or road markings very well and it was a mess and angered a lot of folks.
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- Do your due diligence and ask your local regular runners/racers if they know who is putting the event together. Odds are if they are avoiding it, you probably should too.0 -
I did an inaugural for my first road marathon. It went really well and I had no complaints. (I also did an inaugural trail 50k. The course was terribly marked an everyone got lost...). Never know, I suppose!
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I'm trying to think of all the "inaugural" races I've done.... it's been a lot. And I've volunteered at three on top of the ones I've run. They were all really good, but they were all trail races, so smaller crowd.0
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Thanks everyone - And Dave - I don't know why I thought it was an inaugural. I thought I read that somewhere. OK - I'm in!0
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I'm doing an inaugural 50M trail race next month. But the RD has done tons of road races and gets raves. Plus, BONUS, known for large bling (finishers medals). I think #aldousmom has run some of her races and could tell you more.0
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I did the inaugural Rock n Roll Raleigh this past year. The Rock n Roll series is well known, of course. But there were more than a few glitches mostly having to do with the route and parking. But all in all, except for the two people who died running the half-marathon, it went reasonably smoothly.
They won't have to deal with all the churches in downtown Raleigh and Palm Sunday in 2015 like they did in 2014.
I also did the inaugural full marathon in Hilton Head on February 6, 2014. They had done a 5k, 10K, and half in previous years. They dropped the 10K and added the full marathon to the schedule. It was a pretty flat course and much of the course was shared with the half marathon so much of the support infrastructure was already going to be there and they had previous experience with those other races. The full marathon didn't have huge participation and it was more like a training run for me than a race (only 171 finishers).
But both were satisfactory experiences.0
