London City Race
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London City Race
Just arrived home and just going to bed so just wanted to say 'top event!' and thankyou to all involved.
Muddy two shoes
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Wendles - diehard
- Posts: 663
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- Location: Harden
Re: London City Race
I'll second that. I thought it was tougher than last year with more transfers from level to level in the Barbican, Great assembly "square" and lovely weather.
- easternmost?
- off string
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 10:21 pm
Re: London City Race
I agree - a good event, and tougher than the year before: thanks to all involved in putting it on, I'm looking forward to next year. My course was 5.4km, I think I ran about 8.5km (though I didn't always take the best route). The multiple levels were very confusing, especially the control by the Museum of London: is it against the rules to use an escalator
I found the detail hard to read in places, mostly just the result of aging eyes - not sure how this could be improved, a bigger map would have been too unwieldy. There was just one place where I thought the overprint blocked important detail, and that was about halfway between 5 and 6 on Course 3, where the purple line completely obliterated an uncrossable fence. Fortunately I didn't try to go that way!
I found the detail hard to read in places, mostly just the result of aging eyes - not sure how this could be improved, a bigger map would have been too unwieldy. There was just one place where I thought the overprint blocked important detail, and that was about halfway between 5 and 6 on Course 3, where the purple line completely obliterated an uncrossable fence. Fortunately I didn't try to go that way!
- roadrunner
- addict
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Re: London City Race
roadrunner wrote: is it against the rules to use an escalator
I hope not as it was on the optimum route this year. As opposed to last year when I used an escalator to make up for my own incompetence in the Barbican.
Great event - well done to all involved.
Thank you SLOW
hop fat boy, hop!
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madmike - guru
- Posts: 1703
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- Location: Retired in North Yorks
Re: London City Race
roadrunner wrote: is it against the rules to use an escalator
Maybe a 'fast run' staircase symbol is needed
- Gnitworp
- addict
- Posts: 1093
- Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:20 am
Re: London City Race
Super event Great map, technical courses, marvellous Assembly area and fantstic weather. What more can you ask. Thank you SLOW
- Tatty
- guru
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- Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2004 7:21 pm
Re: London City Race
If only all the sceptics who think urban racing isn't technically challenging enough had been there - I stood in the place with the escalator and literally scratched my head for several minutes trying to work out how to get to the next control and the Barbican was yet again brain frying.
I thought the planner took us to some fascinating and beautiful places and it made a nice change not to be the most eccentrically dressed people around (what was all that about?)
Wendles, the AWKs and us propped up the bar at the recommended pub afterwards - where were the rest of you?
Please please please let us know the dates for next year asap so we can again get cheap train/hotel deals and those all important tickets for The Globe.
I thought the planner took us to some fascinating and beautiful places and it made a nice change not to be the most eccentrically dressed people around (what was all that about?)
Wendles, the AWKs and us propped up the bar at the recommended pub afterwards - where were the rest of you?
Please please please let us know the dates for next year asap so we can again get cheap train/hotel deals and those all important tickets for The Globe.
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Mrs H - god
- Posts: 2971
- Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:30 pm
Re: London City Race
Brilliant event! We've done a lot of street races over the past few years (including Venice twice) and that easily rates amongst the best ever, perhaps the best. Superb planning, which meant that even on the easier legs, I was looking to see what I'd missed! There was one moment between 15 and 16 (on the open - this was one of the few events where I wanted to maximise the experience!) when, after a spiral staircase descent, I was so disorientated that I had to stop, set the map with a compass, and force myself to believe the compass as my brain was screaming at me to go the other way. Hasn't happened in years (decades?). Whilst the Barbican was inevitably the 'best' bit (that multi-level orienteering was a real brainacher), the rest was equally as much fun, and almost as technical at times! The extension westwards was a great move - I just wish we could have had a bit more in and around the Temple as course 3 did, as what we had was so enjoyable, but realise that amongst other things the planner was right on the limit of the number of controls that could be used.
The postrace socialising in the bar, the ability to get to the event by public transport (much prefer O on a Saturday to a Sunday nowadays) and the excellent assembly area, were all significant plus factors. Thank you SLOW - I'm sure this event will become a not to miss classic (it already is for us).
One longer term point about street mapping raised its head for me. On the leg between 11 and 12, the route crossed the out of bounds Farringdon Road via the Holborn Viaduct. FR was marked out of bounds all the way along, except for the bit that passed under the HV. I was so focused on the corridor, rather than the greater scheme of things, that I left 11 convinced that I could drop down off the HV, and cross the road underneath before going north along the pavement beside the FR (as was allowed). Fortunately realised what the planner intended (although that led me to another misreading of the map, which led to losing 30-40 secs on that leg), but set me wondering how out of bounds areas in an underpass should/can be shown.
Really looking forward to the event centred on Bankside next year - there's some excellent street-o potential round there.
The postrace socialising in the bar, the ability to get to the event by public transport (much prefer O on a Saturday to a Sunday nowadays) and the excellent assembly area, were all significant plus factors. Thank you SLOW - I'm sure this event will become a not to miss classic (it already is for us).
