IMPORTANT VENICE 2012

[Roger]

Predictions DO NOT include meteorological effects.

the reinforcement of sirocco has aggravated ... the situation: the astronomical tide of 74 cm weather conditions have added a whole other 75.

I think that plenty of people did run unofficially: on the way back to Piazzale Roma at about 14:30 I stepped aside on a narrow-ish path for a runner coming the other way. He smiled as he passed, saying: "only training run round controls". There were several others out at that time too.

It clearly wasn't a fair race: even ignoring those who were prevented from running, both start time and route choice affected how much water you had to contend with. (And I reckon that Tim Tett must have used some strategically-placed motorboats to go that fast!) Nevertheless, I was very grateful to be able to run what I thought was a good course.

The start consisted of people giving out maps as fast as they could to a completely amorphous queue; we then punched a start unit and were off. Somebody started about two seconds in front of me on my course. This pragmatic solution was about the best that the organisers could do, except perhaps trying to segregate the queue into men and women (in an alleyway) and processing them in parallel on opposite sides. Full marks for adapting to the circumstances.

I echo the hopes that the future of the race won't be jeopardised. And I'm relieved that the comical slow-motion splash-minimisation prance I adopted when in the water near other people so far seems to have escaped the video cameras.

[awk]

A few photos of the views over the finish area around 9-9.30am on the morning of the race, putting out last controls etc.:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90009196@N ... otostream/

[denbydale]

Here's a video of what the conditions were like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBZow6bqaBc

Not surprised some of the locals were irate - it said in the pre race blurb that competitors
should walk if they encountered significant water
I was walking down a calle (in the actual race) with lots of people in it and two young men (probably M18 or M20s) came pounding through soaking me and many of the other people even though they were asked to slow to a walk they carried on running!

[andypat]

[quote="denbydale"]it said in the pre race blurb that competitors
should walk if they encountered significant water
quote]

That seems a tad optimistic to me given that -

A - its a race
B - lots of foriegners wont understand/read the instruction

[Roger]

it said in the pre race blurb that competitors should walk if they encountered significant water

Trainee messiahs?

[Tatty]

The video was quite late on - about 2 hours after we had gone to the Assembly area. We had waded through water higher than that shown in San Marco the whole way, and when we went to the start. Neither does it show the strength of the wind which was also very high and whipping big waves across the street An unforgettable weekend. When we sat on the plane to return home yesterday the weather had cleared and mist receeded!

[JK]

I haven't been for some years, but the notion of aqua alta and affecting results isn't a new one. On the twice I attended there was a high tide which severely affected the fairness in some parts of the course but only for 30 mins to an hour. So one year we knew were in for a fairly NC run since we'd have to negotiate a few floods of thigh-deep and plenty of charging along trestle tables trying to avoid splashing locals, but not minding too much about tourists.

It sounds like it was the unexpected wind direction and strength from what I have read that makes this year's event different. I heard they pushed back the starts expecting the water to lower (as it did very quickly in the years I did it), but it didn't which is a shame.

It is a very special event (since a special city and no traffic) and I hope that, even though those who attended might have considered aspects of the event a bit of a fiasco*, you consider attending another year instead.

fiasco: means "flask" in italian - I don't know how this means a debacle
Exercise for student: what is the plural of fiasco?

JK

[Spookster]

what is the plural of fiasco?

Omnishambles.

[Sloop]

As someone who invested £1300 in the trip based around this event, and who was a podium candidate but not allowed even to start, I feel entitled to some observations ...

> The 8 days we saw Venice were all completely un-submerged except for the exceptional race day. Sunday's gale-force wind and heavy rain were probably at least as significant factors as the tide tables.

> We watched the water levels carefully from about 7:30 and after much wading around, made our way to the start for the second time aiming for 12:45 (given it was now dry enough to race, and not wanting to get in a scrum towards the advertised last starts at 1:30). We found the start had been closed soon after 12:30. On the day, the only way this event could have been a fair competition would have been to not allow any starts until sometime after 12.

> Although you can understand the pressure from people wanting to get going anyway, the fact that there were enough public-order incidents for the police to stop the event shows that allowing early punching starts was a very poor decision. And of course, ironically, the police order to stop the event was implemented at more or less exactly the time it no longer needed to be stopped. Had the starts been put back till 12:30, there would have been no offended residents and no police interference. If there is trouble for future events, it will be due to allowing people to race when there is water on the course.

> Having results lists and prizegivings is a nonsense. It would make me feel better if the people not allowed to start were actually acknowledged as such and listed alongside those who did get some sort of a run. It would also be better if the start times were listed alongside the run time.

> The only saving grace in this fiasco is that (unusually, it seems) the Saturday "Park-O" event was actually a standard urban race on the exact same area as the Sunday event. So we did get a proper competitive Venice outing, albeit on the day we weren't expecting to. In fact, my Saturday MC course was possibly a better course than the Sunday M60 one, and definitely better than the Sunday M65 one.

> It is easy to understand what happened and why. However, if this is the third tide-affected event out of 33, you'd hope that for future events they might have a better-worked-out plan for how to cope.

[awk]

> It is easy to understand what happened and why. However, if this is the third tide-affected event out of 33, you'd hope that for future events they might have a better-worked-out plan for how to cope.

Yes, on balance and with hindsight, the organisers probably got it wrong in allowing starts as early as they did, and I'm sure they would be amongst the first to say they'd do things differently if they could wind the clock back. But, given that everybody was caught out by the degree of flooding, with many not appreciating the huge extent, it's perhaps not surprising. One thing that caught everybody out was that the water didn't recede as quickly as it normally does.
I suspect that one reason the organisers didn't go straight away back to later starts, as you suggest, is that they were aware of the large numbers who would have missed their runs if that had been done, needing to catch planes etc. That was a certainty, and would have affected the competition at least as much in its own way. The police shutting the start down was probably not even on the radar.

[Mrs H]

...but upsetting the locals was both a certainty and on the radar as, according to Arnold, it had already been decided the race would be cancelled if it happened again after the bad feeling created in the previous floodings. So it seems there was a plan, it just wasn't used.

I can't see that anyone is really satisfied with the situation as it is

Given that numbers are now being restricted - would it really harm the event in future if organisers made it clear that in the case of extreme flooding the event WILL be cancelled and entrants take their chance with that in mind? I personally would not be happy taking to the streets in such conditions, not just for my own comfort but adding to the misery of those who have no choice in the matter.

[awk]

Given that numbers are now being restricted - would it really harm the event in future if organisers made it clear that in the case of extreme flooding the event WILL be cancelled and entrants take their chance with that in mind?

I was under the impression that that was already the deal - and was convinced that it would be cancelled, even as they put the start times back.
As I said, I think the extremeness is what caught people out, and the fact that it failed to recede as quickly as it usually does. Talking to the reception staff in our hotel, when I mentioned it was put back to 1030, their reaction was that it should be OK then, saying that it should be almost completely dry by then.....