One longer term point about street mapping raised its head for me. On the leg between 11 and 12, the route crossed the out of bounds Farringdon Road via the Holborn Viaduct. FR was marked out of bounds all the way along, except for the bit that passed under the HV. I was so focused on the corridor, rather than the greater scheme of things, that I left 11 convinced that I could drop down off the HV, and cross the road underneath before going north along the pavement beside the FR (as was allowed). Fortunately realised what the planner intended (although that led me to another misreading of the map, which led to losing 30-40 secs on that leg), but set me wondering how out of bounds areas in an underpass should/can be shown.
Really looking forward to the event centred on Bankside next year - there's some excellent street-o potential round there.
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awk - god
- Posts: 3224
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:29 pm
- Location: Bradford
Re: London City Race
roadrunner wrote: My course was 5.4km, I think I ran about 8.5km (though I didn't always take the best route).
Just measured my route on Google Earth for the open (8.4k). Ran 13.2k (not allowing for several spiral staircases!). Although took a couple of longer than optimum routes, I think this'll be a reasonably fair average.
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awk - god
- Posts: 3224
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:29 pm
- Location: Bradford
Re: London City Race
I think i have to agree with Andy that it was the best street race I've ever done. Certainly, the longest and hardest. I knew the Barbican required concentration but didn't realise quite how many different levels the rest of it would be on. I thought I knew that bit of the City but so much I'd never seen before! My non orienteering friend also had a great time, he ended up feeling very smug for working nearby and not getting caught out where i did.
Congratulations to Alan for the planning and Ollie for the amazing map (even my mum wants a copy).
Roll on next year.
Jayne
Congratulations to Alan for the planning and Ollie for the amazing map (even my mum wants a copy).
Roll on next year.
Jayne
- Jayne
- green
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2004 10:57 am
- Location: London
Re: London City Race
Mrs H wrote: where were the rest of you?
Checking the control sites for today's event with very tired legs
hop fat boy, hop!
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madmike - guru
- Posts: 1703
- Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:36 pm
- Location: Retired in North Yorks
Re: London City Race
awk wrote:Just measured my route on Google Earth for the open (8.4k). Ran 13.2k (not allowing for several spiral staircases!).
My GPS said I did 13.1k and I heard various others running between 12.8km and 13.5km. RouteGadget is up now, by the way, at http://cityrace.org/
Last edited by Angry Haggis on Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:11 am, edited 3 times in total.
Stop talking, start running.
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Angry Haggis - blue
- Posts: 418
- Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2004 11:24 pm
- Location: London
Re: London City Race
roadrunner wrote:My course was 5.4km, I think I ran about 8.5km (though I didn't always take the best route).
At the finish my Garmin was claiming that I'd run 10.7km (nominal course length 7.1km), but after loading into SportTracks the route comes out as 11.9km. Can't see the Garmin's internal route in enough detail to determine how this much difference arises, but (unsurprisingly) underpasses and spiral staircases confuse the GPS, which in the absence of a sufficient signal seems to assume that you've maintained your previous speed and heading. The SportTracks route contains many spurious deviations and is certainly an over-estimate.
roadrunner wrote:There was just one place where I thought the overprint blocked important detail, and that was about halfway between 5 and 6 on Course 3, where the purple line completely obliterated an uncrossable fence. Fortunately I didn't try to go that way!
Course 2M had the same leg and that was my intended route, but just as I was about to go through the (open!) gate into the courtyard from which the obliterated fence blocked a SW exit, I spotted on the map that the gateway was mapped as uncrossable. So I dutifully ignored the open gate and went round. This would have been an exemplary tale about honesty being the best policy, except that I was still fixated on approaching #6 through the long courtyard to its SE so rather than taking the road to the north, I dropped 25s by going south.
Apparently there were some very late changes to the map and courses in this area, and under time pressure, both planner and controller overlooked that this line should have been broken.
I agree with everyone else that this was a superb event. An early finisher told me that it was 'unremitting', and I quite agree. Well done Alan.
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Roger - diehard
- Posts: 652
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:49 pm
- Location: Oxon
Re: London City Race
yes Roger is right, some last minute changes meant I did miss the fact we had not cut the lines in the temple - something that trust me annoyed me more than you might think since it is one of my pet annoyances when I am runnning. On Tuesday eveing Alan and I went across most of the area (again) and back into the temple for which access can be tough at times - forthe record prior to going in the courses looked like this ..
and
So sadly we had to move a site and adjust the map because of the continued work that we had been told would have been cleared and at 1.00am Wednesday morning I missed the recutting of the lines - So please be assured the last minute changes were done in good faith to try and continue keeping the courses as challenging as possible within an every changing environment!
and
So sadly we had to move a site and adjust the map because of the continued work that we had been told would have been cleared and at 1.00am Wednesday morning I missed the recutting of the lines - So please be assured the last minute changes were done in good faith to try and continue keeping the courses as challenging as possible within an every changing environment!
- MacMan
- white
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- Location: SouthE
Re: London City Race
Excellent event, my thanks to all involved.
Although I'm not convinced that it was always possible to find all necessary information from the map - certainly I resorted to guesswork at times in the Barbican.
On one leg, I still can't see the best route now: how on earth did someone do 131-110 (Roman wall to a tree) in 01:12?!
Although I'm not convinced that it was always possible to find all necessary information from the map - certainly I resorted to guesswork at times in the Barbican.
On one leg, I still can't see the best route now: how on earth did someone do 131-110 (Roman wall to a tree) in 01:12?!
- IanD
- diehard
